heart of steel is a solid anthology focusing on lgbtqia knights, most of which are women, which is nice as women knights are relatively underrepresented, and sapphic knights even more so. a couple of stories are a bit wobbly, but there's only one that i disliked, and that's pretty good going for an anthology.

overall rating: 3.5, rounded up because of the overall enjoyability (new word coined lmao) of the collection and for the wonderful blackberries and buckthorn.

the queen's dragon rider by cora walker
*4 stars*
i love dragons, especially baby dragons! this had a cohesive and interesting plot, and i liked it a lot.

the silent knight by avery stiles
*3 stars*
this had interesting characters and a nice romance, but i thought the polyamorous aspect was slightly underdeveloped, and there wasn't really much of a plot. it was still an enjoyable story, though.

to tame a dragon by christina marie
*1 star*
this was such a weird treatment of gender and to be quite honest i had 0 idea what was going on?? yeah i don't have much else to say about this

blackberries and buckthorn by t.s. porter
*5 stars*
this was definitely my favourite in the anthology! there was an interesting magic system and a great plot, and the character development was done really well for such a short amount of words in which to do it. i also liked how normalised being trans was (which is something seen in a couple of these other stories as well)

the heartless knight by heather morris
*4 stars*
this was the only story with an aro/ace protagonist, and there was also a pretty action-filled plot including espionage and intrigue, which was fun. i can't say a lot about the treatment of aro/ace people because i'm neither, but to me it seemed like a really good representation.

ser rae of del by b.a. huntley
*4.5 stars*
plot twists!! plot twists everywhere!! how did huntley fit so many plot twists in here!!

shieldmaiden's vow by helena maeve
*3 stars*
i found this mildly confusing but also pretty entertaining, i guess it was alright - and a story that opens with a sex scene is always good lmao.

I nice collection of stories. They were all cute and fun to read. All could be considered the beginnings of deeper stories. The meeting stories and budding romances of future couples.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

The Queen's Dragon Rider - Cora Walker

11,000 words

Outstanding world-building, strong characterizations, and getting straight into the action without too much preamble makes this story a strong start for the anthology. Tess is a dragon rider, not by choice, but by being chosen by a dragon. But not just any dragon, the legendary Merryn, raised and ridden by royalty. They patrol the skies under the service of her Queen, as guardians of a community of human and dwarf settlements. Even as she is still getting used to riding a dragon through the air instead of a horse through the forest, as she has trained for all her life, Tess encounters some serious trouble. On the ground, Aria, a blacksmith-in-training dwarf witnesses the aerial encounters and volunteers to help. But she gets way more than she bargains for as Tess is also carrying a special package.

The story starts off with all the elements of a good fantasy and action adventure yarn, but when I got to the end, it felt like I've just read the first few chapters of a novel length book. So much so that I wondered if this anthology is filled with intros (it isn't, thank god) that are meant to entice me to read another book. The interesting thing is that this IS a complete story, with a proper end. But the universe the author created is so rich and filled with so much possibility, it wouldn't be hard to expand this into a full length novel. Because of the word limit, the plot (and the romance) progresses at breakneck, fast-forwarding speed, and not all plot threads were resolved. I wouldn't be surprised if this story got turned into a novel. In fact, I think it deserves to be one.

4.4 stars

The Silent Knight - Avery Stiles

13,000 words

This story started as my favorite and ended up as my least favorite. The reason? it started with the Silent Knight, and I loved it. Loved how she interacted with the main character. Loved the contrast between them. And then all of a sudden this sly, talky, motormouth shows up and ruins everything. I hated him so much that, liked the MC, I wished the Silent Knight would off him. But no....Silent Knight, noble that she is, lets him live, but ends up killing all my interest in the story. I'm afraid I skimmed the rest of it and yup, he'd pretty much usurped the story from the titular character completely, I wondered why this story was even titled Silent Knight. She was nothing more than a story prop, and a nice sounding pun. :( Unfortunately, I never did find out how she became the Silent Knight. Like the first story, this one again felt like it could be the start of a longer adventure. But unlike the first, I have no interest in sticking around to find out, especially since motormouth seems to be firmly a part of it.

