Blade of Secrets

A little absurdist fantasy adventure

Seeing mental illness rep in fantasy is rare, and seeing it in high fantasy is even MORE RARE! So of course, big big kudos to Levenseller for including social anxiety as something that's explored in this book. On top of my obvious excitement about the rep there, this book is really something great all in all. A mix of paranormal, high fantasy, and kickass characters all in one. Sometimes the plot had trouble staying in one place, but that's a minor critique on my part. All things considered, I am impatiently and eagerly awaiting book number two!

Didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. Beginning was very slow and thought about dnf'ing more then once.

Ending was okay, not sure if I'd read the second book

I was enjoying this immensely until I got close to the end and realized it was gonna be a cliffhanger.

3.5/5 stars

This was such a fun book. I found the characters relatable and endearing. I enjoyed the plot and there's excellent character development.

I think it's one of my favorite Actually YA books I've read in a while. I still have things I didn't like but they're very minor and I can over look them. I lean more to a 4.5 star but I'll up it to 5 since I can't do halves and this book really does deserve a higher rating.

When I say actually YA, I mean it's appropriate for that age range, 12-17. There's romance but no spice (keep in mind I like, and usually prefer spice in books), and it felt like the characters were teenagers, not adults with their shit together.

The characters were good at what they do but not at everything which was refreshing in the YA genre (especially YA Fantasy) that tends to lead towards the narrative that the protagonist has to be a god at everything; they're only bad, or mildly sucky, at one thing to humanize and humble them to the reader, but even that is just something they'll master in time. They also aren't trying to run a kingdom or be married off to a prince, both of which I can appreciate. I won't speak on if the representation of anxiety/social anxiety is good or not, because even though I have it, it isn't to this extreme. so it's hard to know if this is what it's like for people with a much more severe case or if it's too exaggerated.

So pick it up if you like: YA Fantasy with romance (but don't want to read smut, or are okay with no smut), some blacksmithing, a soft magic system, a found family vibe, and traveling from place to place.

I enjoyed this very much, as I always seem to enjoy Levenseller's books. This one had a really interesting heroine–she felt real despite her magic and the story's world. I thought the narrator of the audiobook was great too.