I love long, sprawling fantasy novels with intricately detailed world building and complex characters. So, I'm very impressed that Charlotte Bond managed to achieve in less than 200 pages with The Fireborne Blade what other authors can only do in more than 600 pages. 

In this exceptionally well plotted work, not a sentence is wasted as we follow our heroine Maddileh on her quest to claim a magic sword and slay a dragon. While this premise sounds like a conventional fantasy story, aside from the knight being a woman, the twists and turns make the story anything but conventional. Much like George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, Bond breaks down the concept of knighthood, stripping it of romantic ideals to show a grittier side.

As a heroine, Maddileh absolutely walks in the footsteps of Tolkien's Éowyn and Martin's Brienne of Tarth while also standing on her own as a unique protagonist in her own right. She's both both prideful and stubborn as well as insecure and sensitive. She demands respect, while doubting her place in a world that only begrudgingly accepts her. She's also intelligent with lots of lived experience while not being even close to infallible. In short, she was a very enjoyable character to follow.

Since I restarted the book as soon as I finished it, I can also say that this work is even better upon a reread due to the mystery and twist ending. Going back to the beginning, it's easy to see all the foreshadowing and careful plotting that steadily built to a satisfying conclconclusion.