5/5 stars.

This is by far an aware Kerstin Hall's best work to date (not that I haven't enjoyed the Mkalis Cycle). The character work is incredible. The eldritch horror elements mixed with a second-world fantasy setting that has some intriguing technologies was fantastic. Above and beyond Hall fully transported me into this world she's crafted through her hauntingly beautiful prose. If you are on the hunt for a fantastical/horror-y read this spooky season, Asunder would be perfect.

*Note any character/place spellings may not be accurate as I listened to this via audio and we all know fantasy spelling can be unique at times.

Hall throws you into the plot of the novel headfirst with little set-up (but in a good way). The energy and plot drive the story forward at a fast pace initially. Then Hall sinks into character development and you come to know Karys, a deathspeaker. There was a fair amount of exposition-based world-building but nothing was revealed about Karys's character lightly. Karys is complex and because of the nature of her scenario we got moments of intense depth and her deepest fears but also her very guarded nature when interacting with others. I am typically quite good at seeing where the plot is headed from the jump and I can say there were twists and reveals that I did not seeing coming at all in Asunder.

Thank-you to Netgalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

A big thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

..............I never thought I needed this kind of book in my life, but I was WRONG.

Asunder by Kerstin Hall is a fantasy novel that can best be compared to if Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson and One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig, had a monstrous baby. Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended. Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors, and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts. And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.

This book made me feel so many things, I can't even begin to describe it. Except with endless with screaming and begging for a sequel.

Karys is a deathspeaker locked into a compact with Sabaster, an eldritch being, who gives her the ability to speak to the recently dead. She agrees to save Ferain, who she finds dying during a job, but accidentally binds him to her shadow. Can they find a way to trust each other and work together

Asunder is narrated by Alyssa Appleton, who does an excellent job. Even with such a complex fantasy world, I could fairly easily follow along as we learned about the world and how the magic works. It doesn't feel like there's dramatic info dumps, you learn about the world as you go. In terms of the ending, it feels a bit like things crash towards a resolution that isn't the most satisfying as a standalone novel. I'd be interested in seeing more to this story, but it may leave readers wanting at the end.

Thank you to RB Media for an ALC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book is due to be published 8/20/24.

13 stars, out of five!!!

Audiobook is incredibly engagingly read.

I REALLY don’t know what I’m going to do with myself now that I’ve completed my binge-listen to this book. Two days gone, in a blink. Though, I feel like the book hangover will last ages. Do I even date read another of this author’s work - or was this one just a single miracle?

I’m not sure that I have ever given a book more than five stars before (definitely rare). I also dropped everything I was supposed to be doing for two days to binge it. I feel a bit lopsided. Phew!

Hooked deeply within the first minutes, I remained enraptured throughout. The world building! The magic! The inclusion of (and friendliness towards) queer and non-binary characters. The combined plot twists and compelling characters’ ongoing chrysalis. The horrific details. The clash of different faiths/cultures, and personal questionings. Plus, the shattering of my heart at the ending!

Is it utterly outlandish and borderline ridiculous in some parts? Absolutely 💯 This is all part of its charm!

I will grieve this book for a long time to come.

Huge gratitude to Netgalley and the publisher, Recorded Books Media, for an Audio-ARC of this novel, in exchange for my deservingly gushing review!

This would've been a 3.5/5 rounded up, but it's at least a good third longer than it had to be and my attention really started to wane, so it's rounded down.

I was super excited for this title because I surprisingly fell in love with Star Eater and I was hoping for more of the weirdness and originality and almost-charmingly-fairytale-ness that that had. There were some really strong components here, but ultimately the book is much, much too long for the story.

That said, I do think the length helped to build the slow-burn friendship+ that the main characters had and maybe that wouldn't have hit as hard in a shorter timeframe. I did really enjoy watching their relationship grow.

Audiobook Notes:
The narrator did a good job delivering and was able to differentiate the voices so that it was easy to tell who was talking without a physical copy to follow along with.

Asunder pulled me into a dark and intriguing world right from the start. Karys, a deathspeaker who made a desperate pact with an eldritch being, is such a fascinating character. When she accidentally binds a stranger, Ferain, to her shadow, things get really interesting. Their dynamic kept me hooked, and I loved watching them learn to trust each other.

