Review: Deathbringer (The Spellswords Saga, Book 1) by Blake Carpenter

There is no one more dangerous than someone who wants to be left alone – except someone who has come back from the dead!

Inga Ivanova couldn’t be happier. She is about to marry her childhood sweetheart, Pyotr, and take up her rightful place on the collective farm as a wife and mother. Not even her own mother pulling her aside moments before the wedding begins to show her a magnificent sword and tell her a secret can ruin her big day.

Not until the First Daughter of Clan Avard rides up with her soldiers and, confirming Inga’s likeness to that of a noblewoman, orders her troops to kill everyone on the farm. Starting with Inga’s mother, Pyotr, and Inga herself.

The Story

One would think being murdered on one’s wedding day would be the worst thing to happen. But when Inga, sole remaining heir to the noble Alenir line and rather than the common Ivanova family she believed to be her heritage, is revived by her family’s ancestral sword, she finds coming back worse than dying. Still wearing her wedding dress, Inga must crawl out from beneath a pile of bodies – the remains of the farmers she has known all her life. Her mother and husband-to-be are among the slain, and Inga can barely find the strength to stand up as she watches her world burn.

Stumbling to another collective farm, Inga is psychically contacted by her ancestral family sword. Known as Deathbringer, this Spellsword was thought lost when Inga’s great-grandmother, Katarina, died trying to start her own empire. Instead, along with Katarina’s daughter – Inga’s grandmother – the blade went into hiding.

Now Yenda Avard the Younger, First Daughter and heir to the Avard line, has that precious sword. Yenda has been fascinated for a long time with the Spellswords. Despite being in line to wield the Spellsword Frostbite, she wants more. She wants another blade. She wants Deathbringer.

So long as an heir to the Alenir line draws breath, however, Deathbringer will remain out of Yenda’s control. Living without a heartbeat, Inga must reclaim her ancestral heritage before the week is out. Otherwise, she will die and Yenda the Younger will gain her family’s Spellsword. As soon as she has that, she will make Katarina Alenir’s attempt to take over the world look like child’s play. Yet how can a farm girl who is more dead than alive reach the capitol of Clan Avard’s holdings when every soldier under Yenda’s command is looking for her?

Maybe she should ask the man who murdered her for help.

The Characters

Inga’s determination to claim revenge would be boring or downright horrible if it wasn’t balanced by her compassion and better nature. She suppresses none of her normal personality during the story and hunts Yenda the Younger down for more than simple revenge. Part of her wants to protect others from suffering as she has, making her a more interesting and altogether fun heroine to travel with as the book progresses.

Kale Isrodel is a man trapped in a bad situation with no way out. A decent fellow, he has no stomach for murder but finds himself unable to avoid killing at least one woman on Yenda’s order. When that woman comes back from the dead, however, he tacitly decides it is a second chance. A chance to do something good and to make up in some minor way for the atrocity he helped to perpetrate.

Yenda the Younger is a piece of work. A manipulative and spoiled brat, she wants power for its own sake and will do anything to get it, from rape to murder to wholescale slaughter. The only stipulation is that she cannot get her own hands dirty doing such deeds; it would be unseemly for a woman of her standing to actually murder someone. Her cold-hearted perfection makes her even more detestable and monstrous, meaning she is a truly great villainess.

The World

Imagine a fantastical Russia where magic is real and all families are matriarchies, with descent traced from mother to daughter. Then add in powerful swords and rumors of one blade that could end the world, and you have some idea of the world of Deathbringer. With trains and dirigibles alongside horses and wagons, Deathbringer’s world has the feel of Tsarist Russia in the latter half of the 19^th century or just at the beginning of the 20^th. Perfect for a tale of bloody deeds the local nobles try to hush up or ignore, where one young woman’s determination to bring her family’s murderers to justice might cause more than a slight upset to the status quo.

Politics

There are no politics that are not part of the story in this book. Deathbringer is mercifully free of present-day issues, focusing entirely on telling a compelling tale rather than on making any kind of political point.

Content Warning

There is lots of death, and a chapter that describes the morning-after realization of female-on-male rape, as well as the mention that the character endured rape on numerous occasions. Foul language, most but not all of which is made up, is also present. Some gore naturally gets mentioned as well. This book would rate on the higher end of a PG-13 scale for these reasons, but any mature teenager will not be put off by these items.

Who is it for?

Those who like tales of revenge with protagonists who do not lose their humanity or become permanently obsessed by it will enjoy this book. Anyone who wants to see other cultures portrayed in new settings and new ways will find it entertaining as well. The novel should appeal to fantasy fans everywhere but particularly those interested in Slavic and Russian milieus, as the story has the air of Anastasia about it. Those who want a new twist on familiar tropes should find this story quite engaging.

Why buy it?

It is a new twist on an old trope, with a setting one does not often see. Bonus points, no politics. Why not purchase it and give it a read?