The Bard is an interesting story with a flawed, damaged ?, main character. I enjoyed the story line and the direction its seems to be heading in, but, was continuously frustrated by, IMO, the main characters lack of growth. It also doesn't help that we are never really clear about her age at any given point so there's a possibility that she's still just too young to learn a damn thing. Too often she regresses to outright immaturity or reckless stupidity and drags the whole tale down for me. As I said earlier, she has had a pretty crappy childhood and suffers from those experiences, however, she never seems to grow or at least toughen up a bit from the hard scrap life she's led. It all seems to have just left her fragile and afraid. In all a fairly well written story that has a few long winded parts, but, nothing too bad. In the end it all comes down to if you connect with the heroine or don't. I did not. Sorry.

The Bard caught my attention by the series title: Dragonslayer. You all know I love my dragons.

Only, there were no dragons. Apart from in the epilogue, which had absolutely no connection to the rest of the story. It was a little random!

Onto the rest of the book… I did enjoy it: the plot had elements of magic and loss, first romance and the desperation to prove yourself and find where you belong. Standard elements to any young adult novel, really.

Despite having all the components to make this a strong book, ‘standard’ works as a good description. The plot had moments of tension but was slow-paced. This isn’t a short book at over 400 pages, but it took a while to get moving; there was a lot of allowing the characters to grow up just enough to get them where they needed to be.

The majority of the characters I liked: the prince who dares to dream, the page with his cheek and the mage-type figure with his mysteries. The main character, Tallen, is a young thief who has her life destroyed not once, but twice by the time she is around ten years old.

It was difficult to connect with Tallen. Her default emotion is anger; there were numerous occasions where it read as if she was throwing a strop – hardly redeeming qualities for the hero of the book. She also spends a lot of time crying. It’s understandable with what she has gone through, but I never got that sense of her overcoming her fears and developing – key ingredients in any coming-of-age book.

The ages of the characters were difficult to place. There was a definite moment where she was 13, but suddenly Tallen and Kade were having sex, without giving the impression they were any older.

The author attempts to deal with puberty in a humorous way; brought up only by men means that Tallen doesn’t understand how her clothing needs to change. But other elements of puberty – especially for a girl being raised by men – were completely ignored. It made it feel like it was added in for light-hearted humour rather than dealing with the issue.

Kade was a favourite character. However, when dealing with something he can’t explain (no spoilers) his emotions go strongly from love to hate. It was annoying – it felt such an extreme reaction for no real reason. He knew she had gifts, and it worked to his advantage, but he closed down.

Drey has magic. But this is a world where the powers are never fully explained and it feels like his power is always just enough to conveniently get them out of whatever trouble. The same is true of the villain: I couldn’t dislike him because I didn’t know anything about him. He was there because the story needed a bad guy, and that was the only sense I got of him.

Overall, an enjoyable book but it did disappoint me and I’m not bothered about the series.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Troubador Publishing, Matador and the author, Jules Cory, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Bard in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought this book is a promising start to a trilogy. I thought it was written well with a great narrative and engaging characters. Can't wait to read the rest of the story.
Well worth a read for fans of the genre.

The Bard started out strong but became another special snowflake story. At first the characters seemed to be of interest but they lost it. Some of the themes are the same as Throne of Glass. For instance, the assassin/thief working for the crappy king and the love interest. I felt like this book was originally written in third person but was switched to first. This is because half the time I dont know what Tallen is thinking. I should know what she is thinking its from her point of view. Nothing really stands out in this book. Why would no body comment on the ORANGE EYES when they first meet Tallen. The author tried to stay away from the Tallen is a special snowflake until later but it just ruined it for me. I do not recommend this.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a free copy for an honest review.

I had such a hard time finishing this book, and it was a very short one, which says a lot about the book.

I have a lot of issues with the book. First things first: this book was not meant to be written in first-person. I have no qualms with first-person writing, but the way this book was written was so stilted, so devoid of emotion, it would have worked better as a third-person perspective. So much better, if it was changed to third-person, I wouldn't have felt so bland reading it. At least, I wouldn't be expecting the book to show us the feelings of Tallen more, as first-person perspective books should.