The world-building was great without feeling like an info overload, and the magic system was super unique. Alyssa Appleton’s narration really brought the story to life and made it easy to follow along. If you’re into dark fantasy with complex characters and a bit of mystery, this audiobook is definitely worth a listen!

I received a gifted copy of ASUNDER by Kerstin Hall from TorDotCom and a gifted ALC from Macmillan Audio and Netgalley!

ASUNDER follows Karys Eska, a woman who once upon a time made a compact with an eldritch being named Sabaster. This has given her a count down to when he will come to call in the pact. In the meantime she has the abilities of a deathspeaker, able to communicate with the recently deceased. She uses this ability to earn a living, working for those in need of someone to investigate suspicious deaths.

As the book opens Karys' current job is going very badly and she winds up losing hope of a payout. In the process, though, she meets Ferain. Ferain is injured does not expect to escape the place Karys finds him. They strike a deal for a considerable amount of cash if Karys gets him out alive. Unfortunately, this also doesn't quite go according to plan and Karys finds that she can't quite figure out how to unbind herself from him. Together they must find answers and a path forward.

This is a book that really puts the reader right in the middle of the action at the start and there is a lot of the world building to take in. I was glad to have both the physical book copy in front of me and the audiobook to listen along and I found that combo to work really well for me. I was instantly intrigued by Eska as a fierce and feisty character and the really dark and intricate world that the author built up.

The story itself has a bit of the feel of a sequence of adventures, though everything feels cohesive also. There were a few places in the middle where my interest waned just a bit and I found that listening to the audiobook while driving wasn't the best method to hold my attention when we got into some of the transitions between locations. Once I picked back up the physical copy I was quickly hooked again and the ending had me fully invested and eager for more!

This book is listed in a few places as a standalone, but don't go in expecting a finished story arch. Thankfully the author has said that they are working on a sequel! I really enjoyed the connection that forms between Karys and Ferain as they learn to work together and the friends they add to their party as the book continues! I will definitely be looking forward to more from this author!

Some readers of fantasy love stories with complex magic systems explained in exhaustive detail. I am not one of those readers, and that is the type of book this is. Hall's writing itself is fine and she is a competent storyteller, but a lot of the time the characters took a backseat to the magic system, and it felt like the book was really about that, and not about the people. Lots of talk of Compacts and Workings, etc, which some readers may be fine with but I found tiresome. I will give this 3 stars because it was well-written enough for me to finish the story but I don't foresee myself continuing, if it is a series.

The hits just coming for Karys Eska from her selling her soul in a compact to the prince of scales, Sabaster (who has his own plans for her that are so awful!) to investigating some mysterious disappearances of smugglers which leads to the well intentioned but not completely thought through binding of an injured young man (who is absolutely wonderful!) in order to escape the terrible constructs that are killing everyone. And that is just the beginning! And it only gets more complicated from there. Luckily Karys does have a few loyal and good friends (though they may or may not have ulterior motives) as she goes on the run to undo the binding between her and Ferain before the new favor saints catch them. Those friends make up for the awfulness of the heralds and their successors (the creatures like Sabaster) who play with humans and change them according to whims, or kill them. I think it is definitely best to avoid all of them because they tend to make life miserable even you are one of the "blessed"

I really liked Karys as a character and her and Ferain are so cute together, they kind of complete each other, though romance is pretty far from anyone's thoughts in this book. Too busy outrunning all the people who want to kill them before the secret plan comes to fruition and upsets the current balance of the world.

I hope that there will be more books in this world because if there isn't, then this book has a very bittersweet and sad ending. However there are still unanswered questions and maybe a little hope that the sacrifice is not in vain so I remain hopeful for a second book.

The narrator did a wonderful job with this book and made it come alive. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this audiobook to listen to and review.

With amazing world building and such a compelling cast of characters, this is the perfect precursor to spooky season fantastical reading.

This was more than I was expecting. A heartfelt story with a unique world, and characters that are fandom worthy, Asunder was fabulous. This sort of magical system really intrigues me. I recommend this if you’re looking for an immersive fantasy read with a found family friend group. The audiobook is the way to go, too. Narration was done so well.

