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A review by johnsnowwasright
The Sundered Realms by Casey Blair
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Overall, I had a really good time with this book but there were technical issues that prevented me from rating it higher.
I will start with what was done well:
- Liris is probably one of my favorite main characters of all time. I loved her snark, her vulnerability and her strong sense of right and wrong. I really enjoyed watching her grow from someone constantly second guessing herself to a confident woman. (I also appreciate that this growth was due to her learning spellcraft and not due to the romance by itself. She may doubt herself at times but she isn't taking shit from any man.)
- The romance was such a nice change of pace from other romantasy books. You could tell that Vhannor and Liris were attracted to each others' brains before becoming physically attracted to one another. That's so rare to see so thank you! Although their relationship develops over a short period of time, it was so expertly crafted that it didn't feel insta-lovey.
- Vhannor is everything that Rhysand should have been as a romantic partner in ACOTAR but wasn't. Vhannor is our real consent/pro-choice king.
- The magic system and world were so cool! Combining language and mathematics into a complicated magic system? Genius!
What was not done so well:
- Although the magic system was super cool, it was inconsistent and not well explained. I feel like we were bouncing back and forth on whether or not you could speak spells or just write them? I also think there should have been more detail about the spell casting in general. It would have leant more to the story and Liris's arc.
- The pacing was choppy. We didn't spend enough time with Liris in her home realm to establish why it left such a mark on her and why we should care about it at all. We also didn't spend enough time with Liris actually learning spell crafting at the university. As a result, it felt like Liris didn't earn the expertise or skill that she showed at the end. Although the various demon battle missions helped develop the romance, I don't think they added as much to the plot and Liris's magical development.
I think the above issues could easily be fixed with a few more rounds of edits. It really could elevate this to a 4 to 5 star read.
Having said all that, I do want to read book 2.
I will start with what was done well:
- Liris is probably one of my favorite main characters of all time. I loved her snark, her vulnerability and her strong sense of right and wrong. I really enjoyed watching her grow from someone constantly second guessing herself to a confident woman. (I also appreciate that this growth was due to her learning spellcraft and not due to the romance by itself. She may doubt herself at times but she isn't taking shit from any man.)
- The romance was such a nice change of pace from other romantasy books. You could tell that Vhannor and Liris were attracted to each others' brains before becoming physically attracted to one another. That's so rare to see so thank you! Although their relationship develops over a short period of time, it was so expertly crafted that it didn't feel insta-lovey.
- Vhannor is everything that Rhysand should have been as a romantic partner in ACOTAR but wasn't. Vhannor is our real consent/pro-choice king.
- The magic system and world were so cool! Combining language and mathematics into a complicated magic system? Genius!
What was not done so well:
- Although the magic system was super cool, it was inconsistent and not well explained. I feel like we were bouncing back and forth on whether or not you could speak spells or just write them? I also think there should have been more detail about the spell casting in general. It would have leant more to the story and Liris's arc.
- The pacing was choppy. We didn't spend enough time with Liris in her home realm to establish why it left such a mark on her and why we should care about it at all. We also didn't spend enough time with Liris actually learning spell crafting at the university. As a result, it felt like Liris didn't earn the expertise or skill that she showed at the end. Although the various demon battle missions helped develop the romance, I don't think they added as much to the plot and Liris's magical development.
I think the above issues could easily be fixed with a few more rounds of edits. It really could elevate this to a 4 to 5 star read.
Having said all that, I do want to read book 2.