Genre: Fantasy
Reviewer: Estora
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About The Book
A Doomed Love. An Inexorable Law. An impending war and buried secrets.
Keylin, daughter of Lord Giles, goes from a noblewoman about to be married to the love of her life to a slave, owning not even her own person. The laws of Castrial are binding, and even nobles are not exempt from it. The man who has brought her father to justice is also the man who owns Keylin: Alaric, the Shield of Castrial.
Bertram, her erstwhile fiancé is desperate and willing to do anything to save the woman he loves, but Alaric will never let go of Hamin Giles, and Keylin won’t leave her family to suffer alone.
Behind the scenes, a war is brewing, friends go missing, and a secret that’s been kept from Keylin all her life comes to light.
Fragments of Us is takes place partway through Blade Broken and ends just before Blade Reforged starts. It is book 1.5 of the series and not a standalone and hence will not make sense to those who haven’t read Blade Broken already.
The Review
Betrothed and in love, Keylin’s and Bertram’s future plans and lives come to a screeching halt when Keylin’s father, Giles, is found guilty of a heinous crime.
In Niranjan’s Echelon world, the consequences are brutal. The entire family is punished alongside the perpetrator. Death, exile and slavery among the options available for those related to the criminal. Alaric, the Shield of Castrial, recently returned from exile to take up his mantle at the king’s side, intervenes to purchase the entire family at auction as his slaves. Now Keylin and Bertram are at a crossroads – can they still love each other when they have no future as husband and wife, while she is owned by another?
It is absolutely crucial to read the first book in the series, Blade Broken, as the events of Fragments of Us (marketed as Book 1.5 in the series) directly correspond to the first novel in the series. This acts as an alternate POV version of the same novel, filling in some of the background details and following the story of Keylin and Bertram, two supporting characters.
Those familiar with the first book know that Alaric is a good man. He himself was the son of a slave and knows better than most how cruel that life can be. He treats Keylin and her family well (not just because he’s a good man, but because he has a personal connection to Keylin’s family that he cannot share). However, regardless of how she is treated, she is property, and the society she was once part of will forever judge her. She is no longer free to be with the man she loves, not when such a union would come at the cost of slander, rumours and social disgrace.
It was fun to see alternate POVs of the events of the first book. Keylin and Bertram didn’t leave much of an impression on me in Blade Broken, but in Fragments of Us I have come to appreciate Keylin’s quiet strength and Bertram’s steadfast love for her. The only thing I disliked was Keylin’s loyalty to the father who committed a horrific crime, showed little remorse, and condemned his family to slavery alongside him – but I can’t blame Keylin alone for it. The entire family was complicit in coddling Giles, and it can be incredibly difficult to stand up to a domineering parent who dictates your life and future. For my part, I know exactly what a piece of shit Giles is! It’s easy for me to hate him when he isn’t my father.
The ending ties in directly to the end of Blade Broken and thrillingly leads us into the start of the next book, Blade Reforged – which I am eagerly awaiting!
The Reviewer
Estora is a long-time reader and writer of LGBT+ speculative fiction.
