Assassin's Blade: The White Mage Saga Prequel

This is a prequel novella to The Chronicles of Lumineia: The White Mage Saga, and the latest that I've completed from Podium Audio as there is a ton of prequels from them included on audible right now. 

This one kind of felt like the complete opposite of the prequel novella I just finished (Shield Knight: Ghost Orcs by Jonathan Moeller). It didn't do much in the way of world building, or lore, and it literally described nothing. The story is actually urban fantasy, which from the cover you'd never guess, but it says it starts in New York. If it wasn't for the fact that at one point he's in a wood and steel warehouse I don't think it even points to a time period either. Even though that descriptor alone points to what, industrial-modern? Plus with this being so short, other than naming it on earth (via New York, Florida and Russia), it doesn't have anything that involves our normal world in it weirdly enough. 

The story is about an assassin, aka ‘the swordsman,' who can use magic to enhance his fighting, sneaking, or killing. Which honestly are all cool and give some nice fight sequences. I will say the character uses something simply called a ‘board' or ‘air board' to fly incredibly fast (even over an ocean) and it does not get an explanation...so I'm thinking like silver surfer??? It became a little confusing as I just did not know what I was supposed to picture. 

Personally a 3.5/5* for me! This is a series of five, so a bit shorter than the last, but I'm not sure I'll continue. This was fun though!