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A review by charliauthor
Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
Did not finish book. Stopped at 76%.
DNF'd at 76% even though it really hurt me to do so but I just couldn't continue being so incredibly bored!
I'd heard bad things about this book from others but one shining light was another friend who really enjoyed it. I trust her judgement so I thought cool, maybe I'll be of the 1% in this case. Dear God was i not of that percentile! I just couldn't get into it at all and even with only 100 or so pages to go and being part of a readalong, I had no urge to ever pick it up. When a book feels like a chore, its time to say goodbye.
So, this is set in a world with an epic map and very little else. There are things called Spindles that are like portals I think and they can open into other worlds. One world in particular had overly tall immortal people come out of it one time, but then the portals shut and they were stuck in this new world so they would like to get back home. Anyway, some bad dude opens the portals and brings an undead army with him and of course this is bad so they need a special sword and special blood to kill him even though while in possession of said sword and said blood, they didn't kill him the first time. Aaaanyway, this prompts an immortal and an assassin and a squire and a princess to go on a hunt for the blood and the sword and theres where i lost it.
Despite all the above, absolutely nothing happens and you have no connection to any of the characters. There are too many POVs - 6 - and 4 of them are travelling together! So you read the same scene from different perspectives a lot, that serve no real furthering of the plot and its booooring.
While the map is gorgeous and there was some real potential for this, it just didn't live up to the expectation that the map gave. I commented in our group once that the map had more personality than any of the characters and how that happens, I have no idea. Its like the map was created and then she just threw some randos in there to have a reason to walk around.
Very disappointing indeed.
I'd heard bad things about this book from others but one shining light was another friend who really enjoyed it. I trust her judgement so I thought cool, maybe I'll be of the 1% in this case. Dear God was i not of that percentile! I just couldn't get into it at all and even with only 100 or so pages to go and being part of a readalong, I had no urge to ever pick it up. When a book feels like a chore, its time to say goodbye.
So, this is set in a world with an epic map and very little else. There are things called Spindles that are like portals I think and they can open into other worlds. One world in particular had overly tall immortal people come out of it one time, but then the portals shut and they were stuck in this new world so they would like to get back home. Anyway, some bad dude opens the portals and brings an undead army with him and of course this is bad so they need a special sword and special blood to kill him even though while in possession of said sword and said blood, they didn't kill him the first time. Aaaanyway, this prompts an immortal and an assassin and a squire and a princess to go on a hunt for the blood and the sword and theres where i lost it.
Despite all the above, absolutely nothing happens and you have no connection to any of the characters. There are too many POVs - 6 - and 4 of them are travelling together! So you read the same scene from different perspectives a lot, that serve no real furthering of the plot and its booooring.
While the map is gorgeous and there was some real potential for this, it just didn't live up to the expectation that the map gave. I commented in our group once that the map had more personality than any of the characters and how that happens, I have no idea. Its like the map was created and then she just threw some randos in there to have a reason to walk around.
Very disappointing indeed.