Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Fireborne Blade

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond

9 reviews

chroniquesdekellen's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Si vous me suivez depuis un petit moment vous aurez compris que j'aime les femmes fortes en fantasy. Et si je n'ai pas sauté dans le train de la hype pour Fourth Wing j'adore les dragons. The Fireborn Blade s'aligne donc parfaitement avec mes goûts et je me suis régalée.
On y suit Maddileh, rare femme chevalier, qui va tenter de racheter son honneur et sa réputation, salie par un homme (shocking i know) en allant tuer un dragon pour récupérer une épée légendaire. Easy.
J'ai adoré la narration suivant deux timelines, l'une pendant l'expédition dans l'antre du dragon, l'autre en amont, le tout entrecoupé de passages d'un livre sur les dragons contenant des extraits de rapports de chevaliers ou de mages ayant affronté divers dragons. L'info dumping est du coup géré de manière intelligente et légèrement détournée.
Les personnages sont intéressants et attachants et si on pourra voir arriver le plot twist je me suis complètement laissée embarquer. Rien de complètement révolutionnaire c'est vrai mais j'ai trouvé ça efficace et parfaitement mené, et c'est ce que je demande à une novella.
L'univers pourrait tout à fait se prêter à être plus développé dans le futur et si cette novella peut se lire en stand alone il y aura bien une suite en octobre 2024. Et autant dire que j'ai déjà hâte de le lire, et de suivre ce que fera l'autrice dans le futur.

Content Warnings

obscurepages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I FINALLY FINISHED A BOOK AFTER OVER A MONTH? 😭

Okay this was *chef's kiss*. Like, I'm not going to lie, I was giggling and kicking my feet 😂

This story capitalizes on its world-building. It's clear that the this fictional world is rich with history and lore. And I think the author succeeded in showing that—every other chapter alternates between the present storyline, a flashback, and an entry in an archive about dragon lives and deaths. I think this storytelling paints a picture for the readers of how dangerous and magical their world is—and it worked for me.

The plot is easy to follow, although you really have to notice the small details, because trust me they have a part in the story lol. For the most part, it's entertaining. But it wasn't until the last quarter of the book that you get hit on the face with plot twists after plot twists! The level of plot twists reminded me a bit of Harrow the Ninth??? (If you've read Harrow the Ninth, you'll know what I mean 😂) It was so damn good.

I also loved the underlying themes of feminism and misogyny. In this world ruled by men, both Maddileh and Saralene face struggles as a knight and a mage adept. They're both in fields where they're not exactly welcome and definitely not respected enough. I guess you could say this book also falls into the "Good For Her" genre? I love Maddileh and Saralene, and I would k!ll for them probably.

My only complain would be the lack of romance maybe??? The chemistry between Maddileh and Saralene was so palpable on the pages. It's a true shame we never really got something more of full romance? I wanted to see more of them and maybe see where their relationship developed. Still, I'm happy with their individual endings, it was just desserts 👏

((Also I want to mention, I believe this has been marketed as "lesbians and dragons"?? So I originally thought the MC was lesbian. But I think there was no explicit lesbian rep 🥲 Maddileh could be bi or pan imo. So I think it was sapphic rep instead. Unless of course Saralene was lesbian, but then again it wasn't specifically pointed out in the story and we didn't see much of her relationship with Maddileh.))

Exact rating: 4.5 ⭐️

CW: blood, gore, violence, misogyny, murder, death, a bit of body horror, fatal wounds

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Marking this book as part of my reading challenge: <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/fcf9e7dc-39a5-49e2-9f7d-a243f5073985">#ReadQueerly2024</a>.

Content Warnings

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

ezwolf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I’ve been seeing this book hyped up a lot, so I had pretty high expectations. The beginning had me really questioning what I had heard but I had come around by the end.

For a novella, it has a pretty slow start, and I was a bit confused and then off put by our main character, Maddileh. By the 40% mark I had heard enough about her dislike of magic and seriously considered stopping. But once I understood the side stories and flashbacks, I liked it more. I am always a sucker for female/non-male knights being called “sir”, it is just as fun for me as to when they are called “prince”. As well as Saralene’s declaration of reversing the “noblewoman being saved by a knight”.

I didn’t really see the twist at the end coming, though the clues are all certainly there. And even though this wasn’t a hit for me right off, I do look forward to reading the next book.

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aliteraryescape's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

sarrie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

TL;DR: An absolutely banger - I was so surprised by this but delighted.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: This hops between three narratives. One is excerpts from a book about dragons and their slayers, and two following Maddileh in the past and present as she pursues the Fireborne Blade. They feed together fantastically.
Characters: We mainly focus on Maddileh, but I enjoyed all our secondary characters. Having seen the next book will feature Saralene as our primary, I’m SO excited.
Setting: The most interesting of settings were the insides of Dragon lairs, various ones described. That was unique and something I did not expect!
Magic: Some hints and drops at magic, specifically draconic magic. I am very interested to see where the next story goes.

Thoughts:

I had hopes that this would be at least fun, based on how gorgeous the cover was. It was legitimately a cover read. I can’t deny my thought process went ‘Badass lady warrior and a dragon? Yeah I’ll read that’. And read it I did and delighted I was. This one follows Maddileh who is seeking the Fireborne Blade, a historical and coveted sword kept by one of the oldest and strongest of Dragons within her lair. We follow her into that lair and also in the past as she seeks the pieces that will help her quest. We also see excerpts from a tome of historical attacks on Dragons and their lairs and what all that entails, and the history of the beasts. What a fantastically woven story.

The thing that impresses me the most here was how well I felt the world was built for being such a short book. The history is teased just enough to get me excited, the Dragons and mankind's interactions and how those affect the world were all so clear in my mind. I’ll be thinking about this for days to come. The characters themselves weren’t the strongest, but I enjoyed the journey we went on with them. I want to know more about what Saralene and Maddileh end up doing, the ending was a twist I never would have seen coming, and it has setup a series nicely.

If you want a story of women trumping the system to come out on top, especially in the face of betrayal and sexism. This is a great story. It’s not over the top and in your face, and it’s well drawn as a fantasy that doesn’t depend on just the conflict. I pre-ordered this after reading it and I can’t wait to read the next one in the series.

4.5 out of 5 truly terrifying Dragon Dead

Content Warnings

booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

4.0

Dragons, and mages and knights oh my! I did not see that twist coming!! This fast past medieval novella will have you sitting on the edge of your seat needing answers till the very end.

Content Warnings

allyareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

eviethebookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is the most unique knight/dragon slaying book I’ve ever read. It’s by far the best female knight story I’ve encountered.

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