Official Review: Blade of the Broken: Book I of The Runeb...

Cee-Jay Aurinko · Post by **Cee-Jay Aurinko** » 18 Dec 2015, 03:58

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Blade of the Broken: Book I of The Runeblade Trilogy" by Jake Scholl.]

3 out of 4 stars

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I'm a big fan of fantasy books. I enjoy reading about valiant warriors doing battle with dark lords, demons, and all kinds of shuddery monstrosities. There is nothing like escaping the mundane world and being part of an extraordinary quest to defeat some evil enemy. When I saw that Blade of the Broken (Book 1 of The Runeblade Trilogy by Jake Scholl was up for grabs I couldn't resist.

King Warrick Volung of Nordgrind wants to rule all of Kronea. In a war that happened thirteen years ago, a unification of humans, Elves, Rangers, Mages, and Paladins defeated his dark army. The joined forces of good have also broken his beloved Runeblade in two and hidden it so that Warrick will never find it. Now, thirteen years later, he wants it back. He has already found one of the shards, but getting the other shard might prove a tad more difficult. An elven thief named Arin seems to have found it. Warrick has persuaded Lord Ashcroft, the Ranger Guild Master, to serve him. Ashcroft in turn sends Stefan, one of his best Rangers, to retrieve Arin and the Runeblade shard. Only time will tell if his plan will work.

One thing I love about a good fantasy book is a memorable villain. Warrick Volung, The Sorcerer King, is all that and more. "Warrick wiped the sweat off his brow, and held his saber toothed lion helm in the crook of his left arm." I became a strung-out fan of this villain the moment I read the aforesaid sentence. He pretends to serve a demon named Morak only because he intends to betray him later. He'll kill any servant who doesn't do what he says without a second thought. He can fling you against the wall with one single utterance. Really, what's not to love? The author has gone to great lengths to make his antagonist play a coherent part in the overall storyline and in doing so he has also set the stage for unique heroes to band together in a quest to bring him down.

Structuring this book in third person and in past tense, the author brilliantly sets up the meeting point for an elf, a Ranger, and a Mage. Before these three meet, the author donates almost an entire half of the novel to Arin and Stefan (respectively the elf and the Ranger) so that they can develop into fleshed out characters before the real quest begins. Both Arin and Stefan have their own love stories too. The funny thing about their respective love stories is that around the same time one of their romantic relationships comes to an end, that of the other begins. Stefan, who can be considered to be the lead protagonist in this novel, is a multifaceted character with a harrowing past. The author provides a good backstory to vivify Stefan's inner demons, and starts exploring this further in the later parts of the novel.

The major strengths in this novel include the huge amount of action scenes, the implementation of dry humor here and there, the mention of many cool weapons and creatures that only a former or current fantasy geek will be familiar with, and a perfect set up of all the developments. The weaknesses for readers to consider might be the omission of letters in words, the double dash always used in place of the single dash, oddly structured sentences, unexplored subplots, and character flaws when it comes to Arin. I recommend this book to fantasy fans who don't mind chapters that are a little bit short and scenes that are incredibly fast paced. Considering some of the minor weaknesses I found, I'm rating this novel 3 out of 4.

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Blade of the Broken: Book I of The Runeblade Trilogy
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gali · Post by **gali** » 22 Dec 2015, 14:08

Great review! Like you I'm a big fan of fantasy books. I am glad you enjoyed the book.

Cee-Jay Aurinko · Post by **Cee-Jay Aurinko** » 22 Dec 2015, 15:40

Thank you gali! Now I at least know who I can discuss wizards and elves with. Lol!

jscholl24 · Post by **jscholl24** » 22 Dec 2015, 15:54

Thanks for taking a chance on my book.

LivreAmour217 · Post by **LivreAmour217** » 22 Dec 2015, 16:05

Nice review! I also enjoy fantasy, as well as scary, detestable villains! This book seems like it has a lot of promise. I hope that the author is able to fix the errors soon, because the story sounds interesting.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 22 Dec 2015, 17:27

Great review. Your enthusiasm for the story and characters really comes through. Great job.

Cee-Jay Aurinko · Post by **Cee-Jay Aurinko** » 28 Dec 2015, 11:41

No thank you jscholl!

It was an honor reading your book!

Thanks for the kind words livreamour and bluemel! Livreamour, cool villains are fun to read about. Glad I'm not the only one who likes to root for the bad guys sometimes.

Tanaya · Post by **Tanaya** » 30 Dec 2015, 10:54

I love a well-crafted villain. Despite the book's minor flaws, your descriptions of the characters are convincing enough for me to want to give this book a try; so thanks for the recommendation. Great review!

Cee-Jay Aurinko · Post by **Cee-Jay Aurinko** » 01 Jan 2016, 04:31

Glad you enjoyed my review Tanya. This book has some amazing characters for readers to meet.

Post by **bookowlie** » 07 Jan 2016, 11:18

I always enjoying reading your thoughtful reviews. This book sounds like a great mix of memorable characters, action scenes, and cool fantasy touches. You made me want to check out the sample of this book, a major feat because I don't read a lot of fantasy books.

Cee-Jay Aurinko · Post by **Cee-Jay Aurinko** » 08 Jan 2016, 03:02

Thank you bookowlie! I know fantasy and scifi aren't your most fav genres, but I'm happy you found my review interesting enough to take a look at the sample all the same.

Levi · Post by **Levi** » 17 Jan 2016, 07:27

@Cee-Jay Aurinko love the review, but then again, I too love fantasy books! I will add this to my list thanks to your dang review drawing me in.

Hopefully the editing process will continue and the book will continue to evolve. Congrats to the author @jscholl24 on a job well done!

Cee-Jay Aurinko · Post by **Cee-Jay Aurinko** » 22 Jan 2016, 00:05

@thanks Levi. In terms of spelling and grammar, the editing is actually good on the other hand. Just one error I can think of: the double dash being used instead of a single dash to merge words.

Topcho · Post by **Topcho** » 24 Jan 2016, 09:51

This sounds pretty good! I can't remember when was the last time I read a book where the quest of the villain was on the center of the story. This is def an original way to go!