Hi, everyone, it’s Sher today with a book review for the Blade Singer Blog Tour. The premise sounded fun, and it was. Although I didn’t expect a bad boy protagonist, the authors did a great job turning him around. I’m getting ahead of myself. So read on and see for yourself why I gave Blade Singer 5 stars.

Blade Singer

by Aaron de Orive

& Martha Wells

202 pages

Manuel “Manny” Boreaux, a troubled adolescent from Texas, is magically transported into the body of a goblin pickpocket in an alternate world inhabited by faerie creatures. Manny must quickly adapt to the danger all around him and try to find a way to get back home, a feat complicated by the pickpocket’s association with a notorious gang of thieves. But when Manny uncovers a plot to assassinate a young king, he must enlist the aid of an elf cavalier and a cat burglar to thwart a Sidhe witch’s scheme to ignite a civil war between humans and the Fae.

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Now you’ve read the overall premise, my review should make more sense:

Blade Singer by Aaron de Orive

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blade singer surprised me in a good way for a book starring a boy who made so many bad choices at the beginning. Flying home on a plane, I chose to read instead of watching Malificent. Even though Manny had lost his parents and had a bully pushing him towards the dark side, I was starting to regret not watching the movie until magic transported Manny to another world. I was hooked soon after he landed in the body of a goblin boy who had made even more bad decisions. It didn’t take long for Manny to regret his own bad choices when he had to deal with the results of the goblin’s.

The timing of Manny’s transport wasn’t coincidence. In a hotbed of human and faerie conflicts, the Chevaliers (think Musketeers) were fighting a losing battle against a powerful witch gang leader set on overthrowing the crown (not a spoiler because it’s in the blurb). Manny met Seely and Unseely: magical folk who can change from one to the other depending on behavior, not always by choice because of deprivation and human prejudice. Oberon, Mab, and even Merlin figured in the history, and the plot had plenty of twists. I loved how the authors connected Manny’s longing for his dead mother and father with characters he met in the other world. They also did a good job with the good guy/bad guy character mix; some on both sides didn’t fit the mold.

It didn’t matter that I was stuck on a plane. I read in one sitting because the pacing kept me turning pages right up until the last one. (spoiler warning) However, once the goblin boy started giving advice, I kept wondering why he wasn’t upset about Manny taking over his body. And when it became evident the goblin used Manny’s body during that time, I wondered how the goblin’s mind could be two places at once. And if the goblin was aware of what Manny was doing, why didn’t the reverse hold true? Those are the only problems besides comma splices. I doubt most tweens will notice either. They will notice lots of action, a satisfying character arc, and puzzles to solve. For adults, I give 4 stars. However, I try to rate books according to the target audience, so I’m giving 5. Great for reluctant readers. Blade Singer will sing to their souls like it did to mine. Assuming the authors address the body switching issues in the next book, I’ll be waiting for the coin toss. I was provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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About the Authors:

A graduate of the University of Texas’ film program, Aaron de Orive began his professional writing career in the video game industry, serving as a lead or senior writer on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, Tabula Rasa, Anarchy Online, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He is also the creator of the fantasy role-playing game SHARD: World of the False Dawn. Blade Singer is his first novel. Aaron lives in Austin with his wife, daughter, and two very spoiled terriers.

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Martha Wells is the author of a number of fantasy novels, including The Cloud Roads, The Siren Depths, The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer. Her YA fantasy, Emilie and the Hollow World, was published by Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry in April 2013, and the sequel, Emilie and the Sky World, was released in March 2014. Two collections of Books of the Raksura novellas will be published in September 2014 and Fall 2015. She has had short stories in Black Gate, Realms of Fantasy, Stargate Magazine, and Lightspeed Magazine, and in the anthologies Elemental, The Year’s Best Fantasy #7, Tales of the Emerald Serpent and The Other Half of the Sky. She has essays in the nonfiction anthologies Farscape Forever, Mapping the World of Harry Potter, and Chicks Unravel Time. She has also written media-tie-in novels, Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary and Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement, and a Star Wars novel, Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge.

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Blade Singer Book Review & Giveaway