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Review: Lord of Blade and Bone by Erica Ivy Rodgers

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Lord of Blade and Bone by Erica Ivy Rodgers

Lord of Blade and Bone (Waking Hearts #2)
Erica Ivy Rodgers
Peachtree Teen
Published November 11, 2025

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About Lord of Blade and Bone

A harrowing companion to the romantic fantasy adventure, Lady of Steel and Straw

The kingdom of Niveaux’s most vulnerable are being hanged—their bones mercilessly collected for an arsenal of wraiths. With young Prince Artus locked away and the Order of the Guardians driven from the capital, Cardinal Lorraine the Pure fixes her gaze on conquering bordering nations. To succeed, she’ll have to convince Captain Luc de Montaigne to embrace the power he’s been running from his entire life.

But even in chains, Luc yearns for the light of Lady Charlotte Sand. Proclaimed an outlaw, Charlotte and her lavender scarecrow Guardian, Worth, are staging rebellion with the underground network, the Broken Bird. Three new Guardians have also woken to aid their cause, but someone in their ranks is not who they seem. And with corruption spreading, the Guardians’ hearts are weakening. Can Charlotte trust Luc to abandon his former master and secure peace for the kingdom? Or will the darkness haunting Charlotte’s Guardian destroy any chance for reconciliation?

An exhilarating second installment in the Waking Hearts duology, this YA fantasy was inspired by The Three Musketeers and offers a beguiling dose of dark magic.

My Review

This book was at the top of my list of most-anticipated books coming out this year. I loved Lady of Steel and Straw. I don’t think I spotted the similarities to The Three Musketeers in that first book, but I definitely loved the whole magic system based on guardians with magical hearts that woke when placed inside a scarecrow body laced with herbs.

Lord of Blade and Bone started off a little rough for me, if I’m honest. It’s been a year since I’d read the first book, so I remembered the broad strokes but no details about the political scene or minor characters. The opening scene doesn’t include anyone I remembered from the last book. It sets up the action in this book nicely. Once I finished the book, I went back and reread that first chapter. It made a lot more sense.

There’s not a lot of recap in the opening chapters of this book, despite the fact that it’s almost 500 pages. While I love that I got to read the whole story at once, I wonder if the book would have been better as two novels so there was a little more time to catch up forgetful readers or introduce characters more slowly.

Because there are a LOT of characters, which is something I generally struggle with anyhow. It would have been cool to see a list of all the guardians and their herb-infused abilities somewhere, too.

Though the book started off a little rough, once I remembered who everyone was and what was happening, I didn’t want to stop reading. Charlotte and Luc’s slow burn romance is so sweet. Micah and Viggo are adorable, too.

The book has a lot of political intrigue and wrestling over whether magic abilities are good or evil. There’s a character recovering from addiction. It’s got a lot of intriguing elements.

Conclusion

Lord of Blade and Bone is packed with political intrigue and reads more like an adult fantasy that’s light on romance. If you liked King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, definitely check out this duology. Be sure to start with Lady of Steel and Straw.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
Wielders use forbidden power to disturb dead spirits, raising them as wraiths who inspire fear, pain, and torment in others. Very rarely, when someone dies, they become a Guardian, or an immortal warrior bonded to a person who will fight someone wielding the dead or settle disturbed spirits as part of the Order of old gods.

Under the cardinal’s rule as regent, the people worship a new duo called the Silent Gods, and the old ways are forbidden.

One theme that emerges in the story explores whether the magical ability to wield wraiths is itself evil or whether it’s a neutral ability that can be used for good or bad.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battle scenes. References to torture. References to the murder of civilians. Some brief descriptions of execution.

Drug Content
One character is recovering from a chemical addiction. A few references to alcohol served at social events or adults drinking socially.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Guardians of Dawn: Yuli by S. Jae-Jones

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Guardians of Dawn: Yuli (Guardians of Dawn #3)
S. Jae-Jones
Wednesday Books
Published August 19, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Guardians of Dawn: Yuli

Princess Yulana has a few problems. Her late grandfather has died without naming an heir, civil war threatens to tear the Morning Realms apart, a strange waking dreamer sickness is sweeping through the land, and a plague of hungry ghosts roam the steppes. On top of all of that, Kho, her former best friend turned rival, is getting under her skin. A struggle for power divides the north, and the outcome rests on the winner of the Grand Game―a competition that will determine not just the future of her people, but the course of the entire empire.

When the world is out of balance, the Guardians of Dawn are reborn.

As the Guardian of Wind, it is Yuli’s responsibility to bring order to chaos, along with the Guardian of Fire and the Guardian of Wood. But can she restore balance to the Morning Realms when she can’t even win the political games being played at home? The fate of the Morning Realms depends on the Guardians of Dawn, and whether Yuli can manage both the demonic and political chaos at once.

My Review

I had a feeling that this would not be the last book in the series, since each book follows a different Guardian of Dawn, and there are four of them. Sure enough, though this book contains its own satisfying plot, it sets up the fourth story and the stakes for the guardians and their allies.

Like the others in the series, this one has a large cast and the narrative follows more than one point of view. This book stuck more closely with the three guardians and a love interest, so it felt more compact to me than the first two books. I enjoyed each viewpoint. Zhara, Ami, Yuli, and Kho are all so different from one another. It was always pretty easy to remember who was telling the story at any given moment.

The plot moved at a nice pace. Of all the books so far, I think I read this one the fastest. I really enjoyed the fairy tale story elements. There’s a great balance between the original story and the fairy tale-inspired themes.

I’d still recommend this series to readers transitioning to young adult from middle grade fiction. The action can be a little intense, but the writing and other components keep this feeling like a perfect read for a younger YA audience.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few instances of profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. A few characters are Guardians of Dawn, specific magic-wielders tasked with protecting the world. One character has the ability to compel others to do things. The narrative includes references to reincarnation. The characters pay close attention to the ki of others and the world around them. An evil force which some refer to as anti-ki, or demonic energy, causes harm. Demons emerge from a tear between worlds and can possess people and objects.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief battle violence.

Drug Content
Yuli assumes people acting strange are drunk until she realizes something more nefarious is going on.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.