I'm going to try to keep my thoughts to this episode, but I won't promise that I'll succeed.

Somewhere between episodes 10 and 11 Michiko made a pretty big decision. Okay, she made a huge decision -- and we only get to see the result, not the thought process -- this is annoying, but I can live with it, if I have to (and, by the by, we know she found something in the paperwork that her predecessor left of interest to the current goings-on, but we're not told what, this also is annoying). Part of the story-telling style that <b>Born to the Blade</b> is employing leaves us open to this kind of thing, so it's to be expected -- I'm just not crazy about it. Still, while I'm excited for what this means for Michiko, her nation, and the narrative opportunities for Season 2, I do regret what it means for some of the character interaction I've been enjoying all along. That's all I'll say about that now.

Also, I couldn't help but feel that some of the progress made between Kris and Adechike last week has been walked back a bit -- some of which I understand, most of which I want explained before I can get on board wholly. But I don't see that happening. Still, I liked (both as a fan and as someone who's trying to look at the series through an armchair-critical eye) what both Adechike and Kris did throughout this episode.

We got a long-awaited duel in this episode (like last episode), it didn't end the way my fan-boy impulses wanted it to, but did end the way it needed to. It's the kind of thing I think I expected the series to be built on -- and if a certain little war hadn't happened, probably would have.

Every jot and tittle about Ojo in this episode was perfect, and I wouldn't change a thing. I can't say any more, but this was spot-on.

I'm not sure what else to say at this point without venturing into spoiler territory, so I guess I'll wrap it up.

Now, it's easy -- very easy -- to forget about one nation of the seven -- Tsukisen, and their warder, Hii no Taro. Yes, it's explained a few times -- but anytime Tsukisen is mentioned, it only seems to underline how often they aren't. This can be improved -- Underwood had a great opportunity here to fix that, and he passed. Which is okay, he's not the only one who had the opportunity, and I can only assume that this means that there's a plan behind it. I do hope that's rectified quickly in Season 2. And this point probably belongs more to the season-long wrap up post I'm trying to do, but I wanted to get it down before I forgot.

This has been dubbed as "Season 1" since the beginning, so we knew everything wasn't going to wrap up nicely. In fact, there's <i>a lot</i> that's left hanging. But we got enough resolution to leave readers satisfied with where things left off. I do hope that Serial Box gives this team another shot to tell their story because I'm very curious about a few things and characters. But for now, we're left with an optimistic, but not a rose-colored glasses, ending -- true to the vision of the initial episodes, but with a darker undercurrent than one might have guessed from the first couple of installments. I'm not wholly sold on everything that happened this season, but I've come to accept and appreciate 96% of it -- and I will probably come around on the rest eventually.

A good story, a good cap to the season and a good launching point for a potential Season 2. I'm just going to stop before I say "good" again -- pick up season 1 now, if you haven't yet.

The moment is finally there. The fight that will prove whether all that Kris did was in vain or not. Although I never really doubted the outcome of the challenge, I found it an interesting and thrilling episode nonetheless. So far, I really like the intricate world that is being created. I hope we will be getting a bit more of the council soon.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Born to the Blade Season 1 Episode 4.

Since Episode One, we've been waiting for this: Kris Denn of Rumika facing the gauntlet. A series of 6 duels against the members of the Warders Circle of Twaa-Fei to gain a seat at the table for Rumika. Failure here means a decade (or so) before the next potential warder from Rumika has an opportunity. That's pretty much the whole episode in a nutshell -- can Kris make it?

Ultimately, I don't think anyone will be shocked at the outcome -- it's about the journey, how the outcome is reached. Underwood nails it. A couple of weeks ago, I linked to a piece he wrote about how fight scenes can reveal character (he also tweeted about it this week), and this episode is him displaying that theory in practice. It really works -- not only do we get a better idea about who Kris is, but we get a better understanding of the other Warders. Sure, we may not actually learn anything about Lavinia and Ojo -- we just get more evidence of what we already know -- but there are other duels.

This is longer than the previous two episodes -- and it helped. The extra length gave things a chance to happen. I assume that's not something we'll see next week, but I can hope, right?

I've liked the previous episodes enough to justify the purchase of the season and to keep going, but I just flat-out liked this one. Good fight scenes, good character moments and the plot moves ahead. Where this goes next, I'm not sure, but having concluded this initial arc, I'm ready to see it. These authors took their time establishing this world, and carefully built up to this point and what lies beyond. I'm looking forward to see what else comes on this foundation.

Publisher's Blurb:

For centuries the Warders' Circle on the neutral islands of Twaa-Fei has given the countries of the sky a way to avoid war, settling their disputes through formal, magical duels. But the Circle's ability to maintain peace is fading: the Mertikan Empire is preparing for conquest and the trade nation of Quloo is sinking, stripped of the aerstone that keeps both ships and island a-sky. When upstart Kris Denn tries to win their island a seat in the Warder’s Circle and colonial subject Oda no Michiko discovers that her conquered nation's past is not what she's been told, they upset the balance of power. The storm they bring will bind all the peoples of the sky together…or tear them apart.

So there's the setup for this "season" of 11 novella-length episodes, releasing weekly. Episode 1 -- Arrivals is very much a pilot episode. After an action-packed opening, the story settles into introducing the pretty large cast of characters and the world the inhabit.

I found most of what follows pretty dry, and I had a hard time maintaining interest. It reminded me of the Game of Thrones pilot -- at least for those of us who hadn't read the book -- so many names and places to learn that it was hard to pay attention to any story. It's a rich world and most of the characters seem well-developed and complex -- I just don't care about any of it yet.

It is not the most accessible world, with a specialized vocabulary, and political and magic systems that the reader has to dig in to really understand. This isn't a complaint -- it's just something to know going in. There's no real pay off for the effort now, but you can assume it's coming.

But those last couple of pages? Hoo-boy, there's the hook -- I might have had to wait longer than I wanted to just to get to this point, but it was worth the wait. I think that gave me enough motivation to read at least a couple more episodes. Given the strength of the list of authors involved in this one -- Michael R. Underwood (the author of this installment), in particular -- I'm confident that I'll be singing the praises of Born to the Blade soon. You might want to jump on board now and enjoy the progress.

Arrivals is the first installment in a new series from Serial Box and since I had just finished this season of False Idols, I was looking for my next serial. It was quite a switch from False Idols, as Arrivals provide what feels like an old-fashioned but well thought of and enjoyable high fantasy.

There is a lot of introduction of new characters which made it a little bit chaotic and I didn't feel a connection yet with the characters, but some of the things show promise to become very interesting. I particularly liked the floating lands.

For now I will continue.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!