Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes (The Grave of Empires: Book 1)

“And once more I felt as though I was strangling on my own blood. On dry land, it seemed as though I was drowning. I had the want to rip my throat out in order to regain control of my breathing. I had the want to grab my weapon and start firing until everything made sense.” Oh, fuck. If this isn’t my cup of tea, I’m not sure what is!

Sal the Cacophony (cool moniker, huh?) I had the feeling that she was a part of my soul. In many respects, I could relate to her, and for a time, I experienced personal attack! Goddamn. She’s sarcastic, sweary, tattooed, a little pessimistic but trying to remain upbeat, tough, a little jaded from some pain in her life, appreciates a dirty joke or ten, and loves whiskey, but she’s the way cooler badass fantasy version! Sadly, I don’t own a sword named Jeff or a rifle that fires magic. YET.

Burnt is Seven Blades in Black! Er… lit. whatever the youth today claim! But it’s also blazing with flames. That is, the world found in the Scar’s pages. The Scar is a desolate region located in the middle of a conflict between the Imperium and the Revolution. Sal is at this point in her search for retribution. She has set out to find and murder the wizards who betrayed her by stealing her powers. Sal is being held captive by the Revolution at the start of the narrative. Sal is scheduled for execution for her crimes after being questioned by Governor-Militant Tretta Stern about the trail of bodies she has left behind and a soldier who has vanished. But first, Tretta wants answers.

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Although I’ve been a fan of Sam Sykes’s on Twitter for a while, I’ve never read one of his books before. Although I do possess his other novels, I feel like a broken record who is constantly harping on about the never-ending TBR problem. I’m so glad I finally made the leap. According to Sykes, this is a love letter to Final Fantasy, and he wears that influence proudly throughout. This has the addicting JRPG storyline quality, in addition to other things. This made me feel good inside because I’m a huge fan of both the Final Fantasy series and JRPGs in general. Oof. “I would make love to books if it were possible. Liette’s shop was located downstairs and was pleasingly uncluttered. Liette’s parlour upstairs was created by a lunatic.

Every wall was covered in shelves, and each shelf was crammed to the gills with books. Some of them were so tightly packed that they were bursting at the seams, some of them sagged in the middle from the weight of the thick books, and some of them just gave up. The carpeted floor was covered with stacks and columns of books, creating what appeared to be a forest of paper and leather. Opened books with page markings were arranged haphazardly on the room’s centre table and on the armrests of the sofa facing it.

I can’t help but be impressed by the plot’s tremendous ability and ingenuity as it develops across this wrist-nearly breaker’s 700 pages. It never seemed overly drawn out or prolonged. Sykes handled Sal’s bloody past expertly and added some genuinely gut-wrenching moments. He has absolute impeccable timing! A FUCKING GIANT RIDING BIRD NAMED CONGENIALITY, complex characters, fantastic conversation, tremendous action, a compellingly illogical magic system, detailed worldbuilding, horrible brutality, humour, and romance. I just absolutely loved this book!

I can’t wait for the second book in the Grave of Empires trilogy, Seven Blades in Black, which is a terrific start!