Synopsis:
The King of Yusan may be the greatest liar of them all.
His sister’s ring is in his sights, and he will do anything to get what he wants. Even manipulating the five blades to steal it…
Bonded by deceit, the blades must rely on their skills to pull off King Joon’s pursuit or risk his legendary wrath.
A foreign rule of law stands between them and Quilimar, the Queen of Khitan. Now they have one month to steal the powerful Golden Ring of the Dragon Lord. But that impossible task might be easier than trusting one another, even though their lives, their families, and the realms depend on it.
They can all agree on one thing: the king can’t win. But can they beat him at his own game?
Because for the blades, this time it’s not just personal, it’s revenge. Lies may have torn them apart, but now vengeance will bring them together.
The lies have only just begun…
Review:
I was sent a copy of Four Ruined Realms in exchange for an honest review.
‘You can only lie to yourself about being loved for as long as you don’t know what real love feels like.’
I’ve started off 2025 with what may stay as one of my favourite books of the year. I loved Five Broken Blades and I think Corland has upped her game with this one! There is no second book syndrome to be found here. Four Ruined Realms keeps up the break-neck pace and builds on the relationships from the previous book.
It jumps straight in after the first book and Corland cleverly reminds the reader of the events by weaving it naturally into the storytelling. It’s the mark of a great series when the reader doesn’t feel like they need to go back and re-read the previous instalments to be able to keep up, in my opinion. There’s also a very helpful ‘previously, in the Broken Blades trilogy’ section at the start which is just a 10/10 feature.
I loved being back with this found family. With relationships fraught after the events of Five Broken Blades I found myself willing everyone to get on again (especially Aeri/Royo) and to just trust each other once more, even if they maybe shouldn’t. We see everyone grow even more over the course of the book, with hidden parts of personalities coming out and reveals that I had no idea was coming. I can’t pick a favourite member of the group, I’m such a fan for so many reasons and they’re all such individuals with their own motivations and reasons for keeping their secrets.
This is a multi-PoV book, with 5 in total, one for each of our liars. Corland expertly handles this by making each PoV snappy and shorter than you usually find in fantasy. This means that the action can stay at a break-neck pace, and I was never lost despite the group being separated at points (and people keeping secrets). Most of the chapters end with some form of cliff-hanger but this never felt over-used, instead I was desperate for each PoV to come around again so I could continue their story, and I loved everyone. Every chapter felt important and I genuinely enjoyed hearing from every character.
You can feel how the story is ramping up. This has become much more than just a task to steal relics from rulers and is instead becoming about the fate of the realms. Everyone wants their hands on the relics and we learn so much more about them in this book. One of my favourite settings was a knowledge temple hidden under an ice lake, the way Corland created the place just felt so epic and perfectly placed to advance the plot, without it feeling like a way to advance the plot.
Also shout-out to my favourite tiny owl Dia. What an adorable addition to the team.
This is accessible epic fantasy. It has everything you want from an epic fantasy just with a faster pace and less confusing politics. I flew through this and the wait for Three Shattered Souls is going to feel so long.
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