Of Swords and Soulmates

"Five Broken Blades" - Five Killers, One Crown, and a Web of Deception

• Mari • Season 2 • Episode 33

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Betrayal has never been so tantalizing as in Maya Corland's "Five Broken Blades," where five deadly assassins must form an uneasy alliance against an immortal tyrant—if they don't kill each other first.

When a mysterious summons brings together the most dangerous liars in the land, their mission seems straightforward: assassinate the God-King Jun who rules with immortal cruelty. Yet nothing about this alliance is simple. Royo, the hired hitman haunted by past mistakes; Sora, the poison maiden whose very touch brings death; Prince Ewan, banished for alleged crimes; and two equally lethal companions must navigate a labyrinth of deception where trust itself becomes a weapon.

We dive deep into this Asian-inspired fantasy world with its fascinating magical artifacts and rich cultural elements. The poison maidens concept draws from ancient folklore, while the magical relics—each carrying their own terrible price—add layers of intrigue to an already complex plot. Our hosts offer conflicting perspectives on Corland's multi-POV storytelling approach, with some finding it immersive and others feeling overwhelmed by the constant perspective shifts.

The romantic elements woven throughout the narrative sparked particular interest. Taeyang's willingness to risk death just for a chance to kiss the poison-laced Sora creates a poignant forbidden romance, while Royo's grumpy-sunshine dynamic with Ari provides moments of tenderness amid danger. These relationships aren't mere subplots but crucial elements that fundamentally alter the characters' motivations and choices.

Whether you're seeking political intrigue, complex character studies, or slow-burn romance in your fantasy, "Five Broken Blades" offers a taste of each—though you'll have to decide for yourself if this blend of deadly missions and blossoming feelings hits the mark. Listen as we unravel the many layers of betrayal, redemption, and unexpected connection in the first installment of Corland's captivating trilogy.

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Ashley:

Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claim to be literary experts and their opinions are exactly that opinions. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and is being used under the Fair Use Doctrine.

Mari:

Hello and welcome to Love Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch and discuss romanticist stories. I'm one of your hosts, mari, and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly:

Hey everyone, it's Kelly and we have Ashley.

Ashley:

Hi, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan:

What's good everybody, it's JP.

Mari:

So today we're going to be discussing Five Broken Blades by Maya Corlin, but first, as always, some news. And man, do we have some news? The book news has been newsing lately. So first is, of course, the discussion. I think everybody here has heard of it, and if not about the Million Lives Book Festival fiasco thing, that happened in Baltimore.

Mari:

That was wild. The feedback on that I've seen it come from authors and yeah. So basically, there was a book festival in baltimore scheduled for may 2nd and 3rd. It was called the million lives book festival. It uh, mainly focused on independent authors, uh, and it it basically imploded, exploded, um, it did not happen. It was real bad. They're like comparing it to the fire festival of of book festivals, which you know is never, never a good comparison. There is an author who has done a four-part, I guess, in-depth synopsis of her experience at it.

Mari:

That's, I think that's basically how I first heard of it yeah, you didn't see that.

Jonathan:

I saw the the same, like the. The link that's in this chat was like.

Ashley:

I thought it was just like in a, like an attendee that posted about it. I didn't dive too deep into it because I felt bad. Man, could you imagine dropping that kind of money and then showing up to like a middle school dance?

Jonathan:

it wasn't. Even a middle school dance would have been better yeah, exactly it was like concrete floors and like a, like a rose of table, a couple like maybe it was a shape like a u, so basically they had it was a convention center.

Mari:

So, like you know, yeah, concrete floors, convention center. I I was at a con in baltimore uh, monsterotica Con last weekend, and where I was at from when I was going from the airport to the hotel, I walked past this convention center, so it's a whole convention center. The author if you guys are looking at anyone who's listening, we'll put the links on our notes, but the author is Percy P-E-R-C-I J, j-a-y, percy J. If you look her up on TikTok she's got like a four-part synopsis.

Mari:

She was an attending author there and I believe also like a top-tier sponsor of the event and basically, like there were no tablecloths, there were no chairs for the panelists in the room, yeah, there was no decorations $250 you paid to go to this ball. There was no ball, there was no music, there was no food, and I'm sure I mean people are laughing about now because you can laugh about this stuff after the fact. But you know people paid to be there and they the attendance, and then the authors like flew in from other places, you know, probably took time off their jobs, paid to be there, you know, brought on all this, either shipped their books in or paid all this money to bring books in, you know and who knows what else they were selling, and there was like there was supposed to be four to 500 people there and I think the highest estimate I've heard of people who actually showed up was like 100 people.

Jonathan:

Oh, wow.

Ashley:

Yeah, so but wait was attendance less Because people just't so like they paid and didn't show no, they didn't pay, they didn't sell out, so yeah, apparently this is a first time event by a first time person.

Mari:

The person is an author herself who did it. She's not like an event runner, and it's interesting because I put some links that we'll put in the notes. Like, there's a YouTuber that I followed. She's an event's an event planner, and I followed her take on events because I thought it was interesting and I kind of related to it. Basically, she was talking about as an event planner. This is what went wrong and this is at what point this should have been. You should have seen what was going to happen and canceled it, kind of thing.

Mari:

The YouTuber's biblio lifestyle and she basically talks about when you put on an event, you have a set amount of money you have to like, have, and if you don't have this many people committed to it by a certain date, you need to cancel it. Like you, your event's not going to go. You don't wait till the last minute and hope that you make enough people to make your event, which is basically, I guess, what this person did. Like, the authors that were there provided stuff for swag bags. The swag bags disappeared. They were never given out. Wow, like, yes, it's levels upon levels of things and I don't know, like, yes, yes, like the people who are hurt.

Mari:

Obviously were the authors who were trying to there, the, the people who attended and like anybody who's a brand new, like event person trying to put on their first event because now everyone's going to be more, you know, skeptical about new events yeah, yeah, but it's interesting because this the youtube video person who had done events basically.

