Asunder by Kerstin Hall is a dark and atmospheric fantasy that plunges readers into a world of intricate power struggles, moral ambiguity, and haunting beauty. The novel follows a protagonist caught between different factions, where personal choices have immense consequences, and every decision could lead to destruction or redemption. Hall’s writing is lush and evocative, creating a richly textured world that is as eerie as it is captivating. The characters are complex and flawed, each with their own motivations and desires, adding depth to the story’s emotional core. Asunder is a gripping and thought-provoking read, perfect for fans of dark fantasy and character-driven narratives full of twists and intrigue.

Thank you, NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group | Tordotcom, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked in a pact with an eldritch being, Sabaster, who granted her the power to talk with the newly departed. She is able to pay her rent by investigating mysterious death, but her life is uphended when she is connected to a dying stranger. Ferrain is willing to do anything in order to survive and to get her help. To save him Karys mistakenly binds him to her shadow, connecting them and if they want to survive they have to learn how to trust one other in a long journey into the empire, haunted by horrors, secrets and their own complex pasts.

Imaginative, brilliant, funny, with a dark world ready to welcome you with its secrets, lies and horrors, Asunder is a wonderful novel and I truly loved it. I couldn't recommend it enough. Karys with her power, the bond with Sabaster and with Ferrain, I loved every single thing.

Asunder is a dark, gritty fantasy story with fascinating world-building and emotional character arcs. It quickly became one of my favorite books of the year and I need more people to read it.

Asunder is a book that will make you work to understand the world-building; something I really love. I was immediately hooked by all of these small references to things I didn’t fully understand. This book will not reveal information until you absolutely need it making for a satisfying and engaging reading experience.

The world of Asunder reminds me of a horror Studio Ghibli atmosphere. Karys and her companions traverse a very unstable land, divided by years of godly conflict. Magic has integrated itself into the land in ways that are sometimes whimsical and yet often strange and unsettling.

The gods of this world are grotesque, inhuman, and selfish. Some of the scenes where Karys is interacting with her pact holder really freaked me out. But I loved how these interactions captured the violent, bloody history between the gods and the twisted forms of faith that developed as gods tried to cling to power. Lurking in the background of this story are threads of messy, complicated political turmoil related to the role of gods in the world. I would love to explore these threads further in a sequel.

There are so many raw and emotional character moments in this. Karys is a deeply jaded and untrusting character. Along her journey, she picks up people who are determined to help her and we get some amazing interactions within this found family group. These characters have really complicated histories and are likely working towards their own hidden agendas.

The forced proximity bonding between Karys and Ferain was incredible. What starts as a selfish, temporary plan becomes a relationship that changes both of their lives. The progression of their relationship as they slowly learned to trust each other was so moving.

I don't believe that any news for a sequel has been confirmed but listen… TorDotCom… YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME WITH THAT ENDING UNRESOLVED FOREVER. I need a sequel desperately. Kerstin Hall ripped my heart out and stomped on it with that ending.

Hall really does write amazing fantasy books. The worldbuilding is so vivid and complex, but presented in a way that doesn't ask too much of readers, allowing us to just slip into the story and go along for the ride through this darkly magical world full of the shattered pieces of a civilization slowly being swallowed by time. Asunder was dark and gross (complimentary) and yet surprisingly cozy in a "band of weird people with trauma find each other and band together for safety" way that I just adore. I enjoyed it and I can't wait to read the sequel!

This book is a captivating and immersive read that hooks you from the first page. The writing is beautifully crafted, with vivid descriptions and strong character development that makes the story come alive. The plot is well-paced, balancing moments of tension with quieter, reflective scenes that allow the characters to grow. The themes explored are deep and thought-provoking, resonating long after the final page. Whether it's the emotional depth, the twists and turns of the plot, or the unforgettable characters, this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys rich, engaging stories. Highly recommended for fans of fantasy.

