Review: Secret of the Sword II by Lindsay Buroker

Secrets of the Sword II (Death Before Dragons #8)
by Lindsay Buroker
narrated by Vivienne Leheny

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
For ten years, I’ve been using a magical sword that I won in battle to ruthlessly slay enemies, break evil artifacts, and open stubborn pickle jars, but I don’t know much about it.

That’s about to change.

Thanks to the fact that I’m dating a powerful dragon, I can get a ride to the dwarven home world, and we’re going to research the sword’s roots. Not that I care much about its history, mind you, but several allies and enemies have suggested it can do a lot more than whack things. Considering the magical bad guys I fight are always stronger, faster, and more powerful than I am, I need every advantage I can get.

There’s just one problem: a half-dwarf thief has shown up and says she’s the rightful heir to the sword.

I want to believe it’s a scam and can’t possibly be true, but I didn’t get the sword in the most legitimate manner. If I have to give it up, I might not be able to do my job anymore, and just as bad, I’ll be a target for all the bad guys who have been waiting for an opportunity to take me down.

My Review

I really like Lindsay Buroker’s books and this series is so much fun to read. If you like the series up till this point I am pretty sure you will enjoy this book too. It’s one of those series that’s pretty consistent in tone and style. I really enjoyed listening to this one and can definitely recommend the audio versions for this series.

In this book Val is still looking for more information about her sword and plans to visit the dwarven home world with her mate Zav. Besides that she has a half dwarf thief to catch for her boss Willard. And there’s a police officer that thinks her friend and roommate Dimitri murdered someone with the magical doorknockers he created. Then there is her slowly growing relationships with her daughter Amber and some fun scenes between them. As well as a visit to her mom. And Val and Zav are planning their wedding. There is a lot going which works here and kept my attention. I like reading about these characters and seeing how they deal with things. It all gets wrapped up nicely at the end of the book, while leaving a few things open and setting up a few things for the next book.

I liked that we got to visit the dwarven home world in this book. There isn’t a lot about the dwarves in previous books and this book gives a little bit more information about them. There’s a formidable enemy as well and I was curious to see how Val would deal with it. And this time there are a lot of undead creatures for them to fight, which was an interesting twist to the fight scenes. It did bother me a bit that someone else was after Val’s sword, but it made sense why this person was after Val’s sword and nicely tied in with the previous book as well as this book’s events.

The plot kept my attention and I was curious how Val and her allies would deal everything. The highlight of these books for me is reading about all the familiar characters, seeing how they deal with things and see the bonds between them change and develop. It’s just such a fun read with plenty of action and fantasy elements. There is this comforting feeling I had while reading it of returning to a world and characters I spend a lot of time with already. I like reading about Val and Zav’s relationship in these later book when they’re actually together and handling things together.

To summarize: this was another solid read in the series. It continues in the same vein as the previous books, but with new things for the characters to deal with. There’s a lot going on and not a dull moment. The book is fun to read and there’s plenty of action too. This book had some more information about the dwarves as they visit the dwarven home world. And as enemies there are undead for Val and her allies to fight against as well as a formidable enemy they have to deal with. I liked reading more about the familiar characters. And the narration was excellent like the previous books. I look forward to the next book!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– Audible
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.