Thank you Netgalley and MacMillian Audio for this ARC.

I liked this. It was definitely fantasy and it was definitely fun, but I can say that it wasn’t mind-blowing. This is a story of dragons and ghosts and magic. But mix them together in this book and it was just…fine. Well-written and fast-paced, the twist ending was unexpected and threw me a little bit.
Overall, a good novella.

2.5

The Fireborne Blade has everything I love about classic fantasy. There's a lady knight and dragons and corrupt magician guilds and so much more. As someone who grew up obsessed with the Song of the Lioness Quartet, I was so looking forward to something that would take my nostalgia for that series and make it modern and/or more adult.

Unfortunately I think this really fell flat for me. I can't point at a specific aspect of it that didn't work because on paper, this is something I love, but ultimately I think it just didn't do enough that was new for my personal tastes. This book does a lot with its page count in exploring themes of power and identity, but the world building for me felt too reliant on nostalgia for classic dragon fantasies.

I think this was a well written book and clearly has and will work better for other readers, but I think I just expected more of a subversion of classic tropes than I got.

4.5 stars rounded up

This was great! I love a fantasy novella and The Fireborne Blade effectively encapsulates a complete story with interesting characters, while introducing us to a new world. I also didn't see the twist at the end coming. It follows a queer woman who is a knight, on a quest to get a blade back from a dragon and reclaim her honor. It's told in a split timeline, and in the past we also meet a woman who is secretly being trained by a mage, even though women aren't really supposed to be. It's an adventure story about ambitious, talented women trying to make space for themselves in a man's world. Definitely worth a read! It's fast paced and fun, and the audio narration is good too. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.