Mari:

So in a in a previous life, in my belly dance days, I put on with with some friends, I put on events and they weren't as big as like a book festival type situation, but you would have multiple you know artists or dancers, instructors, coming from different states. You'd bring them together, you'd have workshops which would be comparable to panels. You'd have you know people, you'd have vendors selling things and then at the end of the event you'd have a belly dance party, a half-loss. You'd have a performance, you'd have to do sound, you'd have to have a stage seating.

Mari:

So these are some things that I understand, and one of the things that we always did is we had a formula you have to be able to have this many people committed to sold by this date, otherwise you're canceling the event. And if it came close to it and we were a few tickets short, we would like. If it came close to it, we were like a few tickets short, we would like post on social media and if we got the people, then the event would go on. But if there weren't enough people we would cancel the event, which is the responsible thing to do.

Jonathan:

Yeah, no, absolutely A hundred percent. A hundred percent of the time it's. You know, sometimes there's embarrassment too.

Mari:

I think this person got in over their head and just did not know what they were doing. I don't think it was like. I don't think she was like embezzling. You know what I mean. Like I don't think it was a willful situation, but I think she just got way over her head. That's so sad yeah.

Ashley:

Like for everybody.

Jonathan:

It is. I think she did offer. She was like hey, refunds for those who request Right no-transcript the podcast. Yeah, I'm down for that you know class criteria.

Mari:

Interestingly, without realizing it, because I didn't really get this deep into this new story last weekend because was at the the monster book con, two of the authors from this list were actually at the monster erotica book con oh yeah, so you meet them I did meet them. They were very, very sweet and very nice and I of course bought books. Surprise, mario bought books, um they're yeah.

Mari:

Yeah, they're um spicy monster, um type books. So one of them is it had a krampus on the cover, so of course I bought it. The book is called. Be Terrible, and the author's pen name is Molly Likovich oh, interesting. I believe also available on audio They'll make it easier for everyone to read is Mallory Dunlan. She wrote one captured by the Fae Beast which looked really interesting, so I was thinking maybe we could pick that and read it later this year.

Ashley:

Yeah, what a wild story that was. Yeah.

Mari:

Not all the authors are romantic authors, Like there's romance authors. There's a bit of a variety of genres there on that list of the on the Indie Author Connect page. But I would highly encourage anyone to look over it and see if there's anything that interests you. Yeah, we won't hold it against them. I guess it's okay if there's no monsters or fae or magic, I suppose.

Ashley:

Gotta have a palate cleanser. Yeah, every once in a while, neurotypical stuff, I guess. No, that was mildly insulting, sorry yeah, that was the big news.

Mari:

Um, I would say. But we have a few other things. Kandari blake, who we have read and reviewed and met at last year's romanacy con, is writing a new book. It's coming out like way in the future. I don't think she even has a release date yet, but she was really excited about it. She posted on her Instagram it's going to be called the stolen queen. Yeah, so she described it as one part rush hour with a healthy shake of the emperor's new grove, the groove. So sorry, brain is mush today. The emperor's new groove. This romantic rom-com is currently keeping me sane. The heroine is a bookish soon-to-be queen who believes that the solution to any problem can be found in a library. The hero is a god stowing away in her head. He's a complete pain in the ass. Doesn't come out for a long time, but I'm so excited. That's her little quote I love this.

Ashley:

Yeah, it sounds interesting. I really enjoyed that series. The ending felt rushed. It was like game of thrones, like it's like they ran out of money or they rushed it kind of thing. I wasn't disappointed like in the ending. It was kind of what I like it wasn't displeasing, I just felt rushed like, like pushed, like they threw it off the edge.

Mari:

We're out of money for pages yeah, like I wonder if she was like maybe had she been able to do it in her own time, if she would have gone on to writing something else and then come back to it and maybe felt more like I feel like she was maybe doing it to meet a deadline rather than she really wanted to get a certain story out.

Ashley:

But I definitely like I I distinctly remember her books and I really enjoyed that series, which I can't always say right, Like you can enjoy something and then I typically lose it in my brain. I was like what exactly did I read a year ago? But I really did enjoy Kendari. But I remember being excited to meet her too at Romanticicon.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Tell me again which book was that?

Ashley:

Three Dark.

Jonathan:

Crowns, what series.

Ashley:

Three Dark Crowns.

Jonathan:

Good job three dark crowns, series three dark crowns good job, okay. Yeah, yeah, I like gold star to mari.

Mari:

It's a gold star day for mari.

Mari:

Okay, next bit of news a feast of thorns and roses, which is an akatar cookbook, has just come out, on april 1st of this year merchandising yes we put the pictures, we put the picture's name on everything so, um, I have been reading through the ACOTAR series with the Summer and Rebecca who've been on the podcast, so I've been reading through it with them and we had gone together and did somewhat themed food, had furry wine and whatnot, but it's kind of hard to come up with stuff on the fly, but this book had some interesting looking recipes in it from what I flipped through online, so I think I might get it. I've heard it has a lot of vegetarian-friendly meals and it looks like it's got a variety like food but also drinks and desserts and snacks and things. So I'm intrigued.

Jonathan:

Are you going to get the hardcover to cook with with or are you going to cook with your Kindle?

Mari:

No, not the Kindle. It would be the iPad or my phone, unless I get the hardcover. If I get the hardcover, I don't know if I'm going to get the paper hardcover or the spiral bound one, which is nice when you're cooking because it lays flat.

Ashley:

Oh yeah.

Mari:

But the spiral bound one is like twice the price. It's like $40. So I don't know iPads lay flat too.

Mari:

Yeah, exactly, and I don't cook a lot. Kelly's the main cook. I have these cookbooks of things like I'm going to do a Ghibli meal, studio Ghibli meal, or like a Firefly meal. I've got all these really cool themed cookbooks. Have I done a single damn recipe from any of them? No Aspirational, so anyways it's out. It's interesting if anyone is looking to throw like an ACOTAR party or is just looking to try some different recipes or things from the book, that might be something worth checking out.

Ashley:

It's a neat little thing. It's just not what we need from Sarah right now.

Mari:

Correct, a hundred percent. What do we need from sarah right now, correct?

