A review by whenimreading
Asunder by Kerstin Hall

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

3.5

This book had a very attractive synopsis and listening to the first few chapters, I knew I had to read this along with a hard copy. It has a complex and interesting world setup, very creative and executed rather well. The storytelling was atmospheric and I could form a very clear picture of the settings. 

I really liked Karys’ deathspeaker abilities, the Veneer and in turn, the connection she forged with Ferain through the Split Lapse. Watching this entanglement come to a (slow) crescendo added an emotional connection for me, which I ended up enjoying the most. I really liked the secondary characters of Winola and Haeki, and later on Ilesha, they added history and great interactions throughout. 

I wished there was a glossary of the characters, beings, locations and a map. It was difficult for me to remember all the players at large, there’s not a standard info dump to introduce you to the story and I found it a little lacking. But alas, I persisted and struggled mainly with the pacing.

The audiobook narrated by Alyssa Appleton was well performed, I appreciated her use of voice changes to distinguish every character. 

Asunder left me with a few unanswered questions, so I’m curious if this becomes a series or will stay a standalone. 

Thank you to RB Media for the audiobook copy to review.