Cosmic horror, investigations, body snatchers and a touch of incorporeal romance! The story follows Karys, a girl who sold her soul to an eldritch being when she was a teen and in exchange now has the ability of a Deathspeaker. As a Deathspeaker she can talk to the newly departed and uses her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths.... yet on her latest job things go terribly wrong. So wrong in fact that Karys noow has a dying man attached to her shadow. Karys and Ferain must now work together to travel the empire and find a way to separate each other from themselves. The story starts off by dropping you off in the middle of an investigation and then you feel as if you are catching up throughout the rest of the book. I'm going to be honest, this book felt way too long for what it was. It's an extremely slow build and the novel feels episodic with the entire arc feeling like its made up of side quests. The ending didn't vibe with me all that much either, I've found that Kerstin's books are either hit or miss with me and this one just did not work for me at all. It had all the components to be a book I would love but the actual execution just fell flat altogether. I didn't really find myself invested or engaged with the characters despite wanting to be. The story felt like a drag for most of the time and I found myself picking up and putting down this book multiple times when normally I would be able to read this in one sitting. While this isn't for me, I do think if you like slow side quest fantasy stories and a bit of cosmic horror or DND then this would be a book you should definitely pick up.

Release Date: August 20,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tordotcom for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Forced proximity...to the max! Great blend of sci-fi and thriller with some slow slow SLOW burn. Would like to see this as a graphic novel!!

I think there are many really intriguing ideas here! The world Hall has created certainly feels broad, and her characters are distinct and each have their own charms. I can definitely understand the kind of reader this book is for! Unfortunately it didn't really make full enough use of the ideas and world and characters for me, and what was probably intended to be a heartbreaking ending instead felt somewhat confusing and a little bit flat.

The cosmologies and political/social divisions in this world are quite complicated: there are dead (or mostly dead) old gods, the Bhatuma, who were slayed by the newer demonic Ephirite, and humans might work either Bhatuma or Ephirite magic depending on their culture. The main character, Karys, has sold her soul to a horrifying Ephirite in order to be able to communicate with ghosts and see the inner workings of both kinds of magics by opening the Veneer. There are also clearly political divisions, marked by borders and by bias; Karys's status as a deathspeaker clearly holds different connotations to different secondary characters and in some cases puts her in danger, while other kinds of magic—like the Hounds, dog-like taxis with bowls for backs, and the Silkess, a giant spider that serves as a kind of train—seem ordinary, or at least not scorned. I wanted to know so much more about every single one of these elements! This is the sort of fantasy that drops the reader right in without a lot of exposition up front, which I personally adore, but that method requires eventual payoffs for the trust we're asked to extend. I was very willing to go with the flow, but I never felt that any of the underpinnings of this world were adequately explained or demonstrated.

Then there's Karys, and the man she is accidentally sharing a body with, Ferain. Their banter is very charming; romantic plotlines are not really my thing, but the slow building of trust and camaraderie between them will definitely appeal to many readers! We get to see bits of their backstories, particularly Karys, and I did grow fond of them both as the story went on. But the side characters who gather along the quest felt charming but a bit shallow to me; I wanted to know them, and wanted to like them, and by the end still felt that I didn't have a good handle on who they each were as people at all.

I have to say though, this was a pretty long book, but it was a speedy read in spite of my struggles with it! The plot moves along at a good clip, and it was compelling enough to carry me through. I often felt a bit unsure as to why plot points were happening, and how they connected to the rest of the story, but the prose itself was very readable and hooked me right in. That said, the ending really didn't do it for me, emotionally or narratively—but again, romance is not my thing, and the book took a much more romantic turn at the end, so ymmv.

I think my final takeaway here is that I had a really good time reading this book, even though it didn't blow me away—and I think for readers who are less invested in the whys and hows and more interested in fast-paced action, some h/c goodness, and the romance of it all, this will be a hit.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Asunder was an interesting read. I enjoyed the love story and the two lead characters were engaging and likeable. The magic and world building was a bit complicated and sometimes bogged the story down. I felt the pace could be better. And I didn't love the cliffhanger. So mixed feelings on this one.

3.5 rounded down since it hasn't really stuck with me over time

I originally picked this up because of the promise of eldritch creatures. The entire idea of an eldritch being is something so otherworldly that it defies human comprehension. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this was fully executed on. Sabaster felt more like a normal demon than anything too out of our world. I did like the magic system and I think the deathspeaker abilities were actually handled better than Sabaster himself.

Karys and Ferain were great main characters and I really enjoyed watching them develop together over time. Ferain spends most of the stuck in a shadow, really only able to talk to Karys, and it makes for a fun dynamic. The side characters were equally great, and each added their own unique viewpoint and skills to the group.