1.33 stars (5 for before motormouth shows up, 0 for afterwards, -1 for using and then forgetting all about the Silent Knight. Sorry, but I'm just pissed)


To Tame A Dragon - Christina Dza Marie

14,000 words

The previous story made me realize this may not be an all-f/f anthology. Actually, it never claimed to be. This anthology is about women knights. If there was an f/f relationship, count it as a bonus. The protagonist here is a woman knight dressed as a man, leading a quest to hunt down dragons. The hunting party is composed of all men. I wasn't really into this story due to the lack of any female interaction, but the prospect of reading an m/f romance turned me off even more, as the knight started falling for someone in the party. Fortunately, the knight is firmly in the lesbian camp (kudos to the author for that!) and just isn't turned on by men. The author's solution is perfect. And lest I give the wrong impression that this story is all about the romance (its just a subplot), this is an action/adventure story of quest by a party of hunters to capture dragons. It is also a complete story and not an intro to something else.

3.5 stars


Blackberries and Buckthorn - TS Porter

23k words

This is the best story so far. It has everything I look for in fantasy reads: world-building, fascinating characters, interesting plot, adventures. And everything I look for in lesfic reads: romance, drama, and relationships. It's also a complete story. Perfection.

5 stars

Another awesome queer fantasy anthology from LT3. If you've read any of their other shorts or anthologies this is pretty much more of the same but that's ok because it's always a fun time. As always with anthologies there were some stories I liked more than others, but it was an overall good collection. Lots of lady knights, lots of trans characters, and even a story with an aro/ace protagonist! I think that's the first time I've seen that in one of these collections and I really appreciated it.

There were a few bumps along the way. Like there's one story where the knight is a lesbian and kind of 'falls in love' with this guy but is worried basically because she 'doesn't like dick' but then it's all okay because actually he's genderfluid and can shapeshift! I can see what they were going for I guess but the whole thing just seemed to reinforce that 'gender = genitals' and I was definitely a little bit uncomfortable with that whole thing, especially in an anthology that otherwise had a lot of great trans characters. Also I've seen a review with a complaint that there is one story where a lesbian is the villain and while in regular media I could see being upset about that, if most of the characters are queer I feel like it doesn't matter if the villain is also queer because they aren't the ONLY representation in the story.

Anyway, just my two cents on a few of the 'issues' people might have with this anthology but overall I thought it was a really fun and enjoyable read.

The Queen's Dragon Rider
★★★★★
So good. I loved the dragons and the worldbuilding, and the fight sequence was basically the climax of the entire anthology for me. By the end I was emotionally attached to the girls (and Merryn) and sad about it being a short story. It just needs a good revision because I spotted 3 or 4 spelling mistakes.

The Silent Knight
★✩✩✩✩
It begins with a female narrator and her traveling companion who happens to be a mute lady knight, and it's okay. Then the third party in what will grow into a polyamorous relationship (within, like, 3 days) shows up and is… a really obnoxious, kind of creepy man. Farris just killed the possibility of me enjoying this story, especially after the stream scene. Even though the title suggests the knight will be the focus or at least half of it, 90% of the story seemed to be interactions between the narrator and the dude, with Kisa just silently standing in the backgroung and agreeing with everything the man says.

To Tame a Dragon
★✩✩✩✩
This story was awkward. It falls (plummets head first) into a frankly homophobic “hearts not parts” argument when the self-identified lesbian narrator falls in love with a man and wonders if [sic] “she just… hadn't met the right man before”, then backpedals to point out how the concept of “fixing” gay people is wrong, awkwardly tries to make the couple okay by making the man a shapeshifter, and goes on to briefly equate crossdressing (as a means for women in sexist societies to step outside strict gender roles) to being transgender. And I couldn't care about the plot.

Blackberries and Buckthorn
★★★★★
Oh, plant magic, I love plant magic always! This story was so adorable and magical. I really liked the worldbuilding, the guild of women knights, women's lunar religion, the castle for green sorceresses… The couple had the best relationship in the anthology, and even though it's a short story we get to see how they come to mutually respect and love each other.

