I DNFed this at 55%, and won't be posting my review outside of NetGalley. I found the prose and the heavy amount of backstory to be a chore to read, and since I'd rather cut my losses than press on and see if anything pulls it up to a three for me, I'm not going to share this wide.

I have been going crazy over the fact that a character was talking to T'Rayles a hundred pages or so before my DNF and said, "Hey, the knife your son was murdered over is PRETTY IMPORTANT. Would you like to know the story behind it?" and her response was essentially, "No, I'm too busy moving through this city and getting into fights with no plan whatsoever." I'm not sure what the goal is here---only revenge, I guess? And there's just so much navel-gazing, talking about worldbuilding we don't actually get to see.

The description of this book made it sound amazing, but I have enjoyed very little of the actual delivery once T'Rayles leaves her initial village. Thank you for the ARC; unfortunately, this one did not work out for me.

'Seventhblade' is a great book, with interesting world and magic.

During the first chapter, I was a bit confused. The world is not directly explained, you need to wait a couple of pages before understanding what was going on. I was also confused about Dellan, because I thought he was T'Railes' son. However, this confusion might also be because I wasn't totally mentally there for personal reasons.
The world, the magic, and the politics were so interesting.
I really liked that the first 30% of the book takes place in the Silver Leaf, giving us time to get acquainted with our main character, the idea of the world and of the magic, before throwing us into Seventhblade and all the politics and people of that place.
I very much enjoyed the plot, never knowing where it was going to go next.

In summary, I really liked this book.

I love a good vengeance female rage story. Coupled with an Indengious peoples raging against the machine of colonism, whew. T’Rayles is a grieving woman, who has turned her grief into rage. She’s no fainting daisy, she’s a hurricane. I will say grim and emotional, Laird definitely has talent as a storyteller.

That being said, I did have a hard time in the beginning. In fact I restarted multiple times trying to understand how and where different characters fit in the story or if they mattered to remember. I also had a few issues when the POV would swap, recognizing the shifts. It could be the formatting on the ebooks ARC playing into this however.

Risking everything and allying herself with forces she’d rather not to be able to avenge the murder of her adopted son, an infamous warrior returns to a city she left years ago to navigate disturbing new power dynamics in Seventhblade by Tonia Laird.
After finding that her adopted son Jhune was murdered, T’Rayles is determined to seek justice for his death and is ready to do whatever she must to claim it; however, her partner Dellan knows they need proof before acting and reluctantly seeks out aid from a manipulative god, Elraiche, with whom he has a history, to bring Jhune’s soul back to determine whether some local boys were responsible for killing Jhune. The ceremony goes awry, and T’Rayles uses her mother’s sword, accidentally pulling Jhune’s soul into herself and begins sharing his memories, before she sets out for the city of Seventhblade, returning to seek out answers about the one who condemned her son to die so she can kill them. Reuniting with the Broken Fang, an alliance founded by her mother, T’Rayles finds it to be much changed from her younger, though long-lived, days, corrupted by a form of greed she vehemently fought against, but there are still those who share her more noble spirit and vision who fight by her side for justice amid the wide-reaching impact of the shifting dynamics of power taking root throughout the city.
Presenting a world with light elements of magic and gods interspersed throughout, with the presence of weapons imbued with power and gods or those with godsblood, a narrative of complex relationships emerges that’s filled with corruption, manipulation, action, and tender moments of emotional connection. The conflict between the populations of colonizers and Indigenous people demonstrated a realistic dynamic of power and prejudice, with the introduction of gods adding yet another layer, which made navigating the cultural and political landscape a challenge for the characters to face. The narrative primarily follows T’Rayles, though there are chapters that follows Elraiche, offering a glimpse into the manipulations of others he’s orchestrating for his own amusements and ends, which proves to tie the various characters together into the narrative’s larger arc; these shifts in perspective, while building out the world and offering context, do change the pacing of the story, slowing down an otherwise rather quickly-moving narrative. As a character, T’Rayles is strong and possesses a unique heritage, which has marked her as Other her entire life, with plenty of secrets within her background that have been kept from her, with only some of them revealed to readers, and T’Rayles, by the end of this story; when coupled with the journey undertaken at the conclusion and the various aspects left unresolved, there’s an openness that suggests that there’s more to this story and world that could be explored in the future.
Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really haven't enjoyed a fantasy novel in a while and then came Seventhblade. with a strong yet vulnerable mother at the forefront, Laird builds a story of family, colonial scarring, community, and love as we follow T'Rayles on her avenging journey. I felt all the fury, pain, anguish, and grief that dogged T'Rayles as she pushes herself towards something both strange and not in an attempt to seize justice on her terms.

