Pennyblade
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Pennyblade
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Lambie
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By:
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J.L. Worrad
About this listen
A sharp-tongued disgraced noble turned mercenary has to stop the world collapsing into chaos in this gripping, savagely funny epic fantasy packed with unforgettable characters, for fans of Joe Abercrombie.
Exile. Mercenary. Lover. Monster. Pennyblade.
Kyra Cal’Adra has spent the last four years on the Main, living in exile from her home, her people, her lover and her past. A highblood commrach—the ancient race of the Isle, dedicated to tradition and the perfection of the blood—she’s welcome among the humans of the Main only for the skill of her rapier, her preternatural bladework. They don't care which of the gleaming towers she came from, nor that her grandmother is matriarch of one of Corso’s most powerful families.
But on the Main, women loving women is a sin punishable by death. Kyra is haunted by the ghost of Shen, the love of her life, a lowblood servant woman whom Kyra left behind as she fled the Isle.
When a simple contract goes awry, and her fellow pennyblades betray her, Kyra is set onto a collision course with her old life, and the age-old conflict between the Main and the Isle threatens to erupt once more.
©2022 J. L. Worrad (P)2022 W F HowesListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Pennyblade
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 19-09-22
Some good, some bad.
In terms of worldbuilding, tone, prose and such, this was actually a solid novel. Probably helped by truly excellent narration.
Where it suffered was that the plot meandered back and forth, with the protagonist more often than not more concerned about getting laid, and the story’s climax was… somewhat of a let-down. A literal scooby doo ending, actually.
That’s the short summary. Now, for some details, with spoilers.
The world is cool, but we don’t get to see enough of it. Especially not the human mainland. What countries are there? What does it look like? It’s rather generic. The elven society is more detailed. It’s repellant, but I suspect that is very much the point. If you remove all the fantasy flavouring, the protagonist is a literal nazi. Sure, she slowly realised her ideology and that of her people is bad… but she doesn’t step that far away from it.
The characters are likeable. Terrible people, almost all, but they’re likeable. This is actually quite the feat, considering the aforementioned elf-nazism going on.
Another issue is the sex. The elven society is steeped in it. It’s reasonably accepting of people being gay and trans, which is nice, though it’s got a lot of messed up conservative elements to it, too, which is problematic, but in a way that’s clearly intentional.
What’s problematic (but for the story this time) and possibly less intentional, is the overwhelming amount of pointless, gratuitous sex. Primarily because it never seems to lead to anything. The one sex scene that actually would’ve been relevant to show in full, where Shen and Kyra finally have their moment, is skipped entirely.
So, to wrap this up. This novel is crass, messed up, quite funny at times, and deals with some really heavy themes that I suspect a lot of people won’t be comfortable with. If the plot had been better and more prevalent, and some of the pointless smut had been cut, it could’ve been a really good novel. It’s still alright and if there’s a sequel, I’ll probably read it because I liked the characters.
Also, despite a weak climax, the epilogue chapter was very good.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 22-04-22
Nice one, Jim!
The story was engaging, and the narration was great.
I hope there's a next one.
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