Review: Secrets of the Sword I by Lindsay Buroker

Posted October 7, 2023 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 1 Comment

Secrets of the Sword I (Death Before Dragons #7)
by Lindsay Buroker
narrated by Vivienne Leheny

My Rating: 4 stars

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

Blurb:
After helping my steady dragon Zav with his family problems, I thought life would get back to normal. As normal as it can be when you’re a hit woman responsible for hunting down bad guys.

That was before a strange artifact showed up in a bog and turned my ancient dwarven sword into a magical beacon. Now my enemies can sense it from hundreds of miles away. More than that, every club-toting, over-muscled orc, ogre, and troll who would like a magic sword can sense it.

Usually, fighting off opportunists wouldn’t be a problem (they don’t call me Ruin Bringer without reason), but even I can only handle so many attacks at a time. And Zav isn’t as much help as you’d think, since he’s busy on a quest for a ring.

No, it’s not a Lord of the Rings kind of quest. My boss put it in Zav’s head that since we’re mated in the dragon way, we should also be married in the human way. Now, he’s off to find the perfect engagement ring. Given his taste in human footwear, I may be in trouble for more reasons than my marked sword.

Not only is there no chance of my life getting back to normal any time soon, but if I can’t figure out how to fix my sword, I’ll be dead long before I can get married.

My Review

I really enjoyed this 7th book in the Death Before Dragons series. It’s a solid installment in this series and I like how there’s more of all the elements I’ve come to expect from this series as well as new plot arc that focuses on Val’s sword.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was engaging and kept my attention and I liked seeing how things played out. Things with the dragons are settled, but Val has a new problem after destroying an artifact her sword gives off a beacon. This book has several different plot points that neatly tie together as the plot progresses and I liked seeing how Val dealt with the situation. It was interesting how this book deals with the fae as they weren’t in earlier books. And this new plot arc that’s all about the powers and secrets of Val’s sword is off to a great start. I look forward to seeing what more she’ll learn in future books.

I like val and Zav’s relationship now that they’re together. They really work as a team and I liked their banter and the way they interact. I felt their romance deepened more in this book and I liked seeing this. Zav really shows his dedication to Val and helps her out with her problems. They really feel like a couple now and I like them together.

There’s more of all the familiar side characters and I like how there are things going on with them. Val’s ex is now dating Nin and we see how that goes. There’s more of Val interacting with her daughter Amber and I liked seeing how their relationship progressed in this book. There’s more of Nin and Dimitri, who are Val’s friends. And ofcourse Sindari, the silver tiger who fights alongside Val.

I like listening to this series as the narrator is such a good match for the series and I like how she does all the different voices.

To summarize: I really liked this book. It kept my attention and I was interested in this new story arc surrounding Val’s sword. This book starts this new story arc off well and I liked seeing how the plot progressed. It was interesting to see a bit about the fae, who weren’t part of the previous books. There’s more of Val and her friends and I liked how they all have things going on and things changing. There are plenty of fun scenes with them interacting together and some relationship development too. I liked how Val and Zav’s relationship deepened in this book and how they work together as a team. The narrator is awesome and I like listening to this series.