I'm having such a hard time with this book, because the other's other books (Sorceress Transcendent & the Tea Princess Chronicles) are some of my all time favorites and I was expecting more of the same and that's not really what this book is. It is far more esoteric - the main character is brilliant and I found myself struggling to make the connections that seemed obvious to Liris. The magic system and world that Blair created is fascinating, but I tend to read more middle/low fantasy (ie I don't really care about the technical aspects of "how it works" I am more here for the plot and characters) so I felt so lost.

These are all personal preferences though and I think someone who love the nitty gritty kind of sci/fi fantasy will love it (I had the same problem with Atlas Six which obviously was not the case for most people). So while this is not my cup of tea, I still await more books from this author in the future.

I think this was a 3 star reading experience, but I am giving it 4 stars for originality/ the unique magic system/ how true the narrative voice stayed to who the main character is supposed to be.

The Sundered Realms was a great first book set up for a new fantasy series and world! The magic system was so unique, and didn't remind me of other fantasies- and that is a good thing! I always get excited for a fantasy (especially a romantic fantasy) that feels fresh and new. I also really appreciated the approach to the power dynamic between Liris (our main character) and the love interest (not saying name to avoid spoilers)- despite there being a huge difference in power difference and experience like most fantasies, the love interest's main priority was getting them on more even footing and making sure Liris was making her own choices. Love that!

Like I said earlier, the narrative voice stayed very true to the main character- a scholar who lived in isolation and studied non stop for most of her life. She is SMART. I love that the narrative felt true to her. HOWEVER, this is where it became a three star reading experience for me- because I felt like a lot of this book went right over my head. I wasn't riding along for the big reveals and working through the problems with Liris (like I think we all prefer in these kinds of books)- I was about 20 steps behind scratching my head, and I had a really hard time picturing the action/ how the magic system work. That was a bit of a bummer for me. I also would have loved a little more chemistry between the main characters and more time spent seeing them get to know each other/ fall in love- and I would also have loved more time spent getting to know the side characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of The Sundered Realms! All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed The Sundered Realms and I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the series. I also think that the core element of this that I loved is going to throw some readers off. At it’s heart, The Sundered Realms is about self determination, and there is a lot of conversation and thinking about what the freedom to choose looks like. As in The Sorceress Transcendent, Casey Blair is Throws two people into a world altering adventure and then spends a great deal of the story concerned with the gentle dynamics of their partnership. I love it. There are battles and political maneuverings, but equally important are the sharing of dumplings and the frequent check-ins to make sure Liris is acting of her own accord and not misplaced obligation.

The Sundered Realms is equal parts epic fantasy and steamy romance in a world where being a huge nerd about language makes you incredibly epic at magic. This is an action-packed story about an interdimensional combat ambassador heroine and the most dangerous man in the universe devoting all his attention to making her unstoppable.

The world Liris is born into was once one connected piece, but in a magical event it was blown apart with magic portals, or gates, connecting the sundered territories. Some territories have more gates than others and this has fueled inequalities among and within the realms. Liris was born into one of the more isolated realms and raised to be an ambassador (or spy), but her teachers have held her back in further isolation because they don’t trust her. Liris, being a very good student, has passed the time learning obscure and dead languages. Which is very convenient, because language and writing is how spells are cast. The action kicks off with Liris’ instructors compelling her to teach a spell caster who works with demons a complex dead language. Liris starts her instruction, and then is able to escape through a secret gate to another realm. Her language nerdery makes her an asset and a target in fighting demons. It’s clear to the reader, even if it isn’t to Liris, that Vhannor falls hard for her quickly. he wants to give her the world and every choice she has been denied. Liris and Vhannor are wonderful adventure nerds in love. They over think everything and have such a hard time believing the other is really offering them everything. It’s a slow burn with some excellent “we might not live through tomorrow” steam.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Liris has a special, hidden talent that has kept her trapped in her kingdom, where they train elite spies. One day, she is brought in by her Elders to help a mysterious man who seems to be working with the demons and will possibly kill her once she gives him the information he needs. To avoid this, she escapes into a secret portal that leads to another kingdoms. After a year in hiding, she finds herself captive heading to Lord Vhannor. Lord Vhannor is a field castor, who is attempting to dispel demon portals. He finds himself needing Liris’s help since she is able to understand Thyrasel.