There are also so many things that we should have been shown in terms of Tallen's thoughts that we weren't privy to. For example, why did she start stealing? Why did she befriend Tawpin but didn't try to befriend anyone else at the kitchen? I would have been okay with it if the book said something like, "I started stealing because I felt that was the only thing I was good at," or "I started stealing because it was fun", but tell us <i>something</i>. Next thing you know, Tallen just has a cupboard full of stolen shit but no reason WHY. It's irritating.

Second, the timeline of this whole thing is so confusing. We are introduced to Tallen when she was 7 (and even when she was 7, already the narrative was unbelievable because her diction was too intricate for a 7-year-old), and then after that, we're just led through the timeline by the passing of seasons. But it's so confusing. The last time we are told a definite age was Tallen turning 13, but when the main story actually kicks in, it's implied that she's 16/17. Or I hope it was. I am certainly hoping that it was because at least that would mean that <spoiler>Tallen did not have sex when she was 13 and I was honestly just so shocked when I thought she was 13 when it happened. </spoiler>

Everything was also just so unbelievable, I know I've already used that word but the writing made it seem as if a plotline wasn't written out. Or more like the writer didn't go back to edit the earlier story when he finally realised what direction the story was going to go in. <spoiler>HOW THE FUCK DID TALLEN NOT REALISE HER EYES WERE ORANGE UNTIL SHE WAS 13????</spoiler> I was, and still am, pissed about that. I don't get it, that should have been her whole thing if her <spoilers>eyes</spoilers> were THAT unique. What, did she never look at herself in a bowl of water? Did none of the other kids make fun of her for it? Why did no one point it out until right after she was done having sex? Why did no one visibly react to her eyes until that point? NO ONE pointed it out until halfway into the book. HOW DID NO ONE POINT IT OUT? I am still angry about this.

I want to just put down the quality of this book to "oh it was a YA book, I shouldn't have such high expectations of it", but if I did that, I would be belittling actual good YA books, and I know there are good YA books out there. This... This just needs a work back in editing, re-writing the story so that the plot actually lines up together, showing a lot more of Tallen's thoughts. It could have been good, it <i>had</i> potential. The story could have been a good one, I'm a sucker for books with protagonists who didn't have the best of lives.

Unfortunately though, I don't think I'll be reading the sequel. I only even finished this because Netgalley provided me a free copy, I feel like I would have stopped halfway through if not for that. I'm sorry author, I wish I could have liked it.

Tallen is the only survivor after her village is attacked. She is saved and the only thing she has left is her father's sword. A special sword that has a dragon carved into it. She is taken to Liegeport where she is taught to be a thief. As she grows up, she has enemies that would be happy to see her gone. War is brewing. The king wants to use Tallen's gift for taking things without being noticed to retrieve the Empathy Crystal. It would give the king an advantage over his enemies. While on the mission, magic powers manifest. When she gets returns to the kingdom, having failed to get the crystal, there those who question her worth and she leaves. Then the dragons come. I liked the storyline. It is well written. I received this book from Net Galley and Matador Publishing for a honest review and no compensation otherwise. The opinions expressed are my own.

The Bard was provided to me by Netgalley for an honest review.

The writing is ok, but the dialogue feels quite stiff at times. I wanted the book to be an adventure like Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames, but sadly it was not. What bothered me were all the tropes throughout the story. Girl loses her parents in a fire, gets taken in, tries to survive in the streets of a city etc. It just reads too much like any average fantasy book. It misses the little extra and it doesn't stand out in the myriads of fantasy books.
Tallen as a 7 year old doesn't sound like her age and there are a lot of characters in the story, but for my taste they're not fleshed out and I didn't really feel for them. I also had an issue with the pacing of the book. I felt some events could've been shortened and the book felt too lenghty at times.
Sadly I wouldn't recommend this book.

I tried to get into this one, but it failed to appeal to me and draw me in. It was a well written book, and had a decent plot. I also had high hopes for it because the synopsis was very good it simply failed to deliver for me, though I think a lot of people will like it.

Exciting and full in its delivery, Bard is sure to please fantasy readers. The writing is as clear as the sound of a mythic sword. Entertaining stuff indeed.