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Writer's pictureVanessa Bettencourt

Facing a Dragon


Pub Date 28 May 2024

Tor Publishing Group, Tordotcom
Sci Fi & Fantasy

My review

4/5

What I liked most was the adventure and the journey, facing the ghosts, and the dragon, and how the author built so much of a magic system and world in a short novella.


I am not a big fan of plots that focus too much on proving "all" men are evil or idiotic instead of making me love the main character, but the novella has a very strong point of view and it works for this story.


We follow a disgraced Knight and her Squire on a quest. There is a good balance between the interviews of previous knights who defeated dragons and the present or flashbacks to the MC's past and actual adventure that advances the quest. The praised knights come across as fake, arrogant, and greedy making a point that history is often written or hidden for a purpose ignoring the women. Our main character can only count on herself and her very high suspicion of magic that she dislikes. She wants to find a sword to prove herself in a men's world and for that, she must face the White Lady (a dragon).


There are plot twists at the end and an interesting character return also at the end.


The cover makes me want to buy the hardcover.

Thank you, publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc.


Pre-order from Amazon or B&N.


From the Publisher:

Kill the dragon. Find the blade. Reclaim her honor.


It’s that, or end up like countless knights before her, as a puddle of gore and molten armor.


Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff.


A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it's that “die trying” is where to wager your coin.


Maddileh’s tale contains a rich history of dragons, ill-fated knights, scheming squires, and sapphic love, with deceptions and double-crosses that will keep you guessing right up to its dramatic conclusion. Ultimately, The Fireborne Blade is about the roles we refuse to accept, and of the place we make for ourselves in the world.

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