Unfortunately, what really dragged this book down was the length. This could have been much shorter and would have been much stronger for it. Sabaster loses menace because of how large the gaps between seeing/hearing about him are, and I had a hard time keeping up with the magic system and plot when it was so unnecessarily dragged out. This is a book you need to pay attention to in order to understand, but the overlong length makes it very easy to get distracted and lose focus. Still fun, but I'm not sure I'll be rushing to read the sequel.

Some books' endings, I can look at them and go... well, this isn't for me, I don't like how this went, but I can see how someone might. I often find this with ambiguous endings. Sometimes they hit just right, sometimes they pass me by, but I get that they're someone's jam. You can probably see where I'm going with this. I hated the ending of Asunder. I left a few days between reading it and writing this review, letting my thoughts percolate, and the thing I keep circling back to is how everything is tied up at/after the big finale, and how deeply, frustratingly unsatisfying I found it. I struggle to see, in a way that is not often the case, how this would work for anyone. I'm clearly wrong and it does, because I've seen praise for it! So much prasie! But it is beyond the scope of my comprehension. Which is a shame, because it all comes down to something that's worked through the entire narrative, something that I think has promise, that is clearly thoughtful, clearly deliberate, something that left me slightly wrong-footed (in a good way, mostly), and trying to figure out exactly where the story was going, and what is was going to be.

It all comes down to expectations.

I could talk about the worldbuilding of Asunder, I can talk about the characterisation (both fine, trending good), I can talk about the plotting (fine) and the pacing (mixed). But that's not what's interesting about it, as a novel, so I'm not going to bother. Instead, I'm going to focus on the thing about it that I think makes it stand out* - exactly how it interacts with genre conventions, and the expectations that the weight of the existing corpus impose on/instill in readers. More than anything, while I was reading it, I was constantly uncertain about exactly what sort of a thing Asunder wanted to be, a quality in a book that has the potential to deliver an absolutely stellar story... or a distinctly mediocre one. Take The City and the City by China Miéville, as an example. The way that it plays with your understanding of whether or not there are genre elements in play is key to the impact of the finale. Not everything has to do it to quite that extreme, but it's a great example of how subverting the expectations of the reader can deliver something wonderful. There's also The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, for something more recent, or The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton. Books that play with exactly what kind of a story you're dealing with can deliver magic. Or... they can feel muddled, uncertain, unfinished things. I still haven't quite decided which one Asunder is, for me.

If you look at the fantasy genre, especially mainstream, tradpubbed novels, right now, and doubly especially ones with a female protagonist, it is very often the default for those stories to contain an element of romance. Not necessarily to quite the extent of romantasy, but a strong thread lying alongside the main plot, supporting the character development and helping to deliver a satisfying ending on an emotional level. It's another kind of payoff, another way for your hero(ine) to get their just deserts (or righteous comeuppance, or tragic crescendo, depending on how the romance plays out). So when Asunder gave me a female character who ends up stuck with a newly-met male character inside her head, having to become comfortable with that incredible, infuriating intimacy after a hard and lonely life... well, the cues were cue-ing, right? And then he turns out to be nice! But he has some mysteries... ohoho I know where this goes, yes? Except... it doesn't. It hints. It lets you wonder. But it also has the cute scholar she meets at the university flirt with her, help her more than she expects and ask her out to dinner. Is that just friendship or the start of something more? And then you meet someone from her childhood, and there are hints that maybe what they felt for one another was more than just friendship... or are there? No, really, are there?? Or am I just imagining it because I am so thoroughly, constantly used to seeing romance in my fantasy novels that I'm trying to figure out where it's going to come from, ending up jumping at ghosts?

That was my experience, for a lot of reading Asunder. Such hints as there are, for a good chunk of the book, are so gentle, so subtle, that I found myself second-guessing them and myself. And it wasn't just the romance. The story also sets up what seem like familiar structures, only to never quite grasp them and move onto something new instead, leaving behind a trail of brief encounters across the scenery of this imagined world. There are moments where the story veers political, and then drifts away again, just as it meanders towards adventures and heists and crime and magic and gods and empire, never quite committing itself to fully delving into any one box it opens. But nor do these disparate elements ever feel like their variety coheres into something greater than the sum of its parts. If anything, it reminds me of the structure of a myth, a fairytale, where events just sort of... keep eventing, until an unseen clock runs out and it's time to have a resolution now. A story unbeholden to the logic of the meta. I don't necessarily hate that. But I never felt like I could settle down into it either, I could never get comfortable enough to immerse myself fully into what it was giving me.

