Book Review-- The Blades of Acktar

 

Today, I have the pleasure of writing a review of the Blades of Acktar series by Tricia Mingerink

If you have not read this series, please, I beg you. Go read it. You will not regret it! Assassins, loveable heroes, edge-of-your-seat action and suspense, the sweetest romance ever… What more is there to want?? I laughed, I cried, I screamed and threw one of them 👀

(Okay. I didn’t throw the book. But I wanted to. Seriously contemplated it)

Alright. *deep breath* Fangirling it over, it’s time for the review.

(Disclaimer: this review is done solely because I love the series and believe everyone should know about it. And I also love helping out authors. The review is my honest to goodness opinion)

 

 

 Overall review: Dare is, personally, my favorite book in the series. I love the redemption, the search for truth, the new-found friendships.

Sexual instances: The book starts out with one character (bad guy) bringing in a girl and saying “Found her in a tavern. Thought we’d have some fun while we wait.” Aside from that instance, it was very clean. Nothing inappropriate at all.

Language: none

Violence: people die, and while it is described, it is never glorified nor gory. A background character was tortured off screen, and there is a very brief mention, but nothing disturbing.

Romance: sweet, sweet, sweet love plot started. I am not a fan of romance in general, but I absolutely loved this (no spoilers, sadly!)

Cliffhanger ending: a minor cliff-hanger. One that leaves you needing the next book, but not dying if you don’t get it right away.

Characters: I loved all the characters. Even the bad guys, I found myself sympathizing with them. There wasn’t a single flat character.

 

 

 Overall review: another wonderful read, and I cannot recommend a series more than I do this one.

Sexual instances: none

Language: none

Violence: this one was tamer than Dare, violence wise. There is a moment where some deaths are faked, and there is descriptions of blood that might bother very sensitive readers. But, again, nothing gory.

Romance: I can’t squeal loud enough. The sweet love arc just continues and grows throughout the series and, ah, my heart can’t take the feels the romance causes. Even the side ships are adorable!

Cliffhanger ending: again, a minor cliffhanger, but definitely more suspenseful than Dare’s. I recommend getting Deny and Defy together, so you can move right on to the third book. You won’t regret it.

Characters: there’s a new character introduced, and New Character is absolutely adorable. A wonderful addition to the cast!

 

 

 Overall review: this is the one I screamed at and wanted to throw. While Dare may be my favorite, this one is a very close second. It was a rollercoaster of emotion. I almost cried when I thought the series would be over.

Sexual instances: the only thing that comes close is Leith makes an observation that there are ways that Character A could have hurt Character B that he wouldn’t be able to see at a glance. (Trying not to give spoilers here)

Language: none

Violence: Defy is by far, the most violent book in the series. I can’t say anything else without spoiling anything. But everything is handled very well, and nothing is gory. Some scenes may be too much for very sensitive readers.

Romance: be prepared to squeal. I squealed. I flailed. I fangirled so very hard. (Also be prepared to have the bar for Hypothetical Significant Others be set very high. Nobody can come close to Leith. I’ll forever be single because of him)

Cliffhanger ending: none. Defy was technically supposed to be the end, so everything was wrapped up very nicely in the end.

Characters: I had new favorites. Minor characters got a little more exploration. I fell in love with very surprising characters. I cried. I hated one character, but loved said character at the same time.

 

 

 Overall review: I will admit, I was very hesitant about this book as it is about the one character in the entire Blades of Acktar series that I hated. But, I am a die hard fan. So I bought it anyways. Man, am I so very glad I did. Destroy shed new light on previously hated character, and I grew to love and respect him. Even if he was a royal screw-up in the beginning.

Sexual instances: this book opens up with an assault. Nothing is graphic, but the main character lures a maid into a closet and then keeps going after she’s said no. It was not glorified in any way, or even very detailed. Tricia handled it wonderfully. The main character was stopped before things went too far, and was put in his place.

Language: none

Violence: it was fairly low on the violence scale. There is one near-death scene that very sensitive readers might find too bloody, but nothing gory or excessive.

Romance: even if Leith is the Dream Boy, the romance thread here is, personally, my favorite of all time. Very sweet, very slow, very cautious. A perfect, beautiful love story between two unlikely people.

Cliffhanger ending: none. Destroy is a novella that spans multiple years (so there are some time skips, but nothing confusing) and the ending is set in Defy.

Characters: a brand new cast of loveable, adorable characters you can root for and admire.

 

 

 Overall review: this book did throw me a little, as it doesn’t center around Leith. But it was just as amazing as the rest of the series. I squealed many times.

Sexual instances: without giving spoilers, there are instances when a character would talk about ‘temptations’. And there is one mention of spending the first night as man and wife. Everything was handled very well, very cleanly.

Language: the main character is said to swear a lot, but nothing is written. The ‘curses’ made up are clean and hilarious.

Violence: there is a fair bit of violence in this one, but no more than the rest of the series.

Romance: the romance arc here was amazing and hilarious. An enemies to lovers type thing. I loved it.

Cliffhanger ending: none

Characters: new characters, some more exploration on old characters, Tricia never fails to write memorable characters that you wish were your best friends!

 

 

 Overall review: Decree is a collection of short stories set throughout and after the Blades of Acktar series. It is definitely vital to finishing off the collection!

Sexual instances: one of the short stories is about the girl mentioned in Dare, that was taken from a tavern ‘for fun’. Everything is very clean and tastefully handled, and the story shows her reaction to that incident and going to extremes to not let something like that happen again.

Language: none

Violence: none. This was probably the most tame book in the entire series.

Romance: a new ship is always appreciated. Especially when the characters are just so adorable! Plus old ships are here, and my fangirl heart was happy.

Cliffhanger ending: none

Characters: one of my favorite side characters from Defy has a story here, so I was beyond thrilled! A little more exploration into side characters also happened, which I was very happy about.

 

 

 

And that is the overall review of the Blades of Acktar series! Now I must anxiously wait for Deceive to come out!

Hope over to https://triciamingerink.com/ to check out her blog!