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.
"What will be written about us by those who come after?"
Charlotte Bond's The Fireborne Blade is a fantasy novella about a bisexual knight who's dealing with mysoginy in her line of work, and pursuing a dragon. The narration in this sense is very straightforward, with a classic story about dragon-hunting. This novella excels in creating interesting lore for dragons while maintaning a haunting atmosphere, but the tension is broken by the chapters set in the past and by chapters detailing dragon-hunting and other knights' dealings.
The novella builds up a plot twist organically, but stumbles when it comes to the actual delivery, and the final part feels rushed. The ending is invigorating, though, and the interest for the second and final novella in the series gets certainly piqued. Meanwhile, the queer aspect is more of an undercurrent, although one certainly picks up a certain tension between the knight and the sorceress-in-training fighting against mysoginy in her own field.
The Fireborne Blade is a packed adventure.
✨ 3.5 stars
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