And then on top of all that there's a whole other bunch of expectations that don't quite have anything to do with the book itself. I came into this having seen a number of people talking positively, enthusiastically, nay even ecstatically about it. So, naturally, my expectations were set pretty high; I was waiting to be stunned. I never quite was.

It's like reading books for awards. The frame of reference you bring with you to the reading experience necessarily colours it. No one can read a text free from context. You can do your best, if it's something you want to strive for - I tend not to read proper, deep reviews of books I know I'm going to have to read with purpose (either for a review or for awards judging/voting), for example - but you can never truly free yourself from it. After all, something has to be the prompt to read the book, right?

And, just like many times where I've read an award shortlist, Asunder suffers because I'm holding it up to this unfairly high standard. It's not, for me, a stellar book. It's not world shattering, not emotionally devastating. It's fine. It's... probably a little unmemorable, but so are the vast majority of stories. It treads familiar ground in familiar ways, changing some of the aesthetics, the vibes, but ultimately delivering the sort of standard fare that the genre thrives on, because not everything can (or should) be a work of deathless prose that lasts through the ages. But much like the expectations the story framework set up around romance, around plot points, I am incapable of seeing past the expectations set by the critical response I've seen before reading - and it simply does not live up to either set.

For the genre ones, there are two reasons I could see for this - is it playing with my expectations and it's simply not working for me, or is it failing to craft them at all, and what I'm seeing is the baggage I have brought with me, unasked? I'm unsure to what extent it is which of those. If it is the latter, I do think this is something of a failure by the book - it's leaving something on the table that could be put to use crafting the story into something tighter and more thoughtful.

In any case, we now come back to the crux of the problem with how those expectations are crafted and managed throughout the story - the ending. For every genre, there are some assumptions about what the story's end might look like, whether as rigid as the happily ever after of true romance, or the less formalised but no less present mores about a satisfying wrap up of threads that tends to accompany traditional SFF. Asunder... neither meets them, nor convincingly flouts them in a way that feels deliberate. It instead does the secret third thing (confuses me). By the time we get towards the conclusion of the story, some of the less clear aspects of plot and interpersonal dynamics have been spelled out, and we begin to see the shape of what the ending might look like. There's a glimmer of some possible goal that maybe the characters will achieve, or maybe fail to achieve, but there could be pathos either way in that. And then the story drops into a big dramatic scene, one that feels perhaps longer than it needed to be, that is all action and tension and then... well. It's hard to discuss this without explicit spoilers, but essentially, neither the good nor the bad ending comes to pass, and instead various threads are simply dropped. We're robbed of the catharsis in either direction. There's a hint that resolution could come later, maybe? Sort of? There's a solid impression that things will continue in the next book. But what felt like a genuine framework had finally been set up, and then is entirely ignored in how things shake out. It was the worst sort of cliffhanger ending, rejecting any sense that the first book in a series needs to also function as a contained narrative, as well as a part of the wider whole.

Perhaps Hall has been playing with the reader's expectations all along, and this final subversion of the norms of story resolution is just the pièce de resistance? It's perfectly possible, I suppose. But if so, it entirely fails for me. Without some sort of emotional conclusion, even one that is less impactful and necessarily subordinate to the longer term one that will come in the sequels, the story feels unnaturally abbreviated. I see no benefit to the end state of things that has been brought by this subversion, and the cost is of any satisfaction with how events played out, just after I finally dared to hope there might be something to cling onto.

Especially when this is sat alongside what is quite a quotidien story in how it crafts a fantasy narrative, I find it hard to think it's just a clever decision that has passed me by. In something more nakedly ambitious in its approach, I might buy it, but it feels like "right at the end" is not the correct moment to unleash as-yet-untapped seams of narrative anarchy. Certainly, by doing it that way, the story seems doomed to please no one - those who want full weird, full subversion, don't get it for the vast majority of the book and so remain mostly unsatisfied, and those who wants the more traditional structure feel cheated of their conclusion. Who is this designed for, exactly? Who actually likes cliffhangers?

