Synopsis:
It’s the season
for treason…
The king of Yusan must die.
The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.
He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.
And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.
They can agree on murder.
They can agree on treachery.
But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.
Let the best liar win.
Review:
Thank you, Zaffre, for sending me a copy to review!
Hello book that involves court politics but is so easy to follow & I mean that as the biggest compliment ever. I’m forever getting lost in court politic books and while this one isn’t really set in a court at any point it’s all about assassinating the God King so it’s basically court politics, you get me?
I had the best time reading Five Broken Blades. I found myself flying through the book at quite the pace. The alternating points of view kept me engaged and all of the characters had really distinct voices making it a joy to follow each of their journeys. This becomes a found family story and I loved seeing all their friendships (and more) develop over time. They all have their own motivations and reasons for joining the group headed out to kill the God King, and while some have secrets, I never felt that it was too hidden from me, when reveals happened I didn’t feel like I’d been cheated of any story, instead I was captivated by what was going on.
While it’s tempting to throw this book in the YA pile I’d actually argue it’s definitely an adult fantasy, it has adult themes and relationships. For me the ease of reading didn’t detract from the fact that I felt like I was reading adult fantasy, if anything I found it so refreshing to be able to easy follow along with the plot. The book comes with a plethora of content warnings at the start and that alone should be enough to firmly place it in the adult fantasy category.
Personally, Sora was my favourite character overall. She’s a poison maiden who has been through hell to become what she is, and it was all against her will. Through this she’s such a strong character and she has some really great motivation for killing the God King. But that being said there weren’t any of our main group who I disliked, I was happy to be switching voices every chapter and I genuinely enjoyed the entire book.
Read this if you’re looking for an epic journey, found family and a book you’ll fly through. There are some truly terrifying creatures that really got my heart racing for a whole section of the book. Honestly, I could gush about this book for ages. It was so so good, and it’s set up for a second in the series. It can’t come soon enough!
Leave a Reply