A Vengeful Realm is the second installment of The Breaker of Chains, in what seemed to be a duology, but now, after reading the book, it seems to be part of a series, or a trilogy, at least.
The adventures (or misadventures) of Zephyrus continue in this book, in which he little by little continues to recover his memory, to the point of remembering how he lost it and why.
A story full of action and intense moments that surprises by distancing itself from the current fashion of including raw sex scenes, but that does not spare the bloody battle scenes. Highly recommended, one of those books that are difficult to put down.
Tim Facciola is so far the first, if not the only Sci Fi & Fantasy author to take an empire from the classical world and make it his own in a complete and almost perfect way.
I thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

Book 2 of the series A Vengeful Realm did not disappoint!

This book picks up where Book 1 left off, and it starts to explore the characters and world even further. In The Breaker of Chains, we learn more about the gods, the Skeleton King, and the Fallen. I was expecting there to be more action, but I was blown away by the multiple battle sequences and how well they flowed.

Another aspect that far exceeded my expectations was the character development. Each of the main characters come from vastly different backgrounds, and all of them see ups and downs in this novel. We watch a former slave master become a part of the Fallen's revolution, a former gladiator rise to protect the realm, a prince become a true king, and a lost woman find her place in the world.

I loved seeing each character's journey and can't wait to see where they go in the third and final installment of this series!

A Vengeful Realm : The Breaker of Chains by Tim Facciola is an amazing sequel that continues to build the world and story the author has set in motion while standing on its own two feet as an engrossing action packed tale. The recap at the front of this text is immensely helpful with the time that has passed between readings however I would still most strongly recommend this title for fans of book one rather than for fantasy fans in general.

Author Tim Facciola has created an interesting world where magic, though powerful, has its limits. The main characters from Book One of this series return, including some characters I thought never to see again. They each have a story or quest that intersects occasionally, but that are always connected. Wheels within wheels.

What I like about this book is the character development. Facciola does a great job exploring the human condition. We get to see how one person can experience suffering and betrayal, yet is forged into a person of honor, while another through a similar experience becomes bitter and vengeful. What annoyed me - right at the end - was the singular, completely unbelievable failure of a particular character to die. This was so egregious that I reduced my rating by half a star for this alone.

Four and a half stars for “The Breaker of Chains.” It has everything I enjoy in a good fantasy: an overarching plot line, several interesting subplots, complex characters, and great character development. My thanks to First Torch Books LLC and the author via Netgalley. Opinions given here are my own and offered freely.

#AVengefulRealm #Netgalley #timfacciola #fantasy

Book 2 syndrome doesn’t exist!!
Imagine fighting a guy who nullifies your magic so you gouge out his eyeball. Twice.

Now that I have your attention:

This is a book review over the ARC of A Vengeful Realm, Breaker of Chains, Book 2 of the series. I received this ARC link from the author, Tim Facciola. Much thanks to him and Netgalley for the opportunity to read it early. There's an amazing Book 1 recap at the beginning of the novel and it immediately catapulted my appreciation of the author.

The first thing I have to say is this is an action novel. If you are incapable of visualizing action scenes, I suggest you start practicing because without that, you will not get the full effect that this story is supposed to have on you. Better start meditating. The fight scenes are immaculate. The magic fight scenes are immaculate. The gladiator magic fight scenes are immaculate. I loved, once again, everything about this story.

There are some holes that I see in the plotline that I'm hoping are cleared up in book 3, but for the most part, I loved this book just as much as I loved book 1. There were even parts of it, towards the middle and the end, where certain scenes took me by surprise (”I fkin KNEW it” or “OH SH*T OKAY”), and I think that, once again, goes to the author's credit of crafting such a good story and intertwining many characters' lives together. I feel like this story is setting up for a 3v3 showdown between the protag and antags, but I’m curious how the author with set it up.

I am sad with the way the story did end, I’ll be honest, but I'm also very intrigued as to how book 3 goes because this book ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, but it's not like a cliffhanger where book 3 immediately picks up where book 2 left off. But I gotta say, Tim Facciola really, really has a great fantasy series in his hands, and if book 3 is at the same caliber of book 1 and 2, then this is gonna go down as probably one of my favorite, or one of my most recommended new age fantasy stories up until now.

I love all the characters, and Breaker of Chains further enhanced what I liked about some characters and gave me new characters to enjoy as well. (Danella’s still a b**** though). AND don’t even get me started on Zephyrus’s character development.

Oh man I can't talk enough about the fight scenes, this man knows his work, this man knows his fight scenes, he knows his combat, and he knows his choreography well. It's just like the words that he uses make it that much easier for me to visualize what the characters are doing, how they're moving, how they're fighting, what their expressions are, all that stuff, he just makes it so easy for me to visualize this. Especially that one shrouded stealth scene (iykyk)

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I think everyone will if they give it a chance. I will not stop recommending this series.

Review: I missed out on the first in this series but thankfully there is a full recap in the beginning.

This was slightly confusing with the characters POV constantly shifting. What this creates is a story line that is stilted and lacks fluidity. Chapters become truncated, almost like there is an urgency to move on to the next iteration. There were several instances where the story line had intense movement then relative calm. This plays well, as the natural sussuration of events invests the reader into the developing characters.

This novel had some great characters and some that resided in Camp Dullard. All of the female characters were indistinguishable from each other. The only differences were their names and where they currently reside. All of them constantly bite their lips, look at the ground like a hand maiden?, shiver their spines and rise like a phoenix to overcome the odds against them. Really? Nallia is the worst of the lot. From the affluent ruling class, she sees the error of her ways in an instant and chooses to side with the desparate Fallen. She is suddenly this GREAT LEADER whom everyone now respects and turns into Zena Warrior Princess, killing hardened soldiers in battle after battle. This is not even remotely believable. ILeaya fumbles around in the halls of the gods, managing to find all the ripe secrets within, because well, she has a heart of gold. Can you say plot device?

The rating flopped around chapter to chapter. Solid 4-5 with good movement and chapters devoted to Zephyrus. One to 2 stars when Nallia is biting her lip (x50). It is too bad the Fallen did not initially send her actual body parts for ransom.

I think this author has a lot of burgeoning talent. You can see the fleeting genius when he utilizes movement to build his characters. The slips are the over-use of common phrasing to set the emotional tone of a character and help expedite the scenes.

Rating: 3.0/5 (avg.)

What more could you ask for in a novel? Romance, mystery, adventure and steam all bottled up into one great read! I thoroughly enjoyed it!