But there are other players who are interested in her and what her heritage could mean for their own power plays and advancement. These elements added more meat to the story and further fleshed out T'Rayles and the choices we gave come to understand that she made and continues to make.

Grounding her story with a very understandable human traits such as love and loss really kept me immersed in this world and kept me squarely in T'Rayles' corner. The action scenes were satisfying, her questioning her emerging abilities and her mother's own history only added deeper elemebts that enhanced my reading experience.

The conclusion made me cry and the possibility of seeing more of T'Rayles and company has made me happy.

Seventhblade was a different and challenging read. If I had to describe with three words they would be vengeance and anti colonialism.
Beautifully descriptive and rich you are immediately pulled into the story. The plot starts strong without much buildup; the middle was a bit slower but ended in ways I didn’t expect.
The world building is rich and immersive. As your reading you physically feel present. Two things I struggled in this sense; first the fantasy part was not well developed , the second part is completely on me as I was trying to place the setting in the North America/Canada I know and it kept tripping me up until I let that go and enjoyed the land for what it was.
The characters are well developed and dimensional. Not one is flat and can be described in three words. The FMC is one I admire as much as I do not relate to her. She holds joy which she struggles to remember against the vengeance and anger.

Unfortunately this one did not really hit the mark for me. I had trouble following the narrative and there were some POV shifts between Elraiche's view and T'Rayles that I missed from time to time that were even more confusing.
I usually don't mind a bit of confusion and not knowing what was going on, but here it was just too much.

The world seemed interesting though and it had some interesting concepts that I am sure other people would love to read about. I also liked the protagonist and the general idea of the story.

Thank you Netgalley and ECW Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a very intense, incredibly well-written action adventure. The storyline begins right in the middle of everything with no smooth warm-up like most books. However, the author did a great job bringing the reader up to speed and explaining things in an organic way that continued to pique my interest throughout the book. The world-building was also truly wonderful and I appreciated the mix-in of native culture/language.

I really enjoyed Seventhblade. It's rich in worldbuilding and an overall emotional story of grief and anticolonialism from a First Nations point of view.

The FMC is a mature woman who, in her grief, at losing her adult son, sets out to get revenge. This is compounded by being a "halfsoul" - half-human, half-god, and using a magic sword that is tied to a different god that creates a conduit with her son's soul, allowing her to see her son's memories, which fuels her rage even more. She makes rash decisions that have far reaching consequences and ties her to yet another god.

T'Raeyles finds herself grappling with grief, rage, abandonment, losing herself to the sword, political manoeuvres, intertribal disputes, colonial oppression, and betrayal from those around her.

It's a beautifully written story that truly tackles some deep emotions in a very grimdark manner.

The first and last third of the book are really strong. I did feel it lagged in the middle. The pacing slowed significantly here, but it was still a compelling read.

I had a great time reading Seventhblade! I’m always excited to find a fantasy book centered around a grown woman. There’s something special about reading a story from the perspective of a woman who has already lived a lot of life. T’Rayles was an incredibly fleshed out character who was fun to follow. She, along with many characters in the story, embodied a moral grayness resulting in unpredictable but believable choices that led the story in intriguing directions.