The Heartless Knight
★★★✩✩ (3.5)
I enjoyed the political aspects of it and would read a longer story getting further into them. I'm confused about what part of it was LGBT though? Also, I'm dubious about the “dark skinned character who used to be a slave” plot device - I'm not an authority on the subject though, and can only recommend asking readers of color to review it.

Ser Rae of Del
★★✩✩✩
While the plot actually has potential (transman knight dragged into a race for the throne, things get violent, a transitioning potion exists!) both the writing and the timeline within the story are so, so, SO rushed. Some parts were frankly tacky - I cringed hard at “chivalry is sexy”. Oh, and a lesbian is the villain (why, o why?).

A Shieldmaiden's Vow
✩✩✩✩✩
UH. This starts out bad enough, and I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt until I read the other reviews. I'm pretty okay with skipping this story now.

-- Final rating: ★★✩✩✩
I devoured two out of the seven stories and need to read their continuations ASAP, but the rest was incredibly disappointing and messy. In many cases, the writers had to pause the pacing to let the reader know their characters are LGBT instead of making it sound like a natural part of their stories.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35669350-heart-of-steel" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Heart of Steel" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499980034m/35669350.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35669350-heart-of-steel">Heart of Steel</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4838884.Samantha_M_Derr">Samantha M. Derr</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2156325638">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I rec'd a copy from NetGalley/Less Than Three Press for an honest review.<br />Knights and dragons star in this anthology of fantasy tales. An easy read, my favourites were "To Tame A Dragon" by Christina DZA Marie and "The Queen's Dragon Rider" by Cora Walker. Anyone who likes fantasy, dragons and lady knights should like this collection.<br />3.5 stars.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

3.5 stars.

I love a good tale with interesting knights in it, so I couldn’t resist this when I saw it. Not just knights, but so many female knights! Plus there were some dragons mentioned, so I definitely wanted to read it. And for the most part I really enjoyed these short, intriguing romantic reads.

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I’ll admit I didn’t enjoy The Queen’s Dragon Rider by Cora Walker much at first, because I didn’t like Tess and how mean she was being to her dragon, Merryn. Yes, she had a disappointment, but he’s a dragon! He picked her! They get to fly! Mostly I saw her behaviour as excessive pouting, so I didn’t like her much. The romance was also a bit too fast and forced. I did, however, love Aria. In fact I want more Aria. A dragon riding dwarf? Who also happens to be a lesbian? I need so much more of this in my life! (3.5 stars)

I found a lot to like about The Silent Knight by Avery Stiles, at least in the beginning. Loran is quite fun and her secretive ways were very intriguing. I also absolutely loved our silent knight. However, the whole thing with Farris just… no. It felt really unnecessary and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why he was needed at all. Sadly, his inclusion ruined what would otherwise have been one my favourites. (2 stars)

To Tame a Dragon by Christina DZA Marie was pretty cute. Sir Miles was great and I loved the romance. Anything else I say will just be spoilers. (4 stars)

Blackberries and Buckthorn by TS Porter was probably my favourite in plot and character content, and yet I wasn’t particularly convinced by the romance. I really liked Issy and all the characters were beautifully developed. I just didn’t feel like the romance between her and Siofra was necessary. Especially given Issy’s general dislike of magic. Her feelings for Siofra seem to come out of nowhere, but at least the scope of the story does allow a nice length of time to develop and the ending was believable even if it wasn’t quite what I wanted. (4 stars)

The Heartless Knight by Heather Morris was potentially really interesting, and not least because it featured an asexual protagonist. I really liked Isi and loved the relationship he had with Tom. However, there is a huge plot going on here and it doesn’t come even close to being resolved. Too many questions, too much going on. It doesn’t make for a good novella, which is a shame, because as a beginning, I found it rather fascinating. (3 stars)

Ser Rae of Del by B.A. Huntley was another one that had interesting characters. Rae is everything you’d expect from a knight – chivalrous and loyal and dedicated. I’m not entirely convinced about the way the romance played out or how Rae’s trans status was raised, but on the whole I still enjoyed it. (3.5 stars)

Finally there’s A Shieldmaiden’s Vow by Helena Maeve, which I didn’t even bother to finish. I didn’t like a single character, I hated the way they treated each other and once the mystery was over I had absolutely no interest in seeing them all get into bed. Maud and Katrina were the worst of the bunch and Alais lost my respect after that argument. I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in seeing any of them happy. (1 star.)

