Ryan Kirk

They want the crown. She wants revenge. In a feudal land, a Kingdom is at risk. With no heir to the fragile throne, its future rests with the powerful members of the dying king's Council, including Minori, a nightblade warrior, and Kiyoshi, a dayblade healer. The two men are bound by the sword but divided by two opposing principles: rule the land, or serve it. In their challenge for supremacy, a spark has been lit. Her name is Asa. Her creed is revenge. A fierce nightblade warrior, she's spent a decade in pursuit of the enigmatic general who killed her father in a violent revolt--then mysteriously vanished from all records. Now, her desire for reckoning has led her to the village of Two Falls--and straight into the heart of an impending civil war. Minori and Kiyoshi are vying for her loyalty. And Asa must choose sides. As fresh betrayals unfold and a new uprising looms, Asa knows that chasing a ghost is no longer just a personal quest for retribution. It's going to alter the fate of the entire Kingdom.

Nightblade's Vengeance

celeste

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

That was a wild ride. 
Honestly, I went into this book not knowing what to expect, since I had never read a book by Ryan Kirk. I know he has a whole trilogy set in the same world in which the Nightblade's Vengeance happens, but I don't think it's necessary to read that before going into this book. 

In this book we follow the story of Asa, a young nightblade whose entire existance is driven by her quest to seek revenge on the man who killed her father when she was just a little girl in what is known as the The Massacre of Two Falls. But while she is trying to find proof and information on the man who was responsible for her father's death, she finds herself in the middle of a political intrigue that will define the entire future of the kingdom. 

In this world, there are certain people who have been born with the 'sense', a power that can either make you a nightblade or a dayblade. Nightblades are known for their unique fighting skills, and dayblades for their healing skills. While there was a time when blades were revered and admired, after the Massacre of Two Falls, people have started to be scared and wary of them. So much to the point where the king started to take away some of the blades' rights. So basically, the story also focuses on the contempt held between blades and common citizens, and how each side believes should be the ones ruling. Many blades believe that since they were granted this gift that they have, they should be the ones ruling the kingdom, while the lords think that keeping the blades in check, and deminishing their rights is the only choice they have if they want to live peacefully. So of course conflict ensues when both sides seek the same thing: to be the ones who will succeed the king.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how politically focused it was, which was something that I wasn't expecting at all. While it is a fantasy book, the plot focuses mainly on the power struggle between the different lord houses that seek to become kings once the true king dies, since his only heir also died at Two Falls. There are a lot of twists and turns that I did not see coming, and it was entertaining to read a fantasy book so heavily focused on politics. 

But at the same time, I feel like because it was so heavily focused on the political aspects, I wasn't able to feel or care for the characters, because they were never fully developed to the point where I could care what happened to them. The book ended with a particular surprising reveal, and even though I saw it coming, after that happened, I literally didn't care how the book ended. And I think that if this was a standalone book, it wouldn't matter, because I wasn't able to establish any sort of emotional attachment to the characters that are left alive.

Nightblade's Vengeance

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