Pennyblade by J.L. Worrad – Review

Published: March 29, 2022

Publisher: Titan Books

Series: Standalone?

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 384 (Paperback)

My Rating: 3.0/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
A sharp-tongued disgraced-noble-turned-mercenary has to stop the world collapsing into chaos in this gripping, savagely funny epic fantasy packed with unforgettable characters, for fans of Joe Abercrombie.

Exile. Mercenary. Lover. Monster. Pennyblade.

Kyra Cal’Adra has spent the last four years on the Main, living in exile from her home, her people, her lover and her past. A highblood commrach—the ancient race of the Isle, dedicated to tradition and the perfection of the blood—she’s welcome among the humans of the Main only for the skill of her rapier, her preternatural bladework. They don’t care which of the gleaming towers she came from, nor that her grandmother is matriarch of one of Corso’s most powerful families.

But on the main, women loving women is a sin punishable by death. Kyra is haunted by the ghost of Shen, the love of her life, a lowblood servant woman whom Kyra left behind as she fled the Isle.

When a simple contract goes awry, and her fellow pennyblades betray her, Kyra is set onto a collision course with her old life, and the age-old conflict between the Main and the Isle threatens to erupt once more.

---

This has got to be one of the weirdest books I’ve read in forever. On the surface it sounds really normal – elven woman leaves home and becomes a mercenary to survive – but then you really start to get into it and man, it’s strange. This is probably the first book I’ve ever read where elves (or commrach as they are called here) are something more unusual than long-lived, elegant humans with pointy ears and magic. The elves in this book are something other.

The dual timelines of the story focus on Kyra Cal’Adra, heir to the House of Cal’Adra. In one timeline it tells of her time on the Isle, how she fell in love, and how she came to the Mainland in a self-imposed exile in the first place. The second is her current escapades as a pennyblade on the human Mainland. Both timelines are interesting to follow and have a certain edge of darkness and violence to them. To be honest, that’s the only vibe that makes sense for the story, since Kyra is a mercenary with an abundance of attitude and a sharp rapier. 

I enjoyed the flashback portions where Kyra was in her home city of Corso – so much court politics! The commrach culture was strange and highly detailed, though to be honest, half the details focused on mating habits and rituals which reveal that the commrach are somewhat primal in that respect. It wasn’t entirely gratuitous, as it does explain Kyra’s resistance to any marriage, even though the purpose of all their people is to create an “ideal form”. It’s a lot to explain, so we’ll leave it at that. The current timeline was somewhat bleaker, as Kyra does her fair share of inner-moping about and keeps getting in bad situations, like being captured by the church and forced into service. 

Overall, an interesting read made memorable by its sheer strangeness. I can’t say I loved it but I certainly appreciate the effort the author put into world building and fleshing out the commrach culture.