Jonathan:

100. What do we need from sarah?

Ashley:

uh, book six, yes, seven, whatever the next book is, whatever the next book, it's been too long. Sarah, what 10 years for an akatar. But I was gonna say, crescent city came out just a couple years ago, didn't it?

Mari:

yeah, crescent city came out last year was it?

Ashley:

I can't remember if it was last year or 23? Yeah, but akatar, it's been a minute. Yeah, she needs to know. I feel like a court of silver flames, isn't that what it is? That was definitely like just around or just after the pandemic, I feel, but it's still too long we need to uh, have some closure to this storyline.

Mari:

You need to know what, oh 2021.

Ashley:

Published february 20th. Yeah, so pandemic? Yeah, yeah, you're right go me good, good memory four years, that's all I got. Nice talking to everybody done.

Mari:

Other bit of news I have is uh, devny perry, who wrote the what is it shield of sparrows book that just came out it's been picked up for a movie that's so wild.

Ashley:

Yeah, I don't think.

Mari:

I think when I had seen that headline it hadn't even delivered yet no, I mean it just the book just released on the 6th of may, um so like it just came out.

Ashley:

Uh, so that publisher is pushing stuff hard yeah, I I've heard good things about the book. I haven't read it yet, but it is sitting in our um entryway because it did deliver and it was so pretty yeah, it is really pretty sitting on on our kitchen counter and I will get to it.

Mari:

I was hardcore reading Monster Romance books for that con and then I was hardcore crimping to read the book for today Literally finished it today. Yeah, it was a thick one.

Kelly:

Yeah.

Mari:

But it looks interesting. I've heard good things about it and it's being picked up by Amazon MGM Studios, and the person writing the screenplay is the one who wrote John Wick.

Ashley:

So oh yeah, that'll be interesting.

Mari:

I did too. I'm trying to think if I liked it for the way it was written or if I liked it for all the cool action scenes and the fact that I love Keanu Reeves. So I don't know.

Ashley:

I think it was all of the above. Yeah, yeah.

Jonathan:

We definitely put Ashley through a Keanu Reeves marathon this weekend.

Ashley:

Yes, delightfully so, most egregious.

Mari:

Keanu Reeves is fun. Yeah, so I'll be. I'll be looking forward to reading that book, probably soon-ish, and having an actual opinion. Right now I can just tell you it's pretty and the synopsis sounds intriguing.

Ashley:

I think I sent that to you. You did Look at that yeah.

Mari:

I was like damn you Ash.

Ashley:

Now I've got to preorder another one.

Mari:

But it was so pretty.

Jonathan:

Did you preorder books for me, Ashley Is that books for you. Yeah, did I see things in our Amazon cart or did I accidentally those?

Mari:

were, you, were you ordering books in your sleep.

Ashley:

Well, sometimes he drops stuff in the cart to look at them later Because he's thinking about it.

Jonathan:

And then he forgets about it. I have to look at it, but it looks like we're getting books.

Ashley:

I mean, I have pre-orders coming in. It's pre-order season, my friend.

Jonathan:

Apparently, because I definitely have some.

Ashley:

You have books Like they've already been ordered.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I was surprised.

Ashley:

No, that was you. That's you, that's me, that's me, that's you.

Mari:

Surprise yourself. That's me.

Jonathan:

That's me, that's me, that's you there were some that I don't remember doing but that one. Uh, yeah, I didn't remember that I did that one okay not I okay.

Mari:

So other bit of news we have exciting. I feel like we may have slightly manifested this, especially as much as you talked about wanting to see her. Jonathan hannah nicole is going to be at romantic con in orlando this year. Oh yeah, I was yeah.

Ashley:

I was so excited, I'm so relieved.

Jonathan:

I was so excited.

Ashley:

I thought we were not going to get to see her this year, like we had a shot and then we blew it and we didn't blow it, we just did something else. Yeah, that's blowing it, sir.

Jonathan:

Nah, we, I mean, it was a fun time, don't get me wrong, but like I want to meet Hannah Nicole. It was Mara, to give context. It was up against Josh Gad and we went to see Josh Gad instead.

Ashley:

And got books out of that, which was a surprising turn of events. But I really did want to see Hannah, Nicole Mayer and Mai Corland. I hope Mai comes. Maybe she'll come. Didn't we see Mai last year? Mai no she wasn't there.

Jonathan:

What did she write? Five Broken Plates.

Mari:

The book we just read. The book we just read.

Jonathan:

I'm going to be very candid here. This book lost me.

Ashley:

That's for later.

Mari:

Yes, we're going to get to that. I think Kelly and I have some things to say as well. Last bit of news oh, actually real quick, before I move on to the other news, I did want to say that the Hannah Nicole mirror is going to be one of several ticketed authors this year at Romantic Con, which is different from last year. So I've been on the on discord, on their discord, paying attention, and that doesn't mean that you have to pay more, so you don't have to buy a buy a ticket or anything. It's still the same cost you. You paid for the con, but the authors that they expect are going to have long lines. You have to. When the app goes live, um and and like loads up or whatever, you have to get a ticket to basically be able to stand in line. I think that's terrible news. So I don't know who else is going to be ticketed, but I know obviously yaros henrico mayor. I would assume ali hazelwood, if she's still coming, will probably be ticketed.

Jonathan:

Dang it.

Mari:

I was hoping that she wouldn't get ticketed, I mean maybe not, but I mean before Yaro, she was the biggest name that I knew that was going to be coming.

Ashley:

So if memory serves, which is not always reliable. Let's be honest, Last year they only had two or maybe four authors, but they weren't there every single day. Maybe four authors, but they weren't there every single day, and I think that's what was confusing about this process last year was that there was a handful of authors that you had to sign up for, like the panels, right? I?

Ashley:

believe so and those that did sell out. And I say sell out but I know that we're not paying more for it, but it did sell out very, very quickly. We just weren't particularly you know overwhelmingly interested in those authors, yeah which happened to be penn cole, who now jonathan, is. Like fuck, we missed out on that. But yeah, so I'm familiar with what is going to be required.