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In all there are definitely some stories that are better than others here, but also a lot to like and enjoy. The unifying theme is strong and there’s a couple of stories I would love to see expanded in the future. Overall, if you love knights and romance and LGBTQA+ reads, then you should find something to like in here.

Hearts of Steel features LBGTQA+ characters in a fantasy setting. All of the stories are complete and there are many standouts. Like I do with all Anthologies I read, I'll break my review down into each story.

The Queen's Dragon Rider - Cora Walker - I'm not sure I would have started the anthology with this one. It's a clean lesbian fantasy that is bigger on the fantasy than the romance elements. This story in particular had several editing errors that made it into publication and the ending is a bit abrupt. I liked Tess, Merryn, and Aria. 3 stars.

The Silent Knight - Avery Stiles - This story has the best POV character in the book. Loran is funny, interesting, and all around great. The use of a mute character was great. The romance is sort of pre-polyamorous romance with more of the focus on character growth/plot. I would have liked to have seen more with Farris (the third). Basically I liked the characters and wished this story was longer... maybe the trio facing the repercussions for the mission gone wrong? 4 stars.

To Tame a Dragon - Christina DZA Marie - I really liked this story featuring a female knight who has to hide her gender and a shapeshifter who has to hide their true nature. The symbolism was spot on and I was very satisfied with both the love story and the fantasy story. 5 stars.

Blackberries and Buckthorn - TS Porter - A knight and her companions must escort their ruler's daughter home which is more dangerous than it sounds. To say I loved this story would be an understatement. It is the best story in the anthology with well-rounded characters and even side characters. The romance made sense, even in the face of some twists. 5 stars.

The Heartless Knight - Heather Morris - This story features the lone asexual character in the anthology. While the main character is well-developed. The story itself needed more oomph. 3 stars.

Ser Rae of Del - B.A. Huntley - This story has an almost fairytale quality to it. While it could have used a better editor, it was still fun and well done. The twist was predictable, but that didn't make it less satisfying. 4 stars.

A Shieldmaiden's Vow - Helena Maeve - The other polyamorous story in the group. It was a bit confusing in parts. Especially the beginning and the ending featured a huge WTF moment. I wasn't terribly fond of the characters. 3 stars.

In all, there are a few authors I will happily check out more of their works on and this is a good taste of some up-and-coming authors.

4 stars.

***I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley

I think this is one of my favourite anthologies I've read this year. Lady knights covered almost all the pages, and when they weren't lady knights, they were most often trans knights.

How can a person not fall completely in love with content like this?

Also, it had two of my favourite authors: Cora Walker and TS Porter. I'm not biased at all.

Opening with Cora Walker's "The Queen's Dragon Rider", we get a close relationship between a lady knight and her dragon before we even meet the love interest. And let me say, there wasn't a page of this story that I wasn't invested in. I absolutely love stories that have close emotional connections with multiple people (and dragons).

I found "The Silent Knight" by Avery Stiles to be a very sweet read, for many reasons. One: I love silent characters. I just find that their ability to communicate is so wonderful because it's different. That's certainly the case here. And also, I LOVED THE POLY STORYLINE. Ahem. I'm not going to lie, I felt like bopping Farris on the head multiple times in this short, but it seemed like the beginning of what could be a very promising full length novel.

Miles is a young lady who pretends to be a man in order to be a knight in "To Tame a Dragon" by Christina Marie. As its title may suggest, this story had dragons in it too, but they took a far step back to the romance between Miles and the wonderful shapechanging Ikram. I love love loved the dialogue in this one.

"Blackberries and Buckthorn" by TS Porter sees Lady Siofra being guided between castles after her sorcerer training by Ser Izzy, even as she comes to terms with her green magic. This is a good enemies to lovers story.

I think I would have enjoyed "Ser Rae of Del" by B.A. Huntley more had they been consistent in the spelling of Sir/Ser in the tale, though that might be something that's fixed up in later edits. I wasn't 100% sure of the trans rep in this story, but that might have been simply because it wasn't the main focus of this story.