House of Blades is the first book in Will Wight’s trilogy The Traveler’s Gate, along with The Crimson Vault and City of Light. (Note: I’m writing the reviews for the whole trilogy at once, so I’m comfortable being a little more harsh about the first book given I still read the other two and liked them.)
The world and magic are really interesting, but as a self-contained story, this book is not very good. Most of the book is introducing characters and worldbuilding, with a bland plot tying it together. Several of the characters (including ones I liked in the subsequent books) are pretty obnoxious and behave in nonsensical ways to drive the plot. It does have some good parts: the magic system where individuals can call powers from outside territories into the world is really intreresting, and it does a good job of setting up the story for the next two books. Despite this not being very good on its own, I would recommend it to get into the rest of the story.