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3.0
an edge sharp enough
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesan edge sharp enough Reviews
3.0
“3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and to Avon & Harper Voyager for the ARC of An Edge Sharp Enough by Jesse Q. Sutanto.
Reading the author's note at the end of the book has me the most conflicted about how to write this review. When I first saw a Jesse Q. Sutanto novel that was in the sci fi and fantasy genre I assumed that her agent or her publisher had approached her about this being a genre worth pivoting to due to the increased interest from the past decade thanks to Leigh Bardugo, Rachel Gillig, Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, Devney Perry, etc. I am so used to being a fan of her for Vera Wong and her Aunties series, so I was surprised and a bit intrigued, but I was keeping my expectations low. In the author's note, Sutanto talks about how the characters from this book were part of her master's thesis over a decade ago, but were never picked up by publishers. This was her first genre of choice, not some sort of cash grab. Knowing this, I much more appreciate the overall story and Sutanto's love and passion for finally having this book published. That being said, this also makes me so mad at the publishing industry, because, in many ways, this book would have hit the market super successfully a decade ago and in 2026, with the market so oversaturated, it only hits mid range and it makes me so mad at myself to even type that. Jesse Q. Sutanto deserved better on this one.
An Edge Sharp Enough is a fantasy novel that takes place in a world that once had magic, called Art. About 25 years ago, Art completely disappeared from the Northern Continent as a woman known as the Divine Empress waged war against the seven districts to take control and keep Art eradicated forever. On the Southern Continent, Art has been gone for nearly 1000 years, but about 25 years ago the city experienced a revolution where the common folk overthrew the kingdom of the Revven family. The Revven family was said to have the power to keep demons at bay through their control of a specific building material that much of the capital city is now made of, but with the creation of a new material that is just as indestructible, the people found a way to rise up. Now, 25 years after the loss of Art in the North, and the death of the Revvens in the South, our four main characters are brought together when the new indestructible material starts to collapse and upend the world order in the North and South.
An Edge Sharp Enough starts out dropping you into the action with a complex magic / political / religious system that does begin to make more sense once you get about 1/5th of the way through, just like Leigh Bardugo does in her books. I do wish more was said about the term artifices and subtlety and how they work, but I think past that the magic system does make a lot of sense and is well thought out and interesting once you can place the terminology.
The multi POV of 4 separate characters each have their own purposes and twists, but I had trouble connecting with them. I think this was because the book reads a lot more YA than Adult, and so the characters and their interactions and reactions felt just a bit shallower and basic than I needed to really feel for them - so much of their movement is plot driven, which is great, but when they reflect on their pasts its both to set you in the world-building AND create compassion for them but its spread too thin with all the other action and POVs also needing their own time. I think many of the characters just felt immature, even for being age 20. Mara is solely driven by "I like this one person", Livya stopped talking to Kaian at age 12 for the silliest of reasons and she is still very immature and sheltered from diverse opinions, Kaian is solely driven that he likes Livya - I think Fonde is the only one acting with any direction. I wonder if the book is only listed as Adult because there is a fair amount of violence and one mention of sexual assault, but past that it is very tame in terms of conversation (barely any swearing), no sex, etc.
A lot happens in the last 22% and, while it was super engaging and entertaining, I didn't feel shocked or hurt by the outcomes even though they will drastically change the second part, which fans of Rachel Gillig may really appreciate. But it's not that the book is bad in any way - it's just average for the overall market at this point. It's hard to hide a twist when people are expecting one, and so much has been overdone or become predictable in fantasy that this duology isn't yet setting itself drastically apart. I still really enjoyed the book - I read it in two sittings and every time I thought it might be getting into a lull, Sutanto pulled you right into the next bit of action. Her writing overall in this is fantastic and she is still excellent at plotting and timing. I also would still recommend this book to any of her fans and any fantasy readers (again, especially those who like Bardugo and Gillig) and I definitely do want to read the conclusion in the next book.”
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