At times I found myself a bit confused by the complex history of the world, which made the pacing feel a little off. Reading Seventhblade sometimes felt like I was reading a prequel where I was missing context that I was already supposed to have gotten from reading previous books. That being said, I think the complexity of the history of this world makes the themes of grief and anti-colonialism all the more impactful and so I understand why the author may have not wanted to leave anything out, resulting in a very convoluted background for the story.

The world of Seventhblade has so much potential to continue exploring that I’m excited to return to as the ending seems to set us up for a really fascinating adventure to come.

Thank you so much to Tonia Laird, ECW press, and Netgalley for the chance to read this arc!

T'Rayles was an interesting and complex character. The premise of this story centers around a mother avenging the death of her son, but takes place in this bigger story of anti-colonialism. There's a lot of world building so the pacing was slower but it was thoroughly developed throughout the story. Hoeever, the pacing lags in the middle chunk. The story does have a inital big focus on grief, which may be hard for some readers. There's a number of emotional elements to this story.

four stars, considering this is the longest prologue i've ever read. (edit, i didn't know it was first in a series when i read it. that's no excuse for my ignorance, just explaining the odd comment) but seriously, this book appears to be the first in a series, though that isn't stated. i highly recommend it for fans of thought-provoking fantasy series in general and/or girlboss fiction specifically. given the author's credits with the video games dragon age 2 and dai, i expect there will be many more interested readers.

the protagonist, a woman of mystic origins, is named t'rayles, "teh-rah-lees" (as introduced in chapter 7, but i had "trails" as my headcanon way before getting to chapter 7...reader beware).

the worldbuilding is excellent and worth the reader's time. the revenge plot for her adopted son's death wasn't satisfactorily resolved, in my opinion. neither was her character arc, but the groundwork appears to be in place for both in the next installment.

the story contains a number of character races with their own myths, religions, deities, and goals. racial tensions, racism, and discrimination are thematically prominent. who has power over whom, and for what reasons, make up a lot of the intrigue in the plot and worldbuilding. i found it to be thought provoking, in a good way. content spoiler alert for slavery, which cannot be minimized as a theme in any way, though it does not appear explicitly until the climax, and isn't treated in a positive way.

thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

3.75 stars!

Seventhblade follows T'Rayles, a half-god and daughter of the Indigenous Ibinnas, as she searches for her adopted son's killer in the colonized city of Seventhblade. Her son Jhune's soul is tethered to her through an inherited sword, and through him (his memories that T'Rayles can see) we come to understand the depth of her love and loss. Their bond is the heart of the book, and watching her endure so much in the name of love and justice broke me in the best way.

I didn't connect with T'Rayles at first. She's sharp, angry, and clearly in the thick of grief, but the further I read, the more I admired her. She's a strong, flawed, deeply compelling character, and her role as a mother is beautifully written. I also really liked Dellan, Jhune's adoptive father! He doesn't get a ton of page time, but what we do get is impactful, and I would have loved to see even more of his relationship with T'Rayles. The ending was my favorite part because of the glimpse we got to see of their relationship blossoming a litte! Elraiche, the exiled god T'Rayles is forced to ally with, is manipulative, arrogant, and clever, but also surprisingly layered. His POV chapters early on didn't feel necessary at first (they slow down the pace and involve a lot of internal analysis on his side) but he's still a very important character. My feelings on him are just very conflicted since he isn't evil but also not good; he's something in-between that I very much appreciated, but made me feel confused on who he actually is.

The worldbuilding is rich and immersive, full of gods, lore, scheming guilds, and cultural diversity. There's a strong anti-colonial throughline, handled with care, and a genuine sense of history and lived experience behind the cultures presented. I especially appreciated how the book explores grief, and not just T'Rayles' but Dellan's too. Even though Jhune is gone from the start, I could still feel his presence throughout the novel, and I truly got to know and love him through the memories and the little flashes of who he was (he may even be my favorite character).

Pacing-wise, the book starts strong, drags in the middle, and ends on a deeply emotional note. The writing style is overall well-suited to the story, but sometimes over-explains character thoughts and gestures in ways that slow things down. It just feels like the author doesn't trust the reader to read between the lines, and so she starts explaining things too much. Some of the action scenes could have used shorter sentences for urgency (there's one mid-book that felt long because of this), but others were very well done.