As Liris is interested in learning more about spell casting, Vhannor ask if she’ll like to go to the university that he owns. On the way to the university, Vhannor educates her about magic and spells. Even though they only met days before, they seem to trust each other. Once they reach their destination, it decided that Liris will learn to be Vhannor’s partner as a field castor to help figure out what the enemy’s plan involves.

Overall, it’s a good story. Liris is described as a strong, intelligent woman who uses her previous knowledge to become powerful. Vhannor, who is obviously the love interest, worries about her but trusts her enough to let her make her own decisions. I feel like the book was rushed in the beginning and in the end. I hope the next books involves more of the side characters, explanation of the involvement of demons, and would love to see a map of this world.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC of The Sundered Realms by Casey Blair in exchange for an honest review! I overall enjoyed this book! I think the second half of it was better than the first. It took me a bit to really get into this story, which has mostly to do with the pacing and world building. There were times that I was just a bit confused and had to go back to sort myself out. I think part of the problem was that my focus drifted a lot in the beginning. I definitely feel like there needs to be a map. And somehow I felt like things were over-explained and under-explained at the same time. I'm not sure this makes sense, but for example I was confused on things like the world and the magic system and felt I needed more clarity there, while on other topics I felt like we were doing too much telling unnecessarily. Perhaps it's just the writing style that didn't entirely agree with me. However, I was much more interested in the story later on and definitely able to focus more. I suppose I'd suggest making sure you're paying attention to start and just keep going until you get to where the book really starts to pick up. I do really think it's worth it if you read the description and think you'd be interested!

It's not a very long read, which makes it a good book if you're looking to give a new fantasy series a try. The characters were the best part for me. I really enjoyed Liris and the romance with her and Vhannor was well-done! I would say this book is a 3.5 that I'd round up to a four because I really did think they were solid characters with an enticing relationship that made sense and was well-developed. Also rounding up because I was left definitely looking forward to the future books of this trilogy!

Overall, I had a really good time with this book but there were technical issues that prevented me from rating it higher.

I will start with what was done well:

- Liris is probably one of my favorite main characters of all time. I loved her snark, her vulnerability and her strong sense of right and wrong. I really enjoyed watching her grow from someone constantly second guessing herself to a confident woman. (I also appreciate that this growth was due to her learning spellcraft and not due to the romance by itself. She may doubt herself at times but she isn't taking shit from any man.)
- The romance was such a nice change of pace from other romantasy books. You could tell that Vhannor and Liris were attracted to each others' brains before becoming physically attracted to one another. That's so rare to see so thank you! Although their relationship develops over a short period of time, it was so expertly crafted that it didn't feel insta-lovey.
- Vhannor is everything that Rhysand should have been as a romantic partner in ACOTAR but wasn't. Vhannor is our real consent/pro-choice king.
- The magic system and world were so cool! Combining language and mathematics into a complicated magic system? Genius!

What was not done so well:

- Although the magic system was super cool, it was inconsistent and not well explained. I feel like we were bouncing back and forth on whether or not you could speak spells or just write them? I also think there should have been more detail about the spell casting in general. It would have leant more to the story and Liris's arc.
- The pacing was choppy. We didn't spend enough time with Liris in her home realm to establish why it left such a mark on her and why we should care about it at all. We also didn't spend enough time with Liris actually learning spell crafting at the university. As a result, it felt like Liris didn't earn the expertise or skill that she showed at the end. Although the various demon battle missions helped develop the romance, I don't think they added as much to the plot and Liris's magical development.

I think the above issues could easily be fixed with a few more rounds of edits. It really could elevate this to a 4 to 5 star read.