Jonathan:

I'm sad that we're gonna have to do it for and yeah, well, maybe um penn cole will just be a late ad yeah, I mean, I mean maybe, yeah, I don't know, I mean Hannah Nicole just signed up, so we have time.

Ashley:

Yeah, shit can happen, yeah.

Jonathan:

Penn, if you're listening.

Ashley:

We love you.

Jonathan:

Come and see us.

Mari:

So I will say, for anyone who's going to be going, the app that you have to download the same one that they used last year. It's Guidebook. They just haven't updated with the new information. But if you, if you still have the guidebook app from last year, that's where it's going to be at. If you don't have it, you may want to re-download it.

Ashley:

You guys should refresh your passwords if you don't remember what it is, because it's going to be go time.

Jonathan:

Yes, that too do we have an idea when it's gonna go live?

Mari:

august, I believe, is what it was on the discord.

Ashley:

So last year we got the email on like august 1st and it came directly, come from directly from fabled fantasy events, um, although I don't think it was quite as clear, right, like what to do, like I don't think we understood. You know that there were going to be authors outside of the ticketed ones. You know at the time, yeah so that was confusing for sure, but it's good to know that you know there.

Mari:

Some of these bigger names are almost definitely going to be ticketed in that way so that we can prepare honest yeah, like if you, if it's that, if that's your, you know someone you really, really want to make a priority, then you know how to do it, you know. So I think it'll, hopefully it'll make it smoother for everybody I'm so glad we're going both days this year did we only go to one last year? Yeah, you guys did, I think kelly and I went both days, didn't we, kelly?

Kelly:

I think so yeah, we went both days yeah, okay.

Mari:

A last bit of news is that bridgerton season four will be coming in 2026, which is not news. I think we've known this. However, they did announce that they've officially picked up for sure are going to be doing season five and season six as well. I mean, that makes sense. Yeah, well, not for netflix, to be honest.

Ashley:

Netflix is great at canceling things midway they've had so much success, though, with bridgerton, I would have been shocked had they not followed through um, because you know it's just been so popular and I think it's brought, you know, a lot of people back in. You know it's I mean shonda. They have to keep shonda.

Jonathan:

If they lose her, they're fucked, right right well, I don't know that it was a matter of them not following through on some of the stuff. I think that some of the stuff they did it was just people who were participants in it didn't do such a great job of being human beings oh, I don't know.

Mari:

I mean some things, yeah, but like my biggest gripe with them was when they uh had shadow and bone and it was amazing. And just as the story was getting amazing, they're like nah, we're just gonna stop it, we're just gonna end it right here yeah, that makes sense, I just. But I think arguably bridgerton has been such an overwhelming bigger success yeah, for them more broad, for sure, like more people are like a wider variety of people I think are into bridgerton than shadow and bone.

Mari:

So so, yeah, yeah, good news for anyone looking forward to bridgerton, which is fun times. Moving on, any news bits anybody else has I don't know if anybody else saw.

Ashley:

I don't remember where it was announced or how I found out in hindsight, but the alchemized by sin lin, you is now arriving a week earlier I saw that yes, I'm not sure why I'll take it.

Mari:

But I thought that was important news.

Ashley:

Yeah, like that's. That's the kind of movement we want to see. Yeah, in release date.

Mari:

Yes absolutely.

Ashley:

So yeah, I'm excited. I thought that was cool. I thought it was cool that they announced it. You know what I mean. Like that's something I would probably keep a little bit closer to the in case it didn't work out. Yeah, but no, they were like hey, earlier than we thought, yeah, so that'll be nice, that'll be good.

Mari:

I honestly couldn't remember when it was supposed to come out, because I just I pre-ordered it, so it just was showing me the new date.

Ashley:

Yeah, it was supposed to be like September 30th and now it's the 23rd. Okay.

Mari:

So not like huge gains, but it's still impressive.

Ashley:

Yeah, might be able to get it and get it read before halloween.

Mari:

That'll be nice. All right, anything else from anybody else. So we're moving on to talk about the book that we've read. We read five broken blades, my by, by maya corland. We chose it because we were looking for an aAPI author founder. So it's AAPI month, which is Asian, pacific, american Heritage Month, and also Ash had already read it. I believe, like you had read it and recommended it, right, mm-hmm, yeah, I think you were the only one.

Jonathan:

To recommend it. Yeah, I agree.

Mari:

Okay, so let me go on with the synopsis.

Ashley:

My bad, my bad. Then you guys can yell at me.

Mari:

So it was published, may 7th 2024. And here is the synopsis. It's the season for treason. The king of Yuusan must die. The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective To kill the god king Jun. He has it coming Under his merciless, immortal hand. The nobles flourish while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined or sold, and now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness, from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance. They can agree on murder, they can agree on treachery, but for these five killers, each versed in deception, lies and betrayal, it's not enough to forge an alliance to survive. They'll have to find a way to trust each other. But only one can take the crown let the best liar win come on that's amazing, I just got chills.

Mari:

It is pretty cool. Synopsis it is a very cool synopsis, as usual, as our new usual. We are going to be talking about the book in full, so if you care about spoilers, I guess read it first before listening, because we're just going to go on and talk about everything whoever wants to talk first. Overall rating what did you guys think?

Ashley:

should I go first? I feel like I'm the only one that's happy with. I loved this book. I think this was probably one of the first books I devoured this year, and I found out after the fact that I enjoyed the audio book more but, mostly because my brain never says names in certain words, right, because I've never heard them before, right.

Ashley:

So I actually did enjoy the audio book because I was kind of like going back and forth for some reason, I don't remember why now. So the audio book made it a little bit easier because there were differences in the voice. They had an actor for each voice. And I thought that that was really impressive and I thought it just kind of helped, you know, assign the character a little bit better and you know their feelings and story a little bit better. So I was a huge fan of this book. I couldn't put it down.

Jonathan:

I, on the other hand could put it down.

Ashley:

You put it down. I, on the other hand, could put it down. You put it down a few times.

