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Crossed Blades (2012)

by Kelly McCullough(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1937007847 (ISBN13: 9781937007843)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Ace

series

Fallen Blade

review 1: Aral and Triss have become two of my favorite fantasy characters. I love this series!In this installment, Aral the Kingslayer comes face-to-face with his past. His former lover and Blade wants his help to rescue a few survivors from the destruction of Namara's temple. Aral did not know there were so many and that they were together. Of course, he can't trust his ex but he has to join the fight. Aral is still very wounded by the murder of his goddess by the Hand of Heaven who just happen to once again has possession of Namara's remaining Blades. They are mostly young trainees but they belonged to Namara so that's reason enough.It's never simple for Aral so of course everything goes to hell PDQ. What Ms. McCullough does so well is reveal more of Aral's gifts as he slo... morewly finds his way back from his own personal hell. His relationship with his shadow familiar, Triss, is well imagined and substantiated. You feel their love and respect for one another.Crossed Blades takes the pair out of their kingdom and into other parts of their world. This gave me more of Ms. McCulllough's world-building skills. She is very visual without taking the reader out of the story. It all flows beautifully. The characters introduced in this story were important to Aral so they become important to me. They were not good people but they belonged to his story so I wanted them to live up to Aral's expectations -- some did, some didn't, and some were so much more than I expected.This series is a winner. I highly recommend it to fantasy readers who love action, a vulnerable hero, and fully wrapped plot. These books are best read in sequence but they are complete stories.
review 2: I continue to avidly devour this series and like it a bit better than the writing craft probably deserves. The characters, world, and capers continue to entertain and I have been well and truly hooked. While there is more of the repetition of themes that stood out a bit too much in the second book, it's tempered by new settings and an expansion of scope that puts the familiar into a new context. Must reading for those who liked the first two. less

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