Book Review: Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
Rating: 2 stars of 5
I have mixed feelings about this book.
On the one hand, it’s really beautiful. I have the special edition with the painted edges, illustrated endpapers, and gold-foiled casing. It’s a gorgeous book and pretty books always capture my eye.
There is a unique quality to Mai’s storytelling that left me feeling like the story itself (and the way it was told) was its own character, which was intriguing. I don’t notice that quality in very many novels.
I also think the author was bold to attempt a story with so many POV’s, so I applaud her for accomplishing that in a way that, in some ways, works for the story. The plot grabs your attention and moves along at a steady pace that keeps you reading.
There are a couple things about the book that didn’t really work for me, however.
Because the story is written from six different POV’s, it feels like the whole thing kind of sits at surface level. We’re shifting back and forth from different perspectives in each chapter and there are so many of them to cover that the characters end up feeling shallow and underdeveloped - more like caricatures than well-developed characters with depth and complexity. It would have enriched the story significantly to have been able to dive deeper with each of the characters, but in a novel of this size, I don’t think the author would have had time to do so with so many POV’s. The story suffers because of it, and I think the rest of the books in the series will need to account for this.
The short chapters keep the story feeling readable rather than dense, but feel more like vignettes than well-rounded scenes. The vibe the book was giving me can best be described as something between that of a comic book and an old-school, 2D animated movie. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t know if that’s what the author was going for or if the book unintentionally ended up feeling that way because of the combination of these shorter scenes and underdeveloped characters.
I think a lot of people could enjoy this book, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing on with the series. The story contains more gore than suits my taste, which also contributed to my final rating.
Content advisory: contains profanity, mentions of sexual assault, and graphic violence
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