Jonathan:

So a lot of it. I'm joking here, so I'm not going to like I'm going to remove myself from the rating system for this one because I don't have Mama said if I don't have anything kind to say, I shouldn't say anything at all. Have anything kind to say, I shouldn't say anything at all. I was distracted throughout the book because it just felt I didn't. At no point was I sure about what was happening ever and from whose perspective. That's what made it great, and it was just like it was as if somebody had mixed a bag of skittles with m&ms and I was just oh, let's just stand back and see what happens what the fuck nobody tell, nobody tell them anything.

Jonathan:

It was, that's what, that's what I felt like. So I'm not, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna give a rating, but that's those are my feelings kelly, what did you think?

Kelly:

I wanted to like this book. I really did. It started off with the premise that it was a heist book, so it had that vibe to it. You know I've got to assemble a crew, so it had that. I like the setting because I like things that aren't in the typical European style setting, so that was nice, but there was just it was all over the place. I feel like everything moved around. There was so many misdirections by the author to try and keep you guessing. I feel like this is a book that the author wanted to write and then she watched Knives Out or the Glass Onion and decided that was the direction she needed to throw in there and decided that was the direction she needed to throw in there.

Kelly:

I think some of the problem came from not just that there were too many characters, because it wasn't that there were too many characters. It was that the characters were so complex in how she was trying to establish them. That you never, I think got a good sense for them Like. This is one of those books that if she had written five different books each about each of the five people to establish them really well, and then had them all come together, it may have done better.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I agree with that, kelly, like if she had written from their each book, from their perspective, in the same timeframe.

Kelly:

Right, and I have a lot of problems, and that's just me. I have a lot of problems with books that change characters' perspectives several times, just because it feels jarring sometimes, and I think that I had that problem even with Game of Thrones to a degree, I think. Overall, the book just didn't do it for me. Like I said, I wanted to like it, but I feel like it just didn't tie up all together and that the ending felt very rushed and confusing and you had the constant hint of somebody is going to betray us, somebody's going to betray us.

Kelly:

And we go back to that classic trope of the only way the good guys fail is because somebody betrays them, and that's just a such a tired and overused thing in fiction is that you like the good guys and you think that the good guy characters are infallible. So the only way the authors or writers can make the good guys fail is to have them be betrayed. Not because they just somehow they're not competent enough at this. One thing or something happens that doesn't go their way. It's got to be because they're betrayed like a self-defeat kind of thing right, it's, it's.

Kelly:

It's a constant trope that you see in so many movies. You know, like I was just thinking about this the other day, the matrix the only way morpheus and and Neo and Trinity failed was because they got betrayed. I mean, this goes all the way back to talking early, early literature and you just see it everywhere, like the good guys get betrayed and that's how they end up failing or losing.

Mari:

Yeah. Yeah, I basically agree with you. So if I had not been reading this book for the podcast, I would have DNF it. To be quite honest, I'm glad I finished reading it, but I did have a lot of problems with it.

Mari:

I really got real tired real fast of all the sexism in it and this is not just this author, I know this is something that I've kind of been getting tired of the more and more fantasy and romancy I read where we can imagine a world with like unicorns and dragons and magic and fairies and whatever. But we can't imagine equality. You have to be thought of as being weaker or dumber or whatever because you're a girl. Apparently. Nobody's a woman in this world. You're just a girl or a whore. I guess those are the only two ways that females were referenced in this world and it was real off-putting. I was just like woof Getting beyond that. I didn't like.

Mari:

The choppiness of the chapters were real short for it to be jumping around so much. It's a testament to the author's writing that I wanted to know more about these characters. Like I was intrigued. I wanted to know the stories, but as soon as I felt like I was starting to get a vibe for a character, it was like, well, two pages in time for another one, and so that was a little whiplashy. I ended up having feelings about some of the characters, which once again means better writing than I would have originally thought, because I hate some of these characters, which is not indicative of bad writing. If anything, it's good writing if you feel that strongly about some of the characters.

Mari:

So for me, overall it averaged out to a three because there were some strong feelings in both directions, like I think this would be a really interesting. Basically, like you said, kelly, like a like a tv series or tv show, because a lot of the things that I found problematic were some of the internal monologue stuff where I'm like I think that if it were more, show me you know that these characters feel this way, rather than sitting there having them stare at each other in a room while they each have internal monologue, a lot of which was real difficult to read. I guess you're strong for a girl, I guess you're smart for a girl. My whore mother, blah, blah, blah, blah blah.

Jonathan:

I'm like, okay, yeah, so overall three for me high marks, high marks by this, by this crowd, except for actually actually actually wasn High marks by this crowd, except for Ashley. Ashley was in love with this whole series. What is it about the series, ashley, that made you fall in love with it?

Ashley:

I mean, I guess it's probably been a long time since I've read a book with so many perspectives and I think it was a little bit more whodunit than we've read in the past. I thought the concept was intriguing. I mean, given the climate of things recently, I can understand why it probably doesn't hit as hard. I think I take reading a little bit more superficially and so those I don't think that it alluded to a period of time where that's just what the thought process was for women. You know what I mean. So I guess I didn't hold it. I didn't hold that against it kind of thing, because we weren't talking about a modern book.

Ashley:

Yeah, I enjoyed that. The betrayal was on on two different sides, like they were. They were set up for failure. Yeah, from the get-go, like and that was a different perspective for me in this type of book and then to understand, you know that this story was going to evolve and that they had to continue. I don't know I it it wasn't, it wasn't a perfect ending and it kind of left me itching like, well, fuck, what happens next?

Mari:

yeah, it definitely felt like a um on the next season. Right, you gotta figure out what happens next.

Ashley:

So like it was super suspenseful. Right like I don't typically try to figure out books before they end. Right like oh, if this is a whodunit, well, we're going to find out along the way, because ashley's not guessing. Um, I'm here for the entertainment, not for the thinking yeah, yeah, I um, so it was super interesting to me for that.

Mari:

I don't know that there's much of anybody that participates on the um fabled uh, the fable app book club that we have, where we do chapter by chapter things. I think it's just eloquent muse and I back and forth talking to each other, but, um, my comments on each chapter as I read got progressively more and more unhinged, so if you want some good times, feel free to check those out. I like unhinged yeah, yeah, all right. Fantasy world building. What do we think of the world building?

