Genre: Fantasy
Reviewer: Lucy
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About The Book
Sellsword Des is travelling alone in a dry and dusty southern land, after a spectacular bust up with her best friend. She’s running low on coin, so when former client Karina offers her a job leading her caravan’s security through brigand country, it feels like a gift.
Des has done the route before, but she isn’t sure about leading solo. She recommends Karina hire Cap, a rugged old mercenary, to head up the crew. Maybe she’ll even learn a thing or two about how to lead, in between the delightful distraction of Karina’s flirtations and keeping the marauders at bay.
As they head off on their long trip across Rescalin, though, the wheels start to come off Des’s plan. The crew is drinking too much, even on duty, and Cap is dismissive of the dangers she identifies. Des worries she’s made the wrong call by putting Cap as the lead, and Karina is in her ear, wanting her to take over.
As brigands close in, will Des back the merc she put in charge? Or will she take over — and risk the caravan’s safety resting on her blade alone?
The Review
In A Hired Blade, sellsword Des is hired by a friend to provide security for her caravan as they deliver goods to a nearby city. In the days of wagons and rough roads, when brigands and thieves skulk behind every rock, Des has spent the last few years providing these mercenary services. But having just ended a partnership with her best friend, Des finds herself alone and leery of being in charge.
She second-guesses her ability to lead the kind of men that are likely to be looking for this sort of work. Despite urging from Karina, the merchant friend who hired her, to take control of the guardsmen, Des tries to mitigate the actions of her fellow mercenaries without actually leading the men. She hopes that this will be enough to keep them all safe from the violent forces lurking around them.
But, as so often happens when legitimate concerns are ignored, things go badly for the merchants trying to make it safely to their destination. Any woman anywhere will commiserate with Des while she fruitlessly tries to get the men around her to believe that her concerns are valid. Instead, she is dismissed as being ridiculous and told to leave it to the men in charge.
The author, JC Rycroft, weaves an excellent tale of folks trying to make it in a tough world, punctuated with women trying to find their way in places dominated by careless, thoughtless men. The writing is stellar and the story flows well. I found the characters to be beautifully complex, making their way in a world that is harsh and brutal, particularly to women or anyone who doesn’t blend in with societal norms.
A Hired Blade is an engaging, well-written novella that I found hard to put down. It isn’t long, but it’s full of strong characters, a great plot, and excellent story telling. I will definitely watch for other works by JC Rycroft.
The Reviewer
I’m an avid reader who loves pretty much all genres except math textbooks. As a kid, my parents exposed me to everything from fairies, hobbits, and dragons to the biographies of interesting people around the world, interspersed with poetry, plays, and music. Into adulthood, I spent a lot of years with my nose buried in various textbooks. Now, I read whatever grabs my fancy.
