Master of Iron concludes the Bladesmith duology by Tricia Levenseller, and I repeatedly fell in love with Ziva. In Ziva, Ms. Levenseller creates a heroine who struggles with severe anxiety. Throughout both novels, Ziva must learn to deal with her anxiety and discover her strengths. For those readers who also deal with anxiety, Ziva is a breath of fresh air, making you feel seen or at least helping you recognize that you are not alone. For those readers who are lucky enough not to have anxiety, you get insight into what it is like to live with this mental disease. The fact that Ziva gets a happy ending is empowering, and I have a special place in my heart for Ms. Levenseller for creating such a unique character. ( )

Solid sequel, brings everything together. I liked how the author addresses Ziva’s Anxiety and how she manages to break down her walls and find her true self. I know this was only a duology but I would absolutely love to see what happens down the road with her and her sister and KELLYN. I also liked how the author allowed the sister to find her voice too. Not just focusing on the protagonist but the other characters around her. ( )

A very satisfying conclusion. Battle scenes were well done; usually I find myself skimming such portions as being pointlessly long. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd (and final) book in the Bladesmith duology. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This was a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The world is fun, the magic well done, the story is fast-paced and the characters are fantastic.

We start out this book with Ziva and crew racing to get her sister, Temra, help. From there Ziva, Kellyn, Temra, and Petrik are quickly drawn into what could quickly turn into a war. Ziva must decide if she will use her magic to make weapons to support the war. She is strongly against creating more weapons for killing and is struggling with the worth of her magic. Ziva is also struggling with her anxiety disorder and with learning how to trust others.

There is some romance here and it was very well done but not the main point of the story. The story is more about Ziva growing in her magic use, learning to deal with her anxiety, and figuring out how to contribute to the defense of the country in a way she is comfortable with (without creating weapons to kill people).

The writing flows well, this is very entertaining and easy to read. The story is fast-paced and I enjoyed every minute of it!

My Summary (5/5): Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this. This was an incredible story with a lot of magic, great characters and a wonderful world. It wrapped up the duology beautifully and I am eager to see what Levenseller writes next. So far all of her fantasy books have been fantastic and I am dying to read more! ( )