The Bard's Blade by Brian D. Anderson is a fun, fantasy tale!

This book didn't hit me like I had hoped. I've been diving into more fantasy lately since I'm slowly beginning to enjoy the genre (as a whole) more. This book seemed like the perfect fit and sounded like a fun ride. Unfortunately, the book didn't grab my attention all that well and it didn't interest me. The pace also didn't grab me, so I'm a little disappointed! This book has glowing reviews and I can tell why! It is well written and it has a cool story. I'm sad it just didn't grab me as a reader - but I am sure many other readers will love it!

The characters are a little odd. The already established relationships made me not enjoy their story as much. I wanted to see these characters fall in love, even if it was just a chapter worth of the back story. Then the characters just... drove me insane? Lem was annoying to me on all fronts. I didn't want to read his parts of the chapters at all. He didn't seem all that bright and made me want to throw the book against the wall or shred it.

I also felt like the plot and story jumped around a bit and didn't seem coherent (but I am also not a big fantasy reader so maybe that's a trope I'm just not used to?). The high fantasy style was also odd since it didn't necessarily feel like the genre it was going for. From the marketing and synopsis I thought this was going to be a fun Game of Thrones, Throne of Glass or other fantasy ride - but it felt more like a middle grade or YA novel fantasy that couldn't quite decide on what it wanted to me. I give this book the benefit of the doubt because it has such a cool premise and I did like Brian's writing style.

Overall, this book felt like a massive D&D campaign that fantasy lovers will enjoy. It's just not a book for me!

One out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ( )

This was a really good, well-crafted book about two young lovers (well, 20-somethings anyway) and the perils they face when they leave their magically-protected homeland to respond to a stranger's last gasp.

Mariyah runs the business side of her parents' vineyard and Lem is her most-beloved and a long-haired musician to boot. His parents having died, Lem lives with his uncle, Shemi. Shemi is a renowned hunter who makes his way through the realm of Vylari till one day the stranger makes it through the veiled barrier and speaks his last words in front of uncle and nephew.

Lem takes this all as a sign and sets off to find the Thaumas in the wider world. And of course, Mariyah and Shemi follow a little while later and on totally different paths. And while there are tropes of both romance and fantasy, such as a traveling acting troupe, what makes this book unique is the story's treatment: who would guess that musicians' egos would cause conflict in the acting troupe? Or that the so-called worship of Kylor also involves a wife's betrayal of her husband?

The writing is down-to-earth, the characters are well-drawn, and the world that Brian D. Anderson has created includes a touch of magic but also a whole lot more humanity. ( )

When trouble stirs, fate brings unlooked for solutions!

A slow start had me wondering. Two lands sealed off from each other, Vylari and Lamoria. Common knowledge was that "once you passed beyond the border of Vylari, you could never find your way home—that was what protected the people from the threat of Lamoria, and prevented any who might wish to leave from divulging Vylari’s location." Yet, a mysterious stranger brings a warning to Vylari for Lem's mother Illorial. That's when the fatherless Lem finds out more about his mother and entertains thoughts about where his father might have come from. Lem was "the only one whose mother crossed into Lamoria.”
Injured by crossing the barrier, the stranger possesses a letter addressed to Illorial predicting danger for Lamoria. A seer has told that the "only hope rests with one who dwells [in Vylaru]—a child enormous of talent, with special gifts that have the power to hold back the darkness." A person connected to Illorial and that "they are a bridge between" the two worlds.
Lem, as Illorial's son and a talented musician determines to follow the warning and breaks through the barrier into Lamoria. His love, Mariyah accompanied by Lem's uncle Shemi stubbornly follows him.
Of course this ends in disaster in different ways for all. Trying to fit into a land where you know nothing of the religious strictures leads to disaster and enslavement for Mariyah and Shemi whilst Lem finds himself trapped in more ways than one.
A somewhat familiar trope. I must admit it took a while for the storyline to find its mojo. When it did, I was hooked!

A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley ( )

A young adult fantasy that should be attractive to that age group. It has adventure, violence, magic and romance (kind of) as the two lovers spend spend virtually the entire novel trying to find each other. Lem is a gifted musician but must become an assassin to survive. The over of the ARC I read says Mariyah is the blade but I don't see this unless she changes in future books in the series, Some young adult books cross over into adult readership but I don't see this here. Just for teens. ( )