Sunday, November 10, 2024

Helen Scheuerer: Blood & Steel

In the first in a series, Helen Scheuerer, one women challenges for her right to be a protector of her realm:

Althea (Thea) has always known the age that she would die, so she has been determined to life her life to it's limit till that time. What Thea has always wanted to be was a warrior, a protector but women are forbidden to wield any blades. For years she has been practicing in secret honing her skills to perfection, until one day she is caught with a blade. The price for wielding a blade is steep but she is able to plead her case to the rulers of the 5 realms. Now Thea must find her place within warriors of Thezmarr as the veil is thinning and monsters are invading the land.

I'm always up for starting a new series, especially one that already has a few books established so I don’t have to wait forever for the next book to come out. I enjoyed this book, I like the medieval feel of the world, as well as Thea as a main character, but this was a bit slower than i thought it was going to be. With the medieval feel, I thought there would be more battles and fights but instead there was more character and relationship building. Even the times they are in lessons did not feel as fleshed out as they could have been.

I really enjoyed Thea as a character and her struggles of who she wants to be as well as her relationship with her sister Wren, who just thinks that she should just accept her position in life as a women. You cannot help but cheer for her in her want to be a warrior and show what she can do. I will say that Thea does come off younger with some of the choices that she makes, more late teens and someone in her 20s, but maybe that is due to the product of her upbringing. I also adored her friendship with Cal and Kipp, they are quite the Trio and it was great to see how much they supported each other.

If you like you a broody MMC then you will enjoy Wilder. Was a bit too broody? Maybe at times, I'm honestly more interested in his fighting ability and what he can do than the tension between him and Thea.

I will say that Scheuerer was able to shock me with one twist coming and wow some betrayal in there as well, was nicely places.

Medieval type world, with the veil coming down between the two worlds, which causes monsters to be released on the human side of the realm. This does lead to some monster fighting, but there is really only one big scene of it. I also do not 100% understand the magic system that is in place here but I feel like it will be explained in the next book (and this is just based upon the events of this one).

Although this as a bit slower than I expected, I was really invested in the characters and even the world that Scheuerer has placed them in. I look forward to continuing on in the series.

Enjoy!!!!

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