Looking For a Good Book

Charlie N. Holmberg is back with an absolutely stunning, powerful new book, the first in a series, The Shattered King.

Nym lives on the outskirts of the kingdom of Cansere. She is a beekeeper and healer in her small village, and cares for her younger siblings after the unfortunate accident that claimed her parents’ and her twin sister’s lives. Cansere is under the threat of war, as neighboring, larger kingdoms look to swallow them up. Her role as healer is different from that of a doctor or physician. A healer has the ability to look inside a person’s aura, or soul, and to fix them this way. This kind of healing may also heal physical issues, such as broken bones or torn skin.

A letter from the queen requests Nym’s presence to the castle to attempt to heal Prince Renn, the youngest son of the king and queen who has been a shut-in all his life with only the barest ability to move. Nym learns that no healer or physician has ever been able to heal Prince Renn, but like ever other healer called to the castle, Nym takes a look at his aura to see what she can do. She’s surprised he’s alive at all and repairs the simplest facet, which gives him some movement of his foot. This is more than anyone else has ever done and the queen immediately conscripts Nym into service to work daily on Prince Renn.

Nym makes slow but steady progress in healing the fragile prince (as well as others about the castle), developing friends and a few enemies.  A bond between Renn and Nym also grows, though Nym understands that Renn likely sees her as a savior and with them being of such vastly different social classes, nothing could ever happen between them.

When the castle comes under attack, Renn may need to step up and defend Nym, himself, and his people.  Will Nym have him ready in time?

This was truly an exciting, page-turning fantasy.  I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a very long time. Holmberg’s ability to be new and fresh is remarkable. The ‘healing’ here is described very well and the reader can understand it and visualize it. And the fact that every aura is different, makes it even more fun to go along with Nym as she heals different people.

There are some common fantasy tropes here, but Holmberg manages to put her unique spin on them, keeping it fresh. This was easily a 5 star read 99% of the time. It’s a book I didn’t want to put down and I couldn’t wait to get back to it when I did have to put it away.

There was one small moment in the book that felt like it came out of nowhere (a revelation about Nym’s past) and it came in a moment of conversation that was truly an info dump (ie “I haven’t told you this before, but…”). It struck me as odd at the moment and even looking back, I’m not sure why it was important to know.

But the moment that keeps this from being a true 5-star book is the ending. Well, the lack of ending, to be more precise. This book ends in true cliff-hanger fashion – stay tuned to see what happens!

I’ve noted before (and will probably make note of again), that I don’t appreciate this kind of book selling tactic.  If a book is well-written and interesting, I’ll buy the next book in the series. I don’t need to be ‘forced’ into buying it just so that I can finish reading it.

This book has all the creativity and uniqueness that we saw in Holmberg’s The Paper Magician series, and all the lustre and beauty of the Star Mother and Star Father books – some of what I consider to be her best.

Looking for a good book? The Shattered King by Charlie N. Holmberg is a fresh, new fantasy by one of the best in the business, but the book is incomplete as a book, ending in a cliff-hanger so that readers will have to wait (a year?) for the next installment.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Shattered King

author: Charlie N. Holmberg

series: The Shattered King #1

publisher: 47North

ISBN:  9781662530586

hardcover, 333 pages