However much I talk like I know what I'm on about here, obviously I can't account for authorial intent. I'm not psychic. And also, frankly, it doesn't really matter (up to a point, at least). But the perception of intentionality matters a great deal - whether or not I enjoy a book is going to change enormously depending on whether it feels composed and deliberate vs just... a bunch of things happening with no particular coherent drive. It such a hard thing to quantify because it's something that so often comes down to "feeling". And whatever Hall was actually wanting and doing here, the feeling I get from it is a muddled one, of a story that hasn't quite been pinned down into a coherent place, nor with a clear signal of how the readers will interact with it. When you remove that, when you remove that clear sense of purpose, what remains is a bunch of perfectly fine ideas, characters and events, but without the soul that makes them into something substantial. It's a shame, because those ideas, characters and events are perfectly fine, but this is too big of a problem for any of them to overcome. They need tying together, and it simply does not feel like they have been.



*Being brutally honest, in those categories combined, I think this a perfectly fine but unexceptional book, the likes of which I have read a number of times before and will again. If you like trad fantasy but updated to more modern mores - great, have at it. If there's a downside to it, it's that the events of the story feel a little bit "a thing then a thing then another thing" rather than something with a definitive structure and drive. There's your tl;dr review.

Technically I think my rating is a little closer to a 4.5 but alas half-stars are not allowed, so a 5 it is. I do have to say that that ending was MEAN and if you told me there was going to be a sequel I would not be mad at all. But I digress. Hall has created a fascinating world here, like, right up there with most original. I also loved our main character. She was prickly and determined, as well as feisty and secretly kind of squishy inside. The plot was also unlike just about anything I had ever read, and I really enjoyed seeing how it was going to unfold. The only reason this isn't a full 5-star read for me is that initially I feel like I needed a little more world-building. We are really just thrown into the deep end, and while eventually you get a hang of most of what is going on I was so confused for a while I considered giving up. I'm glad I didn't, because as I said, the end result was totally worth it, but even just a glossary and a map I think would have been super helpful. All in all though, incredibly original plot/world, great characters, and excellent writing. I'll definitely be adding this one to my collection as well as recommending it to those looking for a great standalone fantasy novel that is unlike anything out there. I'll also be on the lookout for Hall's next novel, because I'll be curious to see what she comes up with next.

Kerstin Hall tells of a world where magic powers are given by magical beings of two types. The non-human types slaughtered the human teeming one, and they make a compact with someone, that when finished, brings that person to magical lands. Karys Eska is a death speaker, working independently is hired to investigate why a group of smugglers disappeared from their hidden storage area. Unfortunately she finds constructs that can dissolve people and Ferain Tialade, a foreign noble who was part of a destroyed diplomatic team. Badly hurt, he is only surviving due to an ancient relic that separates him from reality. To rescue him, Karys binds the relic to herself, trapping him somehow inside her. It should be easy to undo, right? No. Karys is forced to travel to other cities and eventually to Ferain’s father while hunted by practitioners working for an evil country. Deep, dark. Magical secrets get revealed., including why the ambassadorial ship was ripped Asunder (hard from Tordotcom). I felt the intense tale ended abruptly. Hopefully there’s a sequel.

Asunder has a unique storyline and amazing characters that will suck you in from the beginning and hold you tight until you reach the last page.! Karys a Death Speaker ends up in a bit of trouble during her last job, one that leaves one guy dead, and another trapped in her head. Now Karys has to figure out how to get Ferrians body healed, then find a way to get him back in it, all the while hoping her Master doesn't call in the compact that gave her her powers, and hopefully survive the whole thing. Which let me tell you isn't going to be easy.
The world-building was amazing, the author does a great job of giving you the information as needed. If I found myself confused about something it was cleared up within a couple of pages.
I loved all the characters Karys and Ferrian especially, along with their budding romance. I loved their banter and how they interacted with each other, and with the secondary characters. We see everyone involved in the story going through quite a lot of turmoil, and I enjoyed how they helped each other through difficult situations.

This novel had me hooked from the beginning, and I didn't want to put it down. And that ending OMG!! Thank goodness there is a sequel in the works because I need to know what happens next!!!

Asunder by Kerstin Hall is a masterful blend of fantasy and horror that quickly pulls readers into its eerie, beautifully crafted world. The novel follows Karys Eska, a deathspeaker locked into an unbreakable pact with Sabaster, an unforgiving eldritch being with three faces and a hundred wings. Sabaster grants Karys the ability to communicate with the newly dead, a gift she uses to investigate suspicious deaths in her troubled city.

