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A review by nclcaitlin
The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides
3.5
Seemingly stealing the royal regalia, disproving Wayfarist doctrine, becoming a Paladin Visitant, and feeding the beloved crusader monarch to a dragon is enough to kickstart a war.
Ard is hired by the newly widowed Her Majesty to find out whether the current King killed his cousin and twelve year old heir to get himself on the throne.
It seems like the King is being puppeteered by an ancient dangerous organization known as the Realm who operates under the strictest procedures, security, and obscurity.
They'd saved civilization, but now it was tearing itself apart in the aftermath.
Sadly, this didn’t work as well as book one for me.
Of course, the humour is still top-notch, maybe not quite as sharp and natural as book one, but still a joy to read.
"I just thought you might go to Big Man conventions, or something," Ard said. "You know, where you talk about how cold your feet get as they dangle off the end of your bed. And you write letters advocating for higher doorframes?"
"Yeah," Raek said. "And we practice getting things down from the top shelf. It's a real hoot."
We also have a new pov of Portsend who teaches Grit theory at a college. He is hired by the King and the Wayfaring Isles to develop new Grit, something thought impossible.
I have to admit to being slightly bored with his chapters as it is a lot of calculations and experiments and the characters just never felt developed and felt very flat. Just there to show the development of new Grit.
The escapades started to feel repetitive and the shenanigans weren’t as grand and exciting despite this feeling more high stakes at times.
Also, despite the huge length, character work seemed to take a down turn where the other two leads seem to take the roles of his sidekick and his love interest which is disappointing.
"Well, next time, why don't you have Raek be the father of your child?" She stood with her arms folded across her chest.
Raek shrugged. "I already feel like Ard's father half the time."
I think I still would recommend this for a good time, but nothing that will break into new favourites which was a hope after book one.
Ard is hired by the newly widowed Her Majesty to find out whether the current King killed his cousin and twelve year old heir to get himself on the throne.
It seems like the King is being puppeteered by an ancient dangerous organization known as the Realm who operates under the strictest procedures, security, and obscurity.
They'd saved civilization, but now it was tearing itself apart in the aftermath.
Sadly, this didn’t work as well as book one for me.
Of course, the humour is still top-notch, maybe not quite as sharp and natural as book one, but still a joy to read.
"I just thought you might go to Big Man conventions, or something," Ard said. "You know, where you talk about how cold your feet get as they dangle off the end of your bed. And you write letters advocating for higher doorframes?"
"Yeah," Raek said. "And we practice getting things down from the top shelf. It's a real hoot."
We also have a new pov of Portsend who teaches Grit theory at a college. He is hired by the King and the Wayfaring Isles to develop new Grit, something thought impossible.
I have to admit to being slightly bored with his chapters as it is a lot of calculations and experiments and the characters just never felt developed and felt very flat. Just there to show the development of new Grit.
The escapades started to feel repetitive and the shenanigans weren’t as grand and exciting despite this feeling more high stakes at times.
Also, despite the huge length, character work seemed to take a down turn where the other two leads seem to take the roles of his sidekick and his love interest which is disappointing.
"Well, next time, why don't you have Raek be the father of your child?" She stood with her arms folded across her chest.
Raek shrugged. "I already feel like Ard's father half the time."
I think I still would recommend this for a good time, but nothing that will break into new favourites which was a hope after book one.