If you're looking for a fantasy that tackles heavy themes with emotional nuance—grief, colonialism, revenge, and complicated gods—Seventhblade is absolutely worth your time! It's fierce, heartfelt, and left me thinking long after I finished (and made me tear up). Jhune, you deserved better :(

I really enjoyed the multiple povs and especially the portrayal of T'Rayles's grief and revenge. Her character is strong and mature and I was very excited to read about an adult main character. I found the world building really interesting although the writing was a bit heavy and slow in my opinion. Overall, it was a nice reading.
Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press for the advance copy!

Seventhblade was an interesting story following a woman looking for revenge for the murder of her son.
Personally, I felt as though the politics and lore in this story wasn't really explained much at the start, and I found it a little hard to keep up at some points. I enjoyed it more when the plot moved more to action.
Some of the characters I'm still not fully sure what their part was, or what significance they hold. There were some moments I feel a smaller explanation would have gone a long way.
Overall, I did find the main character likeable, and I was rooting for her to get what she wanted.

Reading Seventhblade wasn’t just diving into another fantasy world—it was sitting with grief, feeling its weight, and slowly making peace with it.

T’Rayles caught me off guard in the best way: finally, a mature protagonist whose struggles feel genuinely real. She’s a mother who has lost her adult son, and every part of her journey is shaped by that profound loss. It’s incredibly refreshing—and deeply moving—to see a character who isn’t young, impulsive, or reckless, but someone older, wiser, and quietly fierce in her grief.

Chapter 41 especially spoke to me: a raw, bittersweet conversation between T’Rayles and her deceased son that perfectly captures the heartbreaking acceptance of grief. It’s scenes like these—simple yet devastating—that stay with you.

There are moments when the pacing slows, and some descriptions could’ve been tighter, but overall, the emotional honesty and cultural depth made it well worth the read. Tonia Laird delivers a fantasy that’s mature, thoughtful, and beautifully real.

If you’re looking for a fantasy story that resonates on a deeply personal level, Seventhblade might break your heart—but it will also gently put it back together.

— Maaham Lateefi

Thank you to NetGalley and Tonia Laird for the advanced reading copy!

I did not read beyond a chapter. This book, while not bad, unfortunately failed to hook me in the little time I had with it

Set in a world pulsing with volatile magic, political upheaval, and layered lore, this novel blends action, grief, and resilience in unforgettable ways. The characters are rich with history and internal conflict, the worldbuilding is sharp and immersive, and the tension never lets up. A stunning debut from a powerful Indigenous voice in fantasy—raw, relentless, and wholly original.
Seventhblade is a powerful and emotionally intense fantasy that confronts the harsh realities of justice in a colonized world. When her adopted son is murdered, T’Rayles—a formidable warrior and the daughter of the Indigenous Ibinnas—returns to the city bearing his name, determined to uncover the truth. Armed with her ancestral sword and backed by uneasy alliances—including a once-noble warrior faction now steeped in corruption, and a cunning, exiled deity—T’Rayles is thrust into a dangerous journey that tests her strength, loyalty, and resolve.

Overall strong 3.5*. Interesting story and main character. Not bad storytelling. Not as flow-y as could be, but not bad either.

“A hurricane hidden in a summer rain”

Seventhblade by Tonia Laird was great read.

It was obvious from the get-go that T’Rayles (tee-rah-lees) was a strong character, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we had a bad b*tch on our hands when she pulled out a ramp from the ground and ate it in chapter two.

In all seriousness, there was a lot to love about Seventhblade: an older main character, a revenge plot, feminine berserker rage, magical weapons, a character who is an actual god, and found family - just to name a few.

This did give me prequel vibes, like the next installment in the series is where the real adventures begin, but I was so satisfied with Seventhblade that I will happily read more from this world Laird has created.

Thank you to ECW Press & NetGalley for the advance copy for my honest review!