When a routine job goes awry, Karys finds herself linked to Ferain, a mysterious dying stranger with dangerous secrets. In a desperate attempt to save him, she inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that could doom them both. As they are forced into an uneasy alliance, they must journey through a fading empire, facing arcane horrors and confronting their own haunted pasts. Along the way, Karys and Ferain must learn to trust each other if they hope to survive, all while Karys knows her debts to Sabaster will soon come due.

Hall’s storytelling is as chilling as it is captivating, weaving a narrative that balances moments of terror with beauty, tenderness, and hope. Karys is a strong, flawed protagonist, constantly learning and adapting, making her journey compelling and relatable. The side characters are richly developed, and the world-building, with its intricate magic system and vivid backdrop, adds depth to this haunting tale.

Asunder is an unforgettable read for anyone who loves fantasy tinged with darkness, filled with well-developed characters and a plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It's a story that lingers long after the final page, leaving a lasting impression.

9.5/10

Hello again dear reader or listener, I hope you’re reading something great and, speaking of, mind if I recommend your (potentially) next awesome read?

With a big thank you to the TorDotCom team for granting my Netgalley request for an arc of this, let’s get down to business. (To defeat, the Huns – sorry)

I first caught wind of this book from the tagline “Sabriel meets For The Wolf” and when I say I ran so fast to Netgalley. Sabriel is my number one book of all time and I absolutely adored For The Wolf so really there was no way I wouldn’t have. Also death magic, I mean come on, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Well, dear reader I’m pleased to say this description was nearly spot on and I would add a further touch by saying this book also reads a bit like Ghibli on dark steroids.
Hall has created such an imaginative piece of dark fantasy that fully enthrals the reader with its innovations and scope. While also potentially unsettling you a tiny bit, the way the sound of something you can’t see breathing somewhere near you might.
The world building is rich, if at times a mite heavy in the magic system’s exposition, but it’s most definitely not your run of the mill “specific time period of human history but a little to the left” kind of buildup either – hence stuck following genre “rules” that seem to have been agreed upon in recent years. In fact, I’m a fantasy reader first and foremost but I’d been feeling a bit of fatigue with the genre of late – hence my more varied reads recently – but I can safely say this book snapped me out of it. It felt like a breath of fresh air for fantasy, which I hadn’t read in a while.

But where Hall truly shines is in her complex character work that, even in a short time, hooks you so utterly that you cannot help but need to keep reading to see how each character will deal with each new obstacle or challenge. I found myself rushing to wrap up chores so I could secrete myself away to read in peace (Greek families are loud and I am easily distracted), continuing on late into the night till my eyes would just shut on their own. Also the ahem fruity tension through a lot of interactions or seamless inclusivity was so very smooth I feel the need to tip my hat at it.

The main protagonist duo, of course, has my utter devotion and their bond was a beauty to behold as it grew throughout the story. Hall gave her own spin to forced proximity and when I say it worked so well! Ferain’s banter in the face of adversity paired with Karys’ pragmatism and aggravations made for such a complementary dynamic. Plus, I love me an imperfect protagonist and Karys’ inner turmoil was both relatable and so real you can’t help but both root for her and deeply understand her in the good and the ugly feelings that wage wars inside all of us. Also, let’s face it, there will never be a time when a disaster bisexual character doesn’t melt your heart while they also amuse you.

Hall weaves a tale of darkness and trauma and healing and tentative bonding despite it all, expertly and without pulling any punches. This story is gory, it is dark, and it will take you by surprise in more ways than one. In fact, you might even need breaks while reading to escape the inexorably building sense of dread and running out of time that hounds Karys throughout the story.
However, it’s not unrelenting either, as the narrative pace and plot offer the occasional respite and gradual buildup that comes from stories reminiscent of side quests or episodic storytelling which I personally thoroughly enjoy!

Unfortunately for me, and you dear reader, Hall also makes sure to end the book with so much emotional damage that’s it’s been days and I’m still recovering. And what an ending it was! Full of so many conflicting feelings I just couldn’t catch my breath. But she did gift us some fluff right before it all hit the fan so I shall live in denial until that b**** of a cliffhanger is resolved in the strongly needed sequel. As a treat.
I’m fine.

