Intro

Although most people who have heard of Victoria Aveyard probably know her as the author of Red Queen (which is a great book, but not the one we’re talking about today), her latest series, Realm Breaker, has become one of the more well known YA fantasy series, especially among fans of epic, Lord of the Rings-like fantasy. 

If you like quests, chosen ones, bands of misfits getting together to save the world, and adventure, then trust me, you’re going to love this book. 

So, without further ado, let’s get to it!

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard Overview

Corayne an-Amarat is no one special. As the daughter of a fearsome pirate captain, she would have expected her life to be more interesting, but her days are spent planning her mother’s voyages, never participating in them. She longs for a daring adventure of her own.

And she does get her adventure—just not the way that she’d expected. When two strangers—an infamous assassin and an immortal prince—suddenly appear at her doorstep and tell her that she’s the long-lost heir of an ancient magical lineage, her life spirals off in a direction that she could never have anticipated. The untapped magic coursing through her veins may be the only thing capable of stopping the mysterious evil that is spreading throughout the land in the form of undead armies and dangerous otherworldly monsters.

Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Galland, Queen Erida is setting a plan in motion to build a kingdom that she deems worthy of her rule. Surrounded by a court that wants only to marry her off, she is determined to keep her crown and authority rather than surrender it to a husband. She will do whatever she thinks is necessary to achieve these goals—even if it means forming alliances with dark forces.

When Corayne and Erida’s paths cross, it quickly becomes apparent that they are to be enemies in this struggle between good and evil. The only question is who will prevail.

Personal Thoughts

There are a lot of things that I love about this book. Every character is distinct and interesting, there’s a fair dose of humor, action, adventure, an unlikely romance-ish sort of thing (read it, and you’ll get what I’m talking about), magic, quests…it’s got everything that a good classic fantasy book should have. It stays true to the classic fantasy vibe, but also manages to feel fresh and original at the same time.

But my favorite things about this book overall are probably Corayne and Eridia themselves. It was so, so nice to finally find a good epic fantasy series with a teenage girl protagonist. Corayne’s funny and relatable, and her eagerness for adventure adds a nice sense of levity to some otherwise-grim scenes. As for Eridia, it was just really interesting to see the sheltered princess become the bad guy, which was something that I’d definitely never seen before. (Especially not in YA fantasy, where any princesses are usually the main character.) Aveyard also does a really great job of making you see things from Eridia’s perspective, so you can really see that she’s not the villain in her mind, even though she’s doing all of these shady and evil things to further her own ends.

Outro

Well, that’s all for today’s reading recommendation. I hope I’ve convinced you to check this one out. And, if you’ve already read this book and are looking for something similar, be sure to look into the other YA fantasy books I’ve listed below.

As always, happy reading!

Books Similar to Realm Breaker

• Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
• Sabriel by Garth Nix