I'm a huge fan of Kerstin Hall's writing, and this is her best yet. While I found Star Eater flawed in macro level plot/pacing, Asunder genuinely delivers start to finish. Audio was a great way to experience it; the narrator adds a lot of nuance to Karys in her delivery, and the poetic notes and details hit. The world is fascinating, and I'm dying for a sequel- I hope this is what lets Hall really break out in the fantasy scene.

Wow. Just wow.

Our main character, Karys, has a rare ability: she can speak with the recently deceased. As a deathspeaker, she takes on various assignments, but after a particularly dangerous job-gone-wrong, she ends up binding a man to her to save them both. Now accompanied by a talking shadow, Karys must navigate the challenges of collecting her payment and staying alive long enough to free this bound man, all while something sinister hunts them both.

The writing is vividly descriptive and I found the creative fantasy/supernatural world refreshingly unique and utterly gripping: the dark tone and atmopshere (almost gruesome at times) had me hooked right away. The pacing is quick and the tense action rarely relents - for the entire book (and it's long so that's saying something), I wanted to keep reading to find out more about what was going on, the world, the “magic”, the characters, and their relationships. The main character is a bit rough around the edges, but I liked her and all those who join her journey, and was particularly fond of the relationship between her and the man bound to her shadow. After the initial set up, much of the book feels like multiple side quests on the way to the actual final destination, though this didn't bother me as this style was a good way to see more of the world and build on our characters' relationships.

The narrator did a good job at employing subtly unique voices so I was never unsure who was talking as per the dialogue, and the emotiveness added to the suspenseful action. However, I noticed a jarring shift in narration about a third into the audiobook, which reverted back in the final third. Given that I listened to an advanced copy, I hope this inconsistency is fixed in the final release.

In the end, I was fully along for this creative, interesting and action packed ride, and then it ended...very abruptly in the last few (short) chapters...and if this is a standalone then I didn't find the ending very satisfying at all - but if there is a sequel then I need to read it asap!

Thank you to Netgalley and RBmedia for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been a while since I read a completely new to me, as in, not a series continuation, high(ish) fantasy, and “Asunder” sounded like just the right pick for getting back into it. And now, having read it, I have to say - it was everything I wanted, even if it wasn’t exactly what it promised to be.

The story follows Karys, a woman working odd jobs using her special skill - as a deathspeaker, she can tap info the shadows of recently deceased and talk to them, to get the last bits of information that her clients ask of her. When a job goes terribly wrong, Karys finds herself quite literally stuck with a man who saved her life, before she saved his - for a price. Now having a talking shadow for a constant companion, the deathspeaker will have to figure out a way to get her payment, and to stay alive in the meantime. For someone - or something - is out to get them both…

The world of this book felt so refreshing, even if the components it was made of would seem ordinary by themselves. I loved the small details, like architecture, or means of transportation, that added color and surprise to concepts that would have otherwise been simple and ordinary. I also liked Karys as the main character, with her hard edges and all; she could have easily fallen into the annoying-unbeatable-rough character stereotype, but instead was written in a way that made her interesting while also relatable. The plot moved fast, and even though it was an almost 20 hours long audio book, I found myself actively listening to it in chunks almost every day this past week.

The only two things that slightly dampened my enjoyment are going to sound nitpicky, perhaps, and they’re not even directly book related (!),, but I feel like I have to mention them anyways. First is the narration: around chapter 16 the voice changes - I feel like it’s the same person narrating, just with a sore throat, or maybe pitch changed?? I don’t know what happened, and it was a bit distracting at first, and then near the end of the book it changed back to the original… And second: the marketing. This book, at least on Netgalley, is presented as the “beguiling new standalone novel” while in fact the book ends on a cliffhanger, leaving multiple questions unanswered? Is it really a standalone with a ‘imagine your ending’ type of thing going on, or is this secretly a series?? I mean, I would love to read more of this story, but it is just confusing.

All in all, this is an easy to get into fantasy story with quick pace and lovable characters, that will be sure to leave you flipping the pages.

I received an advance review copy from Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Asunder is a spellbinding, utterly addictive fantasy novel with adventure, romance, and magic that captivated me from beginning to end.