Ashley:

I thought the magic that they were talking about and maybe magic's not the right word. You know the pieces of the dragon god that made the king or the wearer Wearer what's the word I want?

Mari:

Immortal Special power.

Ashley:

Yeah, yeah, or the wearer, wearer, what's the word I want? Immortal, sorry, yeah, yeah, like, yeah, well, and yeah. Sometimes it came with a special power to understand that each realm kind of had something of that nature and you know, at the end of the book we find out what the king was ultimately trying to gain from this. You know, little charade of his man. I think I'm slightly corrupt because I did read book two as well. So, um, I'm trying to to keep my thoughts in line with book one. I thought I thought an assassin and maybe there are other stories like this that I've just not read but I thought an assassin who used her body to kill was super interesting. I thought what she had to go through to get that level of killer was extremely sad. I don't know. They all had such interesting stories that didn't necessarily rely on magic, but it did rely on their history, current and further back. I was was entertained. I thought it was like a three and a half. I mean it wasn't anything overwhelming or enlightening.

Ashley:

There wasn't a ton of magic, we didn't have dragons, right yeah and we we have what feels like just like a sampling of magic in book one. I was entertained enough to to want book two pretty quickly. So I say like a three and a half for the world building how about you, jonathan I?

Jonathan:

was confused most of the time.

Ashley:

I don't know that that was all her fault no, I'm not blaming her, that's why I'm just saying, like you read at five, that you listen at five x and you weren't reading with the book.

Jonathan:

No, I had the physical copy in front of me and I I was reading.

Ashley:

The whole time.

Jonathan:

Not the whole time, Eventually. I how much of the time, a third of the time, about the time when I, like Mari, said I would have DNF'd if it wasn't for this. So I would say I knew there was a world. Say I knew there was a world, um, I was most of my attention was focused on trying to figure out who was talking to me.

Mari:

I had so many notes on the characters. I was like wait, who is this person?

Jonathan:

okay, okay, let me go back yeah, I lost, so I lost, so I lost massive track of like, like, okay, so were you sold? You were you were sold in this late. Were your parents? Where did your parents like how your parents had a debt? They gambled you away. What happened? You got your sister involved. Are you the main character? I was, I was. It was, I was struggling, struggling. Nobody was the main character. It wasn't the girl. No, are you serious?

Ashley:

if anything, they were all main characters. Yeah, they were all main characters.

Jonathan:

This whole time and a significant? Well, because they're all main characters, but a significant one dies in book two this whole time I was like, well, I was like dang, main character girl, um, but no, apparently it's very game of thrones that yes, which he's not indulged.

Ashley:

He doesn't have the trauma. Oh, that's right.

Jonathan:

Nothing about that. I know nothing about what you say.

Mari:

You know nothing.

Jonathan:

I know nothing.

Ashley:

He doesn't know how important that is, I know.

Jonathan:

Oh wait, that means something.

Mari:

Yes, you know nothing. Jon Snow, jon Snow, you know nothing.

Ashley:

Yeah, you got me. Is that pineapple, dog? Yes, yes, okay, you got that I got that much.

Jonathan:

That's that much I got away with. Yeah, sorry, I. I like I said I know there was a, some sort of a. There was stuff going on. There was a, there was a world. I just I don't know what was going on in it. Right, the whole time I guess like I've never read a book that I was more confused about and that I didn't like. In other books I wanted to go back and be like, oh, I didn't catch this, let me go figure this out once I got past it in this one I was like nah, we're good oh well, hope that wasn't important.

Jonathan:

Yes, 100%, like, 100%, Mari. I was like man. They'll tell me more about that later, if I need to know. I was like, oh, this is, and then yeah, and was it? It felt like I was in Asia. Is that an accurate sense?

Mari:

I believe. So yeah, Okay, If nothing else, like some of the food that was described. They were describing some food and I was looking up recipes. I'm like man, that sounds good.

Jonathan:

So in that regard I feel like maybe world, but I don't know. I really don't know. I don't have a good answer here. Four, three, three, right down the middle of the road.

Kelly:

Three and a half sure kelly what you think there were some interesting things that the author toyed with. I think that I would have liked to have more time exploring these relics and more time about the ethereum and the magic and whatnot, because that obviously ended up playing a bigger role near the end of the book. So I thought that was an interesting thing, but I think we could have spent more time exploring that didn't feel very well fleshed out. I think the concept of the, the poison maidens, is. It's an old concept in asian literature, the vishkanya. We're like young women used as assassin, trained, raised from an early age on a diet of poison. It's like been around since sanskrit. I don't remember what, about what time. That was time frame, I don't remember that well, but I'm sure it was like. I think it's like it goes back to like the early stuff, like sanskrit, you know bc era stuff, interesting. But it's become a popular theme in a lot of indian literature and folklore.

Kelly:

There was a book about the vishkanya in 2007 that was sort of taking a new direction, where the poison maidens were women who were deliberately infected with like hiv in order to seduce men and kill powerful men and stuff like this.

Kelly:

There's been several films about it. There's several other TV shows that have had characters about it, several novels that have it, so it's not an entirely new concept. I mean, we essentially see that same type of character with, like Poison Ivy from the Batman genre, batman area, so it's not an entirely new concept. So it was interesting to bring it in because it struck me a lot like Kendari Blake's books where we had the three, the sisters, and one of the sisters was, you know, powerful with poison supposedly, and stuff.

Kelly:

So interesting that that we had that character and I thought it was interesting to have that juxtaposition of the poison maiden as an assassin. I found Royo's character to be interesting just because the whole his whole backstory seemed very interesting tortured by this, you know thing that he may or may not have been responsible for. So he's doing everything he can to get this person out of prison as payback, knowing that even if he does, the person still won't, you know, not forgive him and stuff like that. But he's doing it just because he feels like he needs to right that wrong Very tragic.

