A Dance of Blades- ♥♥♥♥♥

I want to start by talking about Senke. Based on how the last book ended, I knew he had to be somewhere. He was too big a part of that book to get left, practically unmentioned, for dead in a fire. I was pretty happy when he turned up again, and I knew he had to. His death hit me pretty hard. I wasn’t prepared for it. I knew I should have been, but I wasn’t. It also made me regret not talking about him more after the first book. He was so good. He managed to keep away from Thren’s rage while still being loyal to Haern. He helped him when he knew it would get him killed if anyone found out. In this book he still carried his general good nature, a great sense of humor, and he helped Haern find somewhere to belong. His death was hard for me to swallow, but unlike the fire at the end of the last book… I knew he wouldn’t be back from that wound. After almost losing him in the fight with Ghost I thought he would be ok now. I know what a silly notion that is to carry, but I couldn’t help it. I’m definitely going to miss him in future books.

Deathmask is… interesting. I think I like him, but he is also really shady. I know how that sounds, this is a book about thief guilds. He just keeps too much to himself. I want to like Veliana too. Something is holding me back from completely embracing both of them. They seem to make a really good team though. I think one of the things keeping me from like them, no holds barred, is the way they manipulated Haern. While the duo viewed the ten years war about the same as Haern, there was definitely a better way of going about this. So, I’ll keep my eye on them and hope I don’t have to hate them later. After how Deathmask revealved The Watchers identity to Thren… I think it’s inevitable though.

Alyssa, Arthur, Nathaniel, and Mark… This was all a mess. I don’t have much to say about Arthur except that he got exactly what he deserved. Such a bastard. I can’t even begin to understand how Alyssa felt. I have a kid. Losing her is incomprehensible to me. While I wasn’t too thrilled she sent sellswords into the city to butcher so many, I can’t almost feel her grief in that way. Right or wrong, I understand it. When she actually gets her son back I feel like there will be even more fury at what happened to him. While Haern, Mathew, and Evelyn tried their best for him, he still went through so much. He is so young. It broke my heart. Losing his arm was awful for me to read about just because he was a child. A child that didn’t understand the way of the world yet, but now has no choice but to see its brutality. I think he will be a force to be reckoned with when he grows up. And Mark… Mark seemed like such a good man. He would have been good to Alyssa and Nathaniel. I was sad to see him die, but proud that he went down trying to protect Nathaniel.

Zusa has grown on me quite bit. I think she will turn out to be one of my favorites. With a series like this that is always scary. People tend to die a lot, and my favorites never seem to survive. She is so amazing strong, and she is back to using some of her magic again. I think one of the reasons I like Alyssa as much as I do is because Zusa likes her. Likes her enough to willingly serve her. I was pretty hurt on her behalf when Veliana sacrificed their friendship to take the Watcher with her. While I understand what was behind all of it… Zusa is just such a fantastic person, I hated seeing her slighted like that. I hope access to her powers becomes easier again and more reliable.

Tarlak, Delysia, and Brug will hopefully become the family that Haern needs. Tarlak seems to be a little bit like a crotchety old man, but I think he is really a cinnamon roll (soft and gooey on the inside). Delysia is a sweetheart. I hope she and Haern can take comfort from the past with each other, and I hope they can help each other process the loss of Senke. Brug seems to mean well, but I feel like he might cause a lot of trouble by overestimating himself.

The Pensfield family seemed like a really great family. There were a few times Mathew irritated me. When he brought up removing the stitches on Nathaniel’s arm and letting him bleed out I was pretty pissed at him. I get the fear he had, but still. Nathaniel was just a child. Evelyn seemed to pull him back from those thoughts really well. I gained a lot of respect for them when the killed the soldiers that came to kill Nathaniel though, and when the second group came I proud of how Evelyn kept her composure. I couldn’t begrudge their son for talking. After what he was made to witness happen to his mother… I just can’t imagine. When Mathew was attacked outside the gates of Felwood Castle I was heartbroken. Mathew had his flaws, but he did try to do right by Nathaniel. When he turned out to be alive, I was thrilled. I hope as a family they come out of all of this ok. John told Mathew he would, but I have to see it to believe it I guess. I want them to at least make an appearance in the coming books.

I was extremely happy with how far Haern came in this book. He started to see that even though he was away from his father he was behaving just as his father had taught him to. While some level of hard ruthlessness will be needed for him to survive, he had taken it too far. I think being with Delysia will help him reign that in. Even though there was a level of manipulation by Deathmask, I think his plan to work toward peace was well worth it. I don’t think it will last though. There are too many flaws. Too much can go wrong. I like the man Haern is tuning into. He is coming into his own. Maybe with Tarlak and Delysia by his side he can become an even better man. I hope he goes back to Ashhur. That is kind of a weird thing for me. I am not religious, but I think Haern believing in and praying to Ashhur helped him tremendously before, and it can do so again.

Thren wasn’t a big player here. He was like background noise. While I want it to stay that way, it won’t. It can’t really. Something will have to be done about him in time. Haern has some work ahead of him before he can confront him. I think Thren is one of the only people (still alive anyway) that I truly cannot stand. That resolution will be tough though.

Ghost isn’t dead. I don’t believe it. He was left gravely wounded, but alive. Villians like that never seem to go away easily. Maybe I am wrong and that was the end of him, but I have a feeling we will be seeing more of him soon. I never wanted to like Ghost, but I did have to respect him. He didn’t brag or gloat. He didn’t have a lot of false bravado. He was damn good at what he did, and he didn’t leave a job undone. However he wanted Haern dead, and almost succeeded, so I don’t feel too bad about his death (if he is actually dead).

I wanted to add a quick blurb about some of those that have died here. People I didn’t care about enough to give them their own section. Oric was a bastard that deserved his death. He suffered, and it was well earned. Leon was whiny and annoying and I was glad to be rid of him. The problem with that is often someone worse takes their place. Time will tell. Kadish bothered me a little. I like the guy somewhat. I was hoping he could be talked to, but it just didn’t work out that way. Bertram was an old sexist bastard that didn’t suffer nearly enough in death for all he did in life.

This series is definitely going to rank among my favorites. It is so well done, and I just love the world they are all in.