I LOVE this book. It’s tender and powerful, with characters you’ll fall in love with. I adored Karys and Ferain. Their relationship was so interesting and beautiful. I also loved the fantastic group of characters that joined them on their adventure and the excellent character development. The pacing was great, and the writing was beautiful. I loved the magic and creativity the world was, and it was so fun to explore so many different settings and experiences as the characters continued their journey. This book had everything I love in a fantasy. I know it’s a standalone, but I hope there’s a sequel. I highly recommend this book!

Alyssa Appleton narrated this story beautifully. Her accents and emotions added to the already wonderfully immersive and emotional story. Asunder is a great audiobook listen.

Thank you to the publisher for the free ALC!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kerstin Hall and RBMedia for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

I went into this one blind. A good book friend was going crazy over this book, so I decided that I absolutely had to read it, even though it’s outside my normal genre box.

This was unlike anything I’ve ever read & I predict this book will be a BIG deal when it releases. I was fully blown away.

The protagonist & supporting characters were amazing. I loved the dark atmospheric feels throughout the entire book. The magic system & mythological aspects were out of this world.

This book was a long one – even sped up on audio & there was just soooooo much involved with the story to list every single thing I loved.

It was very original, inventive, immersive, compelling & bingeable.

Will definitely be one of the best fantasies of the year.

3.5 stars

A difficult one to rate.

This book is long (a 20-hour audiobook) and takes too long to ramp up. It wasn't until 1/3 of the way in when Karys, our heroine, returns to her childhood home, that I began to care about her and some of the other characters in the story.

This novel is nearly episodic, and the book as a whole often feels comprised of side-quests. Sometimes that form of storytelling worked for me. In parts of the book, I felt like I'd been dropped into a dark, lush, beautiful anime—Hall's writing can be wonderfully descriptive and immersive. Other times I felt lost as to what the overarching point or plot of the novel was.

I do love a nice body sharing tale (Cam & Pal in Nona the Ninth and Roger & Dodger in Middlegame—just to name-check a couple of other Tor titles). I requested this ARC because it features that trope and because Isabel Cañas gushed about this novel in a recent newsletter. The body sharing in this story, while not explored as deeply as in those aforementioned, more character-focused books, did not disappoint.

After Karys and Ferain bonded during Karys' trip home, I began to gobble this story up. Those two are pretty straight-forward characters, but I really adored the relationship they forged; I wish we were shown far more of it. I also enjoyed the trust, respect, and affection that Karys and Ferain grew to share with Haeki and Winola.

This is where I admit that I'm probably not the right audience for this book. I liked but did not love it. I'm always going to prefer very character-driven fantasy, and up until the last handful of chapters that's not what this book is.

Even if it wasn't quite for me, this is still a quality novel. Hall is a skilled storyteller. (Though the ending was pretty poor for a book that seems to be marketed as a standalone.)

Overall enjoyable, but too long relative to the eventual payoff. The side characters’ plot lines don’t really feel resolved by the end and the romantic pairing felt a little forced? (Personally I was rooting for the scholar but could have settled for the childhood friend).

I think Hall did a fantastic job of building a complex sociopolitical structure between the neighboring countries (though I wish we’d gotten that sowed a bit earlier / more consistently) but I found that I didn’t understand the Workings very well by the end - different disciplines, some people have affinities for them, poetry?? - or the “higher beings” beyond the legends.

This book needs a sequel to feel wholly complete

For the audiobook specifically, there was a strange glitch that altered the narrator’s register, dropping their pitch significantly and warping some of the words - this lasted for several chapters and then was randomly fixed in a later chapter.

Classic fantasy, and felt like it was older than it is or was. Pulled you into a new world, and characters that still felt familiar and relatable

Despite having read other fantasy novels in the past, I found ASUNDER to be one of the most intense, inventive, and heart-wrenching novels I have ever read. Throughout the book, I felt extremely attached to the characters and had a great sense of world-building and magic systems. A lot of the focus of the book was on the politics, magic, and world-building of this universe rather than the fast-paced plot itself. This is the first book I’ve read of Hall’s and I plan on looking into her other books. For this to be a standalone and end so open-ended is a travesty. I really hope there will be a second book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and RBmedia for providing the eALC.

Loved the fantasy read. Karys is a death speaker, meaning she can speak to the recently dead. The writer has created a great cast of characters that you grow to care about. I did however find the ending a bit abrupt.