Kelly:

So, yeah, it has a very tragic element to it and I found that interesting. I didn't particularly care for Prince Ewan and Mikhail's story. I mean it was fine, but I didn't find it especially compelling. So I found the idea, I mean, of the immortal emperor that only can be killed when his crown is off and like, despite all of the ridiculous steps that they must go through, you know, so that he never has to take his crown off, he apparently has they apparently take it off enough that they can be assassinated fairly frequently, it seems.

Mari:

Um, so I don't know, I don't know that that really worked for me, the idea that the crown made him immortal yeah, I think it was interesting that like, yeah, you had the crown that made him immortal and then you had, like, the cost that each of the artifacts had. So, like the ring that made things gold caused you physical pain, the crown, I guess, was the only one that didn't really have a cost.

Kelly:

That we know of.

Mari:

Right, yeah, that we know, Other than I. Guess the curse would have been it has to be of the bloodline, Because that was Prince Ewan's whole thing. It was like, well, even if I get it on my head, am I just going to die Because I'm not, you know, of the bloodline potentially.

Kelly:

Right, but there was doubt about cast on that, that. That was even accurate.

Mari:

Right, right, right turner thing, you know had the cost of like aging you, which was kind of interesting when you use it, yeah, I. I also thought of kandari blake's poison queen situation when I read this. I liked is it sora? So yeah, sora right so yeah, I like sora's backstory.

Mari:

I thought she was really tragic, really interesting character. Royo, I thought, was super tragic, super compelling. Chai grew on me, to be quite honest, also very tragic. I didn't like the prince so much. I think maybe he could have been a redeemable person but then, like I said, a lot of the sexism really got to me. And then also there was a point one of the many unhinged things I went into on the book club where the prince talks about what he's going to do as soon as he gets the crown If he doesn't die instantly. What's he going to do? It's going to be his first act and he was talking about basically like appearances and like how to spin it. I'm like, oh, so he's talking about erasing history and gaslighting and and spinning a good story. That's gonna be his first act as a ruler. Like, yeah, great, great job there. You real, real good character, like.

Mari:

But I was already very anti him. But once again I had feelings and this doesn't mean that the, the, that the writer was a bad writer like, if you make me hate a character, you've still done a really good job at creating a character that I hate. You know what I mean. Um, like joffrey in game of thrones, like I hate joffrey, everybody hates joffrey but that means he's a well-written bad guy, um mikhail's kind of same thing. Mikhail was like a master, I don't know. Maybe if we knew more of his story we would care, but he's just a master, user of people and manipulator and cold um you, you do get more yeah, I figured.

Mari:

I figured eventually because I'm just like oof, you could just die right now I think that was kind of the point, though, too, was you know?

Ashley:

I think kelly had mentioned that things hadn't really been fleshed out, and I think maybe that was some of the appeal, because it was like again, you're just getting that taste right and it's well, but I need more like where's the rest of it? You know what I mean.

Mari:

I need a second helping of this, for me anyway yeah, so for me, fantasy world been it gave it a three. I mean there were elements that were cool, like so the artifacts with the potential curses. That was kind of interesting. I felt like there was some of the colonialists take over and the lower underclasses trying to rise up and overthrow the tyrant king was compelling and interesting. I did not pay attention at all to the towns they were in. To be honest, I was like I'm good to keep track of these names. I'm not writing these. I know nothing about these towns, I don't know what they are definitely went on an adventure yeah they were everywhere.

Mari:

Yeah, you're building more world than I could possibly take in. It's sorry, it was a lot of world, yeah. How do we feel?

Ashley:

about the romance. So arguably, the romance for this romance scene was mostly minimal. I think you know. You see the romance blossom between you. Know Royo, and is it Aria?

Ashley:

I've got her name written down, I forget how she says her name yeah, aria, yeah, and then Aria, aria, something like that, and um, that was, that was cute, right, like you know it was. It was very like high school-y. It was like oh, but does he like me or do I like him? Like what's happening here, the, in the infatuation that what's his name's son, the, the, the count's son, has with taeyang yeah, that he has with um sora, is confusing, right, like it makes it makes you feel very conflicted because you don't want to like this individual. And then mario, like you said, you, you kind of start to and you're, you're like man. Does that make me a bad person? Right, like what's going on with me? But you get more of his story and I don't remember if that happens in book one or book two, so I won't say anything and you see that he's trying not to be his dad and that's very impactful. But then also, you know Mikhail and he's man. He's got such a good story.

Ashley:

Sorry, I think they all had their own romances and they were at different levels, right, one had more history than the other, the other had no history at all and then one was a brand new, like hey, what the fuck's going on here? And I really liked, you know, having those different it was, it was like a sampler. It was like I went to Chili's and there was a sampler platter and I had a little bit of everything. So, while the romance was not overwhelming, it was not perfect and we got it in micro doses from three different couples. I thought it was. I thought what was there was solid for each individual's perspective, perspective, and so, again, it was like a three and a half for me, because this wasn't you know, this wasn't a life-changing book, but I thought it was. I just felt it was very, very good. Jonathan, he missed all of that pass, nothing registered yeah, yeah it was.

Jonathan:

I'm telling you. It was like a race and I was dying to keep up. I couldn't. I just couldn't make it happen. There was, I think I and maybe this is why I like latched on to the lady, the poison lady, like the whole, like I really wasn't looking for love because I didn't think it was going to happen. So I was just so. Then I just shifted all my attention over to who's talking now.

Mari:

Yeah.

Jonathan:

Yeah, I don't have anything here.

Kelly:

Okay.

Mari:

Kelly.

Kelly:

I think Ashley summed it up best. I think there were a lot of little blossoming romances that we got to see. I mean, obviously you had Mikhail and Yun's previous romance. That kind of gets reignited or whatever. Then you have the little romances tend to building up and stuff, but overall there really wasn't a whole lot of romance going on. There was just subtle and slow little bits. So I think it was it wasn't terrible. It's not like it was terrible, it was fairly well done, but there just wasn't. It didn't seem like romance was much of a plot point of any part of this book really. So I ended up saying maybe this would be like a two and a half on the romance.

