Realm Breaker Book Review

Together they stand against a vicious opponent, invincible and determined to burn all kingdoms to ash, and an army unlike anything the realm has ever witnessed. 

• Rich, deep and transporting world-building 
• Diverse cast of characters going on a journey
• Strong Lord of the Rings vibes, featuring several female protagonists
• Slow build in pacing
• Loved some characters, but a few were bland

Realm Breaker is the second series of YA author Victoria Aveyard. She has said it was her mission to create an epic, Lord of the Rings type journey that features a female protagonists and more women in the gang. And in that sense, I think she succeeded. 

The story lays some groundwork by showing a great battle that ends in an event that throws the fabric of the world into danger. An immortal elder partners with an assassin to find the young woman who can save them all. The three set off on a journey to stop the evil force from opening the Spindles (aka portals) to other, more dangerous, worlds, and pick up people along the way until they are a rag tag group that will no doubt save the world.

The world building is breathtaking. From reading this book, I can tell this was a passion of the author for this series. There is deep history. Rich culture. And political tensions. There were moments where it felt like I really had escaped to a far away fantasy land. Aveyard devotes time to helping the reading imagine what it is like to live in this world. And I thought the Spindles were unique twist on portals to another world. I also appreciated how the world building contributed to the main plot (i.e. the main goal is to close the Spindles)

The large cast of characters worked well because it contributed to the epic feel of the novel, though perhaps there were too many POV characters in this first novel.  Most of the characters drew me in, but two fell flat and I couldn’t find myself invested in their story. The ones I loved had unique personalities that both contributed to the success of the group and also caused tension (and hilarious conversations). It was very clear who they were and what motivated them, but we also saw them being challenged it was interesting to see how they reacted. The two that fell flat did so because I couldn’t find a reason to connect with them, they had some contradicting personality traits or I thought the author was trying too hard to make them appear a certain way (i.e. trying to hard to show the tough-guy has emotions). It also seemed like we rarely saw these two characters doing what was claimed they are best at. In short, I realized the characters I loved were more complex, while the ones I didn’t were more two dimensional. 

Aveyard is a pro at writing intriguing, multi-layered villains. I would say there are two main villains in Realm Breaker. Both are fascinating to me and I love reading chapters that featured them because I never knew what they were going to do. I like to be surprised by villains, they are more intimidating when I can’t predict them, and Aveyard accomplished this many times over. They were multi-dimensional and layered and definitely the heroes of their own stories. 

Pacing was the main negative for me. In high fantasy books, it takes longer to get to the main action because you’re setting up the world. But it had to be at least halfway through the book before I felt any imminent danger or urgency in the plot. The prologue was a clue to me that this might be the case. While it’s very cinematic, it lasts a LONG time. Too long considering I don’t know any of the characters in it yet so I don’t feel particularly upset by what’s happening to them. 

In summation, Realm Breaker is a rich fantasy novel with many positives, but also some drawbacks that zapped some of my enthusiasm for it. I think it’s a good book though and would still recommend it to someone wanting to transition from YA fantasy to high fantasy. The ending was exciting enough to make me interested in seeing what happens in book 2.