REVIEW:

There are some books that you read that completely capture your whole being and become who you are. Those books are the ones you say were your perfect cup of tea, ones you could revisit every year and miss all those characters. There are other books you read that you vow to never return to because of how awful it was. For me, this book was neither of those two, but somewhere in the middle. Not the perfect book I was looking for, but it wasn’t terrible. 

Set in a medieval country, the Blades of King Respen live to fulfill their king’s orders and to protect their kingdom. Never once has Third Blade Leith Torren ever questioned his loyalty to the king, but when a fatal arrow wound brings him to the home of the girls whose family he killed, he is brought face to face with the very forbidden faith a Blade exists to destroy. 

It was a simple, sweet, and pure story that I did like. It just was a book that I didn’t love. One of those “One and done’s” for me. I found it almost too simple in a way that I could have guessed everything that would have happened in the whole book within the first few chapters. The writing style was nothing special and the quality altogether just had me bored. The theme of the book definitely was sweet, but it could have been brought through in a less preachy way, I believe. The characters were dull, and frankly I just didn’t really care. I tried and wanted to, but could not get hooked. Now, I’ve heard that it gets better towards the end of the second book of the series but for me if it took that long to hook me, then it's not even worth it. I’d say to give this book a chance, and if you love it great, if not, there's another book checked off your TBR. 

WARNINGS:

Violence // Blood // Death 

TAKEAWAYS:

I liked the way the author brough through the theme of forgiveness. It is a hard thing to tackle, but it is a call on each of our lives. It's easy to forgive someone when they step on your foot on accident, but what about when they killed your parents?  Whatever level of forgiveness, it's always going to be hard. But living in unforgiveness is sin. We must lay aside our pride and forgive as God forgives us. If God can forgive them, surely we can too. Seeing this brought through in an honest story was definitely appreciated.

 Reviewed by: Adalyn Skains