This book is amazing!!! I saw it all over Booktok and cannot believe how talented this author is! The world is so beautifully crafted with such intriguing political systems. And the main character? SLAYS!! She is such a strong and independent character that I honestly believe we need to see more of in fantasy books. Also, the twinge of romance had me swooning! Highly recommend this book.

I was provided a free ARC of The Broken Blade by Melissa Blair from Union Square and Co via NetGalley in return for my honest review of this book. Any opinions stated in this review are mine completely and are not influenced by outside sources.

I tried so hard to get into this book but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me and it felt like any of the other YA books coming out right now.

I'd like to first say that this is much more of a positive 3/5 than it is negative. However, it is a 3/5, mostly because of the writing, which I'll talk about in a minute.
As always, let's start off with our characters. The main two here are Keera, a Halfling and the king's Blade, and her rival, Riven, a Dark Fae and the Shadow thwarting her. Keera deals a lot with trauma from the death of an old friend and her alcohol addiction, so keep that in mind when going to read! Also TW for self harm post-kills. Keera is such a complex character, which io love. There's an element of mystery about her even though the book itself is first person POV. Additionally, Riven has a very similar feel of suspense. He and Keera talk to one another, but in a way that promotes healthiness, not a way that demolishes the mystery of them and their relationship. I definitely didn't have any complaints here!
Next, our relationships! Although we do see background platonic relationships, the only relationships Keera is a part of are her budding friendships with Syrra and Nikolai and her romance with Riven. However, all of these develop slowly and organically. Keera can't trust the people she meets in the Fae lands and they don't trust her, which makes for the development of some really interesting relationships. I loved how by the end, you can see just how much they all care for one another and how far they've come.
Lastly, plot/worldbuilding and in this case, writing, Starting off with the positive, I really liked the plot. I thought it was predictable at times, but it was also readable and everything was both understandable and relevant. Although I do prefer to have less Capital Letter Species in my fantasy worlds, I thought the world-building elements were great too. I had no trouble understanding the politics and building blocks, but they were fun to learn about. My real issue lay in the writing. I wouldn't call it BAD, but I thought it was a bit weak compared to other published works. Obviously this could happen in any first person work, but i found the constant use of "I did [x], I did [y]," to be grating at one point. It felt like Blair was running out of ways to switch things up. Additionally, it seemed so matter-of-fact at times that the writing didn't flow as well. This is a very common, slightly stupid phrase when it comes to writing, but it was always telling, not showing. I did like the book, but that prevented it from being four or five stars for me.
I'd definitely recommend this for fans of darker fantasy books, NA, and enemies to lovers with lots of character development. The writing just wasn't quite there for me, but I'm confident that I and a lot of other people can enjoy this book.

Thank you to Union Square & Co and NetGalley for the ARC. This was a decent book but I felt like it was missing something. The premise is interesting - Keera is part Elf and serves as the King’s Blade in a kingdom where anyone with Elf blood is either killed or enslaved. When someone called the Shadow moves against the crown, Keera is ordered to track them down, going to the forbidden Fae lands where she starts to uncover more and more secrets.

Keera was okay but for the most part the characters didn’t really draw me in. I wanted way more from the romance/love interest. It was a nice thought for the author to show the struggles of alcoholism, but it seemed like Keera was able to overcome it way too easily. I also got a little confused with all of the talk of mixing bloodlines and the differences between Fae and Elves, Light Fae, Dark Fae, Halfings, etc.

There clearly are a lot of people who loved this book so I would say it’s still worth a try and it might improve when more things are revealed in the rest of the series.