Shadowblade

A Dance of Fire and Shadow, Book 1

By: Jay Aspen

Narrated by: Jay Aspen

Ariel knows that to accept the Shadowblade's deadly gift of fighting skill and power is the first step on a dark path to tyranny.

Blade adepts are hated and feared–and ultimately hunted down and killed.

She has no choice. It's her only chance to rescue her sister from capture and slavery by the the ruthless Rapathian invaders.

It feels like a desperate but simple decision until she meets Marin, Captain of the Eldrin, the elite force protecting King and realm from attack. Pledged to fight invaders, they are also sworn to capture and kill dangerous Blade adepts.

Now Ariel has to convince Marin and his highly skilled team of fighters to help her rescue her sister–and that they can trust her to fight alongside them.

Failure means instant death. But the path to success is long and hard. Love and war would be complex enough without having to resist the temptation that too much power brings–or the interference of powerful Elementals focused on revenge....

Shadowblade is the first in A Dance of Fire and Shadow, the new epic fantasy adventure-romance series by Jay Aspen

©2021 Sandfire Publishing Ltd (P)2022 Sandfire Publishing Ltd

interesting heroine with somewhat interesting new powers. interesting support characters and terrible antagonist story

the antagonis plot is poorly told. the world building is average and I liked learning about the the people the heroine meets. her sister is captured after family is killed and she is forced into sex work. rather than expressing trauma she embraces the role, thinking she's some kind of double-agent. could be interesting but the sister's capture story and servitude is not detailed at all ! this should have been the primary antagonist?
the bad guy is so boring. he wants to usurp a kingdom, I think. I don't care at all. tell me about the heroine and her sister's plight. why is she a happy whore? what makes that so east for her? she is afraid to escape with her warrior sister? but she will where. being a high class whore.