Five Broken Blades (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Slow-Burn Assassin Romantic Fantasy (The Broken Blades, 1)

There is something so satisfying about watching six people walk into a room, knowing every single one of them has a motive... and then trying to figure out who will betray whom first. Five Broken Blades completely scratched that itch for me. It gave me serious Knives Out vibes with its web of secrets, shifting alliances, and constant suspicion. Just when I thought I had someone figured out, another revelation would make me question everything all over again. One of my favorite parts was the multiple POVs. Every character brought something different to the story, and instead of feeling overwhelming, it made the mystery even richer. I found myself equally invested in each perspective because everyone had their own agenda, their own lies, and their own reasons for being there. The pacing kept me turning pages, the tension never let up, and I loved trying to piece together the puzzle before the characters did. It was clever, addictive, and full of those moments where you have to stop and say, "Wait... WHAT?!" If you enjoy fantasy with political intrigue, morally gray characters, found enemies forced to work together, and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end, this one is absolutely worth picking up. Now excuse me while I immediately move Four Ruined Realms to the top of my TBR because I need to know what happens next.

This book was very much an impulse buy for me. I heard that it was a lot like Six of Crows, involving a group of misfits who have to work together to complete a heist. I also saw that Rebecca Roanhorse gave it 5 stars. Lastly, I have been in the mood for swords; like any sword at all, and the title is pretty self-explanatory. I did really enjoy this. It is very much a popcorn read; it’s a light read with a style that involves short chapters and a pace that makes it easy to keep thinking “oh only one more chapter”. The book is told in first person point-of-view from six different perspectives, all with very different personalities and voices. First person POV is always my favorite narrative style as it really allows you to be inside a person’s head. It can be hard to pull off when there are multiple characters, though, as it involves the author adapting their writing style to each unique character. All the characters think and speak differently, so it was really well done here. If you listen to the audiobook, they do have different narrators for each person, so that helps for sure, but the writing really provided a solid base for all the narrators to go off of when they have to act as their character. One slight warning I would give is that the characters aren’t all working together from the start. Most start off in a pair with another POV character, and then about halfway through is when they start meeting the other pairs. I thought it would involve misfits being thrown in together at the start, but the slightly slower way to introduce them did give the author more time to set each character up and better develop each of their motivations for being part of a plot to assassinate an immortal king. All of the characters have secrets to hide as well, which is always fun to try and sleuth out as the reader. I docked a star off because while it does build to a good ending, it didn’t quite hit the pay off I was hoping for. Still a fun, easy breezy read. I would recommend it if you want a fast-paced book centering around a band of misfits, assassins, and thieves working together to accomplish a very difficult task. Fair warning that it can be dark at times. Romance is a fairly heavy sub-plot of the book as well, but it loops into each character’s motivations. It creates tension between the relationship and what secrets these morally-grey characters actually have.

This author truly has the gift of storytelling. The characters are unique and the plot so carefully developed. The ending surprised me and I can’t wait to read book two.

3.5 stars Hard to decide where to rate this one. I liked it enough to finish and was interested enough that I’d read the next book. The characters were interesting, and the ending did surprise me. With all that said, I want to rate it higher than 3 stars, but it was missing that certain something. I was never completely hooked. I could have used a character chart or breakdown in the back of the book. I tend to enjoy multiple POVs, but at times I got confused about who I was following. There was also SO much horniness with very little resolution. Was there supposed to be romance? Super slow burn to me. Maybe more in book 2? The story kind of meandered along. Some of my issues could have been from mostly consuming this via audiobook. I did pick up the physical copy, which is beautifully done, to better acquaint myself with the characters. The audiobook has a different narrator for each character. I would have preferred if it was duet style narration, meaning the narrator assigned to each character voiced the character dialogue throughout the whole book instead of only narrating their character’s chapters. The narrator for Aeri wasn’t my favorite so I did sometimes cringe during those chapters. Pick this up if you enjoy fantasy with a quest, an unlikely group coming together, found family, and adventure.

Five Broken Blades is a dark fantasy inspired by Korean myth, lengend, and culture. It weaves multiple POVs together until they all collide together. Each person has their own moral code, their own dangerous secrets, and their own agenda and I loved how just when we thought we knew someone something else was revealed. I found each character to be distinguishable and multi dimensional. They each had multiple layers to their personality. They could all be soft and sometimes sweet only to turn around and show how lethal and secretive they can be. It makes them feel real with their own flaws but it also makes it feel like no one can be trusted because while yes each character has their own weaknesses and secrets, there is an underlying vibe that everyone is holding something even bigger close to their chest. This helped the pace keep this quick, sharp, and urgent consistency. I would say this is light fantasy romance. It has some kissing and suggestive moments but it’s all fade to black. I really enjoyed the diversity and LGBTQ+ rep inside the pages. Could I have used a bit more smut with my romance? Duh but hello I’m not gonna hold that against the book as that is just my personal desires. There was a romance between two characters that I didn’t quite enjoy as much but that’s not to say I out right hated it. I think I just need it to be explored more deeply because it feels more surface level compared to the others. But the little pockets of romance we got was great and brought even more tension between these characters. Five Broken Blades was a heart pounding, suspenseful, and twisty high stakes fantasy. I was immediately sucked in and found it hard to put down. This was such a great read and I need book two asap after that ending. Thank you RedTower, Entangled, and Mai for sending me an arc! 4.5⭐️ 1.5🔥 What to expect: -revenge -multiple POVs -ex lovers reunited -cuddling to stay warm -fighting huge birds that can & will eat you -enemies to lovers -she has been forced to become the best at poisoning people -“let’s kill the god king” -everyone has secrets so no one can be trusted -found family vibes -lots of traveling TW/CW: the author included a detailed list of content warnings so please look at it before reading! Some of these include poisonings, murders, violence, death of children & animals, substance abuse, rape & genocide discussed/mentioned graphically, etc…