Having said all that, I do want to read book 2.

I had to give up on this book around 15%. I just didn't understand what was going on but was also bored at the same time.

This book did a good job with gradual wind building. There was always something new to discover about the world and the magical aspects of it. The novel was heavy on dialogue and internal monologues there was deep political intrigue and interpersonal relationships to navigate. The writing was good abs the characters had clear personalities and motivations. A solid fantasy read.

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this book at 29%. I was having difficulties with the writing style. It felt like many things were overexplained or overanalyzed to the point where I wasn't sure what the meaning was anymore, and it caused me to feel completely disconnected from the story. The political maneuverings didn't feel logical, and it felt like I was missing something to understand what was going on and being discussed truly.

This would be a great book for readers who prefer the highly complex political maneuverings of high fantasy where the world-building isn't laid out from the start and they need to learn it as they go. Unfortunately, it just left me feeling a bit lost and disinterested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Casey Blair for an advanced reader copy of this book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

First, I want to thank @netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC on this this book. At first, it couldn't really keep my attention, but I really liked the concept and potential of it. About halfway through, It started drawing me in.
I wish there was a map or how to pronounce some of the names and realms. I kept getting lost on where they were going.
Liris kept mentioning vhanns eyes and the colors of them, I thought it had a hidden meaning. I didn't really love the idea that they loved each other only after days/ weeks of knowing each other.
What is Liris secret???? She kept saying it, but to me, it didn't seem to be revealed.
I do wish we learned more about the Sundering, demons, and the void.

This novel got off to a rough start but improved as the story continued. In the beginning if was a little difficult to follow the whole concept of the sundered realms and keep track of the different lands. About 30% of the way through the story really started to pull me in. I like that the female lead and supporting lead are both strong, fierce, and independent women. The romantic aspect felt a little rushed at times but it wasn't really the main story line so it didn't bug me to much. The story wrapped up on a strong note and I would be interested in reading the rest of the triology.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊.

The Sundered Realms sets itself up to be an epic, expansive fantasy about an academically gifted, yet cloistered, FMC on the run and her spell-wielding, demon-fighting, Lordling MMC counterpart. We're talking forced proximity, a unique magic system, high stakes and intriguing politics. A lot of building blocks that I'm sure will appeal to a whole bunch of fantasy readers. It reads pretty YA up until a fairly descriptive bonking scene, so adjust your expectations accordingly!

Liris (FMC) and Vhannor (MMC) had an interesting dynamic in that they're both hyper aware of the power-imbalance they start off with. Everyone's big on consent and freedom of choice and not making anyone beholden. They're both nerds with a tendency to overthink, so expect miscommunication and intelligent, academically-minded banter. I liked that their abilities stemmed from being studious rather some innate ability they were born with.

Unfortunately, the writing style here just didn't agree with me. There was a tendency to overexplain and overanalyse, but I found myself getting lost in those incredibly wordy explanations, to the point where I really wasn't sure what was going on anymore. My ARC copy had a lot of typos (random words/odd sentence structure) which I think also contributed to my mind doing flips midway through any given paragraph. But that's super fixable.

My main struggle was in figuring out what the antagonists were actually doing and why. I'm not sure whether this stemmed from my lack of understanding around the world-building/magic systems, but I couldn't understand why the demons were doing what they were doing or why ANYONE would wish to align themselves with them? There wasn't a huge amount of development for the side characters either - a lot of them came and went within a scene, never to be heard from again. They may receive more attention in subsequent books, as this is going to be a trilogy, so that could be resolved in the future (I wish we'd seen more of Shry in particular).

The book would also benefit from a map, because maps are cool and sexy and also I lost track of the worlds they visited and their proximity to one another super quickly. It all just became too nebulous for me in the end.

This book has a lot of potential. The world and the magic both are so interesting! But we don't see too much of it in favor of long unnecessary conversations. We go through the fmc's thought process more than we get answers about the world they live in and what it's like. I'm interested enough to want to read the next one to see if we get more of the actual realms and other characters.

