Scan barcode
A review by saffic
Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
adventurous
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Despite what it looks like I really enjoyed reading this book.
The first review I ever saw for Realm Breaker was a 1 star review saying "It's too long, there's too many characters, there's not enough romance." Let me tell you, as a ASOIAF fan, those all sounded like good things to me! I'd been wanting to branch out into YA fantasy and romance isn't my favorite genre. It seemed like the stars were all aligning, so I picked up this book and dove in.
Sorasa Sarn is hands down the best character in this entire book. So much so, it is actually impossible for the rest of the cast to crawl out of her shadow. However, she is such a good character because she is not the main character. Her being a reluctant mother figure to Corayne is just as big a part of her character as everything else she has going on.
Speaking of Corayne, her character had a good start, but fizzled out towards the end of the book. I don't know how, but herbudding romance with Andry kind of seemed to suck the soul out of both of them.
Now a character who frustrated me is Erida. Again, a strong start to her character, but at some point it feels like she just becameincredibly horny for Taristan and it became half her personality. It feels like the story is building them up to be, despite many things, 'equals', but they just aren't. At one point, he asks her when it's just the two of them + the wizard if she'd join their evil death cult, and she immediately thinks 'What choice do I have?' Which is a completely true thought! But the next line follows up with 'but something in Taristan's eyes let her know she has a choice'. Girl! If you say no that red wizard is going to obliterate your ass into smithereens! There! Was! No! Choice!
Long, drawn out feelings short, the book needed either two different things to accomplish it's goals. 1. Make it shorter and make this trilogy into a longer series or 2. Make it longer, ensuring a trilogy, and giving space between the entire mess that was the events of the last 100ish pages.
The first review I ever saw for Realm Breaker was a 1 star review saying "It's too long, there's too many characters, there's not enough romance." Let me tell you, as a ASOIAF fan, those all sounded like good things to me! I'd been wanting to branch out into YA fantasy and romance isn't my favorite genre. It seemed like the stars were all aligning, so I picked up this book and dove in.
Sorasa Sarn is hands down the best character in this entire book. So much so, it is actually impossible for the rest of the cast to crawl out of her shadow. However, she is such a good character because she is not the main character. Her being a reluctant mother figure to Corayne is just as big a part of her character as everything else she has going on.
Speaking of Corayne, her character had a good start, but fizzled out towards the end of the book. I don't know how, but her
Now a character who frustrated me is Erida. Again, a strong start to her character, but at some point it feels like she just became
Long, drawn out feelings short, the book needed either two different things to accomplish it's goals. 1. Make it shorter and make this trilogy into a longer series or 2. Make it longer, ensuring a trilogy, and giving space between the entire mess that was the events of the last 100ish pages.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gore
I have no idea what to list this under, so I'm just gonna be direct. In a Sorasa chapter towards the end of the book, there is a moment where she reveals she has needles embedded in her skin and tears her skin with her teeth to remove them. It is an oddly gruesome scene in an otherwise non-gorey book.