Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray

The Waterborne Blade


The Waterborneblade on Goodreads

This thrilling tale of sword and sorcery thrusts us right into the action.  When we meet the protagonists, we are given no background on them, or on the situation they find themselves in.  We are told they need to flee, now, and we follow.

This works for this story, which has the pacing and feel of a adventure thriller.  As information is revealed to us of the greater world, and of what is at stake, it never takes away from the face pacing of this story.  It is a little light on background and world building, but that is mitigated by the action and sense of urgency.

The book does slow down a bit at the halfway point, but this is also used as an opportunity to fill us in.  I prefer this as opposed to an info dump at the beginning of the story.  This continues for the rest of the story, but it does keep introducing bursts of action to keep interest.

I love a good political intrigue in my stories, and this one has some back room dealings.  However, it falls a bit short.  At the end of the first book, I am left wondering at the motivations of the players involved.  As this book is to be part of a series, this may be resolved later.

In summary, this book is a well crafted sword and sorcery tale, with elements of political intrigue and romance added for spice.  The characters, although they behave logically for the most part, come across as a bit 2 dimensional at times.  This can be forgiven because this is a plot driven story.  As to the plot, I found it entertaining enough to keep my interest.  The challenges are interesting, and they propel the story forward.

 I would recommend it to fans of fantasy fiction, and I plan on reading the other books in this series as they come out.

3.5 / 5

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