Kill the dragon. Find the blade. Reclaim her honor.
It’s that, or end up like countless knights before her, as a puddle of gore and molten armor.
Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff.
A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it’s that “die trying” is where to wager your coin.
Maddileh’s tale contains a rich history of dragons, ill-fated knights, scheming squires, and sapphic love, with deceptions and double-crosses that will keep you guessing right up to its dramatic conclusion. Ultimately, The Fireborne Blade is about the roles we refuse to accept, and of the place we make for ourselves in the world.
Feels like epic fantasy novellas are a little bit like unicorns in a way. Which is to say I’m not seeing a whole ton of them.
Which is a shame, because when it’s done well, I think a 150-200 page novella can be every bit as epic & badass as an 800-page behemoth.
I read Charlotte Bond’s THE FIREBORNE BLADE in one (or like…one and a half) sittings & fucking loved it. I’m not sure how many books are planned for this series, but I can’t think of many other instances where a publisher has revealed the cover for book two prior to book one’s release, like Tordotcom Publishing has done for this series! They posted the WICKED cover for THE BLOODLESS PRINCES on March 20th, a full two months before THE FIREBORNE BLADE is scheduled to hit shelves.
And dang. Both covers are STUNNING! The artist is Martina Fačková and I think she’s doing some of the best covers in fantasy! I just posted a review for Richard Swan’s THE TRIALS OF EMPIRE, which was also Fačková’s work (she did the covers for all three in the trilogy). I know some folks prefer covers that don’t feature full-body character art but I’m in the opposite camp & that’s pretty much my favorite style of cover!
Maddileh is a badass dragon-slaying knight, and in this world, a woman being a knight is…not terribly common. After something of a personal scandal, Maddileh is given a seemingly-impossible task as the only way to reclaim her honor: enter the lair of an incredibly old & dangerous dragon named the White Lady, and retrieve a magical sword, the titular Fireborne Blade.
Along with her on this quest is her slightly mysterious new squire, Petros. They begin their descent into the dragon’s lair, and things are fraught from the get-go. Spirits of those killed by dragons, the so-called dragon-dead, are known to haunt dragon lairs. And wow, goddamn. There are a couple passages in this book that TERRIFIED me…like chilled me straight to the bone. I think it’s nearly impossible for an author to pull off a true jump scare in a book, but Bond got pretty close here (at least for me). Was absolutely not expecting this level of creepiness here, and really appreciated it!
The book is also interspersed with some folklore & oral histories about dragons and dragon hunters, from the in-universe book THE DEMISE AND DEMESNE OF DRAGONS. These don’t necessarily factor into the plot very much, but they add color to the world and some of these chapters are fucking hilarious.
There’s also a lot of flashback chapters that describe how Maddileh meets Saralene. Saralene is hugely important to this story, but that’s all I’m going to say about her.
Everything connects in a really neat way, and there are some BIG surprises within this little book! I loved Maddileh as a protagonist a whole lot. She’s rough around the edges, but there’s a lot of tenderness to the character as well. I also loved the portrayal of her fear in the face of dragons & various other horrors that are out to get her…like she handles business in a serious fucking way, but I think Bond cranks up the tension in different scenes by showing us a character that is scared on a primal level, but still working through the fear.
This was a delight, I loved every last bit of this book! I can’t wait for the sequel!
Big thanks to Tordotcom Publishing for sending the ARC my way! THE FIREBORNE BLADE releases May 28th!
Grimdark Dad 