Granted it’s always a good sign if a book elicits that much of a reaction, and Kerstin Hall’s Asunder is nothing if not compelling. Be it for emotional complexity or for her chimerical world brimming with as much quiet or loud wonder as cosmic horrors and inscrutable beings.

That’s all I’ll say for now, dear reader, because, as always, I believe the less you know going in the better! Just trust me when I say it’s worth it.

Until next time,
Eleni A. E.

A fully-developed science-y fantasy novel, with clear stakes and good characters. Really nice world-building here -- I'm looking forward to the sequel.

This book was so well written and developed and really draws you into this wild and magical fantasy world that is full of horror. I was hooked in the first little bit when we meet the constructs. I knew right then that I was drawn into the world and needed to know more about the magic and gods and myths and what else might be happening in this world. And walking through this world is a strong female MC, Karys.

And then we get a fantastic cast of characters, including Haeki, who is a childhood friend of Karys who is a Favored of one of the heralds, bringing in lots of intrigue about the mythology, while Winola is a scholar and user of the magic system. The two of them almost act as a bit of a science versus religion element in the story. There definitely felt like some sapphic tension between Winola and Karys, but also Haeki and Karys.

Outside of (or maybe inside of) all of this horror is a sloooow burn of a love story (forget one bed - let’s have only one head) between Karys and Ferain that is very secondary to the plot, but is very enjoyable to watch develop has Ferain breaks through many of Karys’s barriers and we see some of her walls come down. There is so much trauma bonding and healing happening between the two of them throughout the story and it is lovely to see their bond. And the way he is bonded to Karys leaves him as a bit of a shadow daddy for those that love that trope. But he does it in a very protective way.

I read this all in one sitting (a seven and a half hour sitting) and could not stop reading it as it was so good!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to @tordotcompub for sending me a copy of the book and to @storygramtours for having me on the tour. All thoughts are my own.

Asunder is a dark fantasy novel, written by Kerstin Hall, and published by TOR. It features an excellently built character driven plot, extremely impactful in the emotional aspect, but with a really original worldbuilding that blends together steampunk, eldritch creatures and religions, with an episodic taste that is hidden into the bigger story; definitely a candidate to be on my favourite books of the year list.

In a foolish and desperate act in her teens, Karys Eska bargained with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch creature, getting the abilities of a Deathspeaker; a gift that allows her to communicate with the recent dead, and that has been put to use to investigate mysterious death around the city. However, her whole world is put into shambles when in her last job, she ends with a dying stranger, Ferain, attached to her shadows; plagued by horror, external and internal, she will be forced to travel through a faded empire looking for a way to break their bond, before they both end torn asunder by it.

And let me tell you, during this travel, Hall will fully flesh the character of Karys; a strong woman who resorted to a desperate option in her worst moment, independent and trustworthy. We get to experience not only the struggle and horrors derived from her current situation with Ferain, but we will explore her past and the traumatic events that shaped her character. It's impossible to not end really invested in her destiny; and Ferain plays a good role in letting her open and trust somebody more. It might be a forced proximity thing, but we also see the Karys that has fissures among her impenetrable semblance. They develop a really tight bond as a consequence of their destiny, and even if Ferain can be annoying at times, you end appreciating him.
But not only Ferain and Karys shine, as with the rest of the characters that become part of their group, Hall shows her ability to create complex and well-fleshed characters; each one with a past and abilities that marked them, organically introduced through their actions. I particularly grow fond of Winola, a vivacious scholar that also helps the reader in the task of comprehending many of the intricate details of the arcane beings of this world.

The semi-episodic nature of the plot, with different encounters and situations that our characters will have to face and solve if they want to continue alive (and trust me, the Society one is absolutely chef kiss). I loved how the world blends together advanced technology similar to steampunk together with making use of some of the eldritch beings, while also each place has its unique characteristics.
Hall's prose is quite effective at transmitting those small details of the world while not losing the focus on the characters; as a result, you not only have a clear idea of where you are, but also can empathize with the cast. It's incredibly well paced, keeping you glued to the page.

Asunder is an excellent novel, one that will emotionally destroy you but will make you beg for more of this world; a read that will stay with me for a long time, and which has created a new Kerstin Hall fan.