I loved the summary of this book and really appreciate the concept and the unique take on magic and spellcasting. However, I felt like the world building could use some work. A lot more lore could have been incorporated with the demons and how Serenthaur operates. I also felt like I was left wanting for a stronger emotional connection to the characters. I felt like I never got attached to Liris or Vhannor.

Overall, I’d say this book is best suited for someone who prefers a more casual read. I read a ton of fantasy romance books and felt like I needed more drama, I like it when books get my heart racing, and this is not one of those books.

Thank you @netgalley and author for allowing me to have a taste on this ARC.

2 ⭐

The adventure of a cynical woman and her within a week—love interest to fight demons.
Liris was trained to be a spy of Serenthuar, one of realms in The Sundered realms. She's fluent in most languages especially the ancient, which makes her valuable. The Elders manipulated her to believe that Serenthuar is doing the right thing, which she came to realize that's not the truth. They trapped her within the realm and about to sacrifice her to the demon servant, but without them knowing, she has planned her way out through a secret portal.

Lord Vhannor, the 'top top spellcaster' of SRSA'S Special Operations, the Lord of Embhullor, needs Liris to help him with his apparently secret mission which comes to a full adventure together.

The premise sounds promising and exciting and thrilling. Also note that the blurb mentioned 'Lord Vhannor, the most dangerous spellcaster in the universe', which I didn't get off him.
The story feels uncooked well, too rushed yet it felt long enough, lack of tensions, insipid characters. This is a fantasy with romance as sub-plot, and again it manages to disappoint me that the relationship is insta-love and I didn't care for a bit if they ended up together or not. The FMC is cynical, and yet she wants to be trusted by the MMC, and then falls in love with him the next day. Sounds ludicrous to me.

I love a good world building book, and unfortunately this wasn't one of them. I'd forgive everything if it's a standalone book, but then I found out it's going to be a trilogy. So I can say this book isn't for me. The writing itself is okay, that's a good point from this book.

I wouldn't be surprised if the author was a fan of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series or R.F. Kuang's Babel. I think the setting of 'sundered' kingdoms and the intersections of magic and language has a lot of potential. It was so fascinating! Which is why I feel like so much more could've been done in setting the scene in the world-building department. The framework was all there, but I needed more description to transition the grayscale film to a color film. Was it more steampunk, dark academia, LoTR? I'd have trouble telling you. I think the phrase "Special Operations" broke the immersion for me too, because it felt too modern for the setting, like if the author had used the word t-shirt. It was also difficult for me to feel invested with the pacing and the overarching conflict. The introduction of demons wasn't fearsome enough. I've read so much fantasy romance I thought my girl Liris was gonna romance one of 'em.

In terms of the characters, Liris did not irritate me and there was no 1D mean girl character so that passed my impromptu Bechdel test. Honestly, Liris is portrayed as intelligent and principled, and she isn't special because of some big power that fell into her lap, but because she's a scholar. I love that.

Her love interest, Vhannor, is a very reasonable and caring guy. Very concerned about the power dynamics between Liris and him, which I did appreciate, since a lot of other fantasy romances don't really care about that ish. But, he was a little too concerned because he brought it up A Lot. The two of them were sweet though.

I think there was a lot of unfulfilled potential with the side characters. Inealuwor, Nysia, Shry, and even Rhuil were set up very well, but then left in the dust in favor of Liris and Vhannor's domestics. Would like to hear more about them and get a feel for their personalities in the future.

Overall, this book has a really good skeleton in terms of the world and characters, but the expansion of that was lackluster.

Rating: 3

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

I understand why the main character was written as she was; however, the combination of not trusting and also blindly trusting her new circumstances feels inconsistent. Vhann’s constant reassurance of choice reeks of ACOTAR influence in a way that made roll my eyes.

I wish this went more into the world building and the magic because that part was interesting and kept me reading. I thought I’d get answers about things like the void and why there are demons and more about the Sundering. Alas I did not