This book was so good!!!! This book was like an elaborate chess game with a whole cast of different players all with different motivations. I loved that this was told from all 6 main characters points of view, and I loved the politics, and the twists and turns, and betrayals. This was a book where I genuinely liked every character, but at the same time I trusted no one. This was very fast paced and I devoured it. It is a Romantic fantasy which is new from Red Tower. This publisher puts out a lot of Romantasy and Fantasy Romance, but this book was truly a high fantasy novel with a few romance plotlines that played into some of the characters motivations, but everything is closed door and the romances happening are not at the forefront of the story. I really loved this book and the writing and I can't wait for more from this series. The ending is crazy and exciting and the story leaves off in a place that I'm excited to see what happens next but isn't necessarily a cliffhanger. Mai did an amazing job of wrapping this storyline up and leaving the reader feeling satisfied with this story, but also excited for the future.

This is Six of Crows combined with The Westing Game, and filled to the brim with liars. It’s not how many lies can you keep track of before someone trips up and tells the truth, it’s can you even tell the difference anymore? Everyone lies, the truth is also a lie. This has been on my radar since it was first announced because Red Tower has gone out and found some absolutely amazing stories to grace us with over the past year. This is the authors fantasy debut and I am here for it. Mai Corland does an amazing job wrangling 6 points of view and plots within plots and tracing all of the lies to the biggest liar. I really enjoyed this story and the characters, it's a fun New Adult fantasy/romance that is similar in vibes to Six of Crows with a distinct The Westing Game/Clue style of liars and lies. I loved that clues to what was going on were sprinkled into the different points of view, but the clues didn't necessarily belong to the character who was the current POV. I found the ending to be very interesting and that it leaves it open to a continuation, possibly a duology which to me would be perfect. Highly recommend for those who loved Six of Crows, The Gilded Wolves but wanted a little more morally grey characters and less of a found family vibe.

I liked this book very much!! After initially reading the blurb of Five Broken Blades I knew it was going to be a good read. It gave DND, heist, found family, deception, and romance! All amazing things. The found family aspect was my favorite and it paired with the fast paced plot. With the POV’s switching so often the plot ran quickly but I didn’t feel it lacked in bonding moments for our characters. It’s been a while since I’ve read more than 2 POV’s so this was a great break from my norm and hearing so many different voices was refreshing. The ending was satisfying in the way of leaving you wanting the next book simply for so many answers. On to characters!! I adore Royo, his brooding softness and inner turmoil. Sora is flying by the seat of her pants and just wants a peaceful life with her sister which she better get!! From the get go Euyn, Mikail, and Aeri we’re all sus. And that’s all that I’m saying about that. 😤 I will say this group of the most dangerous and deadly is quite different than I thought they’d be but everyone has their own motive, secrets and weaknesses. I just think we got to see their softer sides sooner than I anticipated. I hope in the next books we get to see more malice, more actions and more will to take back their lives. Overall I rate this a 4.5⭐️’s and will be diving into the 2nd book as soon as it arrives on my doorstep!

Really enjoyed this book. The characters were fun to get to know and I liked the relationships between them. The pace was fast and I liked the writing. Is it a perfect book? No. But overall I would def recommend to read!

Slow start but once characters have been introduced,the way the story intertwines...fabulous.One of the best plots with lot of plot twists.Especially given that everything that doesn't make sense at first starts to make sense later,marvellous.I could also picture some of the action scenes,the wordings made it that vivid!

Cover came in damaged on multiple places on the back.. I was very looking forward to this one so very disappointed.

This was such a fun read. I have so many people raving about this series of books, and I decided to give it a try. Not just that, but I decided to try an immersive read (ebook and audio) and that made the whole experience much more fun. Mai introduces us to such a wonderful cast of characters. Who is trustworthy? Who is out for themselves? The five most dangerous assassins in the land are brought together with one mission: to murder the god king Joon. He is a tyrant who rules his people with an iron fist, and his time has now come to an end. Each of the assassins has their own goals after the murder of the king, from wanting to right a wrong, to wanting freedom. But to complete their mission, they must learn to work together, and that is easier said than done. The book is good on its own, but if you add in the fantastic audio it really brings the book to more life. Each character is read by a different person, and they all do a wonderful job of bringing their character to the forefront. There are epic fights, love, laughs and so much more. If you fancy going on an adventure, then I highly recommend this book. It's endearing, heart pounding, romantic, and laugh-out-loud funny. Everything you could want from a book. I can't wait to read the next two books in the series.

Ugh. I want more. Now. Please. Struggled with who everyone was for a beat but got over myself and trusted the process and this is one of my fave reads of the year.