Crossed Blades

So in Bared Blade, we learn that Aral (no longer Kingslayer) isn't as alone as we'd thought, there's another survivor of his sect out there, doing what she can ot survive and use the talents he'd been honing for her goddess. This time, we learn that there's at least two more Blades (holy assassins, like Aral) out there – and a few trainees at various stages of development. In fact, Aral's former fiancée, Jax, has come looking for him specifically.

So, you'd think that knowing he's not as alone as we thought would help Aral cope, right? Not a chance.

Aral is compelled to go along with Jax on a rescue mission – along the way, a lot of duplicity is uncovered and Jax and Aral learn a lot more about what led up to the day their order and their goddess were killed.

Oh, and then swords and knives were brought out and the blood started flowing. We're not talking Abercrombie or Martin levels – but there was a lot of death and destruction. Aral was pretty mad, and got even madder.

And yeah, while a lot of this book was about Aral getting some payback, a most of it was exploring Aral's character (plenty of time spent with his apprentice and former flame, too) and how he's coping with all he's learning, his struggles with the bottle, and what's going to be next for him and his new face. On the whole, it seemed a whole lot less plott-y than the first two – and it worked.

It's been two and a half years since I read a book in this series – which is pretty embarrassing, because I thought I was behind by a book – going to do my best to make sure that much time doesn't go by before I get to the next.