Review Detail

What Worked: Realm Breaker is the first book of a new epic high fantasy series. It takes place in a world that used to be connected to other worlds through portals called spindles. However, they have been closed now for hundreds of years, and some of the inhabitants are stuck from other places, such as the nearly immortal Elders and those of Cor blood. What was neat about this book was that in the prologue the world’s heroes all assembled for the takedown of the villain that stole a spindle blade and used his Cor ancestry to rip a portal open and they failed.
This story is what happens after. There were only two survivors of the battle and the spindle blade they were able to run away with. A group of misfits comes together as the last hope of stopping the villain, Taristan. They are comprised of an old sorceress, a squire, an elder prince, an assassin, a bounty hunter, a counterfeiter, and a pirate’s daughter who has Cor blood. The rulers of the realm balk at helping, some because they see forming an alliance with Taristan as their path to greatness, others would like the spindles ripped open so they can return to their homeworlds, and some out of cowardness. The odds are not in the remaining heroes’ favor, but they are determined, some because of morals and some because it is better than the world being destroyed and having nowhere to spend their gold.
In this first book the worldbuilding is being set up, the dilemma is building, people are choosing sides, and these unlikely heroes are slowly learning to trust each other. Each of their unique skills are needed to solve different scrapes they get into along the way to reseal the spindles. The book doesn’t explain why the spindles were closed or how they could be safely opened. However, there is a big bad waiting and the world is destabilized when a spindle is ripped. The story is told from multiple characters so sometimes the events feel like a wave, where the plot goes back in time and builds again from another character’s perspective of events.
What Left Me Wanting More: I started this book as an audiobook, but so many events and people were being introduced in the first few chapters that I had to go to the printed version until I had a handle on the plot enough to go back to an audiobook. There were no relationships established, but I do think at least two couples will be emerging in subsequent books; at least I hope they pair off like I suspect they will.
Final Verdict: This was a well-built world and the beginning of great epic fantasy. Hopefully, fans won’t have to wait too long for the sequels because the realm is in peril and the spindles need to be closed!