Mari:

Okay, so I thought the romance is what I rated the highest. To be honest, I gave romance a four. Reason is I thought that tyunes like unrequited for the large part of it love um for sora and even though she was like this, basically poison incarnate, that he, like he wanted to kiss her so bad he was willing to risk death just to maybe kiss her. Um, that's just super. I don't know, maybe it's unhealthy, but it's super romantic to me. I would die for you um type romance um, and that he was just wanted her to be happy and he was just he, he was willing to accept whatever she was willing to give his way.

Mari:

I thought that hit very well for me also, I love a grumpy sunshine situation and to me royo was just super grumpy bodyguard yeah, loved him like I just yeah him trying to work through what he was feeling in this dream of consciousness situation was was very interesting to me. I really liked him. I don't like ari, but I liked him ari. I kept saying aria, but yeah, ari I don't know, because I I didn't listen to it, but it's a e? R. I is how it's spelled yeah, no aries, right now that you said it um so I I really didn't like her, probably because I like him so much and I'm like you hurt him.

Ashley:

How dare you hurt him he is traumatized enough.

Mari:

How dare you? Um, yeah, um, sora was an interesting character in that she was so closed off because she's had to be she's. She is a weapon, you know, she is death incarnate. Um, just yeah, I. To me there was a lot of romantic elements in it, maybe not traditional, but there were a lot of moments that really like hit pretty well for me. So I would say a four for romance for me I'm not mad spice oh, there was no spice.

Ashley:

There was. Of all the things that this book had. Spice was not one of them, and I don't feel like we get a whole lot of it in the second book either. So if you're in it for the spice, this is not the one for anybody. So I I think there are allusions to spice. I think there are far more um details of passion than spice. I'd say it's like a for spice.

Jonathan:

That's being generous ditto ditto enough said no yeah enough, said I didn't get, I didn't get, I didn't get love out of it I'm.

Jonathan:

I didn't get spicy yeah actually, you know, I thought maybe it would be a little. It started off like hints of like some darker stuff and then I thought, okay, good, they're steering this, this book, away from that. And then there were a couple more hints throughout that, um, like there was like this focus on, like objectification, and and then I was just like maybe this just won't happen, kind of thing. So I don't know, yeah ditto I pretty much agree.

Kelly:

I think there was minimal spice, I think it was a one I went for a two.

Mari:

Um, I thought there were a few little moments that had some spiciness to it, just in some some of the things that were mentioned, not a whole lot. It was very, very, very minimal. Last question as always, is this a kissing book?

Ashley:

so here's the thing hear me out, guys is this a kissing book? I think this is a kissing book for some of the characters, but not all of the characters. I think ty young, this was very much a kissing book, I think, for man I was gonna say mikhail, but I know too much and so, no, no, this is not a kissing book. Decision made it's not, but it was still a very good book. How about you guys?

Jonathan:

it was not a kissing book for me either. It was a. It was a happy. It was a happy ending, I thought, because I was happy to put it down damn dang.

Kelly:

I mean it wasn't. It wasn't romantic there. We would have gotten to the same spot without any of the romance that was barely blooming so I disagree.

Mari:

I think it was a kissing book and the reason I say that is I think that enough of the characters motivations were, um, motivated, they were led by their heart that I don't know that we would have gotten to the same place without it. I think that if royale didn't love or be obsessed with ari the way he was there's, he wouldn't have trusted people, because there's people that he kind of let in and trusted because they helped save her life, um, and I think if she'd just been like another job for him, I don't think he would have done that. So I think trust would have been different. I think taeyang's, all his actions are all about sora, like the fact that he tore up her, her indentured slave servitude thing, yeah, it's all about his love for her.

Mari:

And maybe even like I don't I'm not, I didn't really like the characters of ewan and mikhail, but I think that if mikhhail hadn't had the relationship with you and you know, have this drive to find him, he couldn't have been manipulated into being a part of the plot. Like I don't think the plot would have gotten where it was without, like all the different, you know, love things that were going on. So for me. I'm going to say, yes, it's a kissing book, I think the plot would have been different.

Ashley:

Anybody wondering? Book two is out and available and book three comes out this summer, I think july, and I have pre-ordered it. I'm very excited. They are also very pretty. These are very, very, very pretty books, um, with their sprayed edges and lovely book covers.

Mari:

They're like chunkers too. It's like in the second one, like 700 and something it was.

Ashley:

They were thick girls.

Mari:

Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check the show notes, rate and review us, and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us. Follow us on Instagram at Of Swords and Soulmates, or join our Facebook page Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website ofswordsandsoulmatescom or on youtube, tiktok pinterest, with the same username. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode or reach out to us to give us your opinion on anything, please feel free to do so on any of those platforms. If you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode, follow us on goodreads at of swords and soulmates, or for chapter by chapter interaction and my unfiltered takes, go to the Fable app and join the Swords and Soulmates book club at your own risk, and we also have a Tome account, which is of Swords and Soulmates.

Mari:

Before we announce what we're going to be reading for our next episode, I'd like to read a review that someone left us on. We have a review we do. It's an older one. I've been so bad about doing this. It's an older review. This is on Spotify and someone said it's usernames. It's an anonymous message. This is another great episode.

Mari:

I was laughing at the spoiler drum solos. This also helps me figure out if I want to read a book or not. Based on your buried views, love it, hot dog. Yeah, okay, so I will say in a second what we're going to be doing for the next episode, but before we do that I will tease that we're going to be doing a little bonus episode at some point with some people who are at Monster Erotica Con, which may or may not be your jam, but if Monster Romance is your jam, or you think it might be your jam, or you want to taste and see if it's your jam, I would pay attention when we release it. It'll be a little bonus episode. I'm going to try and get together with a few people who were there and just give a little review about that con and that experience. Overall very positive, it was a good one. Would highly recommend is the too long, didn't read, didn't listen version.

Ashley:

I love that it was so good it.

Mari:

Yeah, the vibes felt like a family reunion, with all the weird family that you love. That's like the best way to describe it all. Right, last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode, when we will be discussing the 1999 movie dogma bye, bye, thank you.

People on this episode

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Mari

Host
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Ashley

Co-host
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Jonathan

Co-host
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Kelly

Co-host

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