Week 2 Review: Four Ruined Realms

From Goodreads:

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 a common enemy, then divided 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.

My Review:
This was such a great read! After the events of the last book, with all those reveals? I had to know what was going to happen next, and I had such a blast reading it! Oh, but these characters are in some difficult places, with some pretty hard decisions ahead of them. Watching as they traveled to this new country, I loved learning more about the history and the politics! 

One thing that I was a bit worried about, was that this book came out pretty quickly after the first book, which was reminding me a lot of the release schedule of Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, which is a reason why people don't enjoy Iron Flame so much. I did, but I was worried that the quick turnaround time in publishing, which normally moves so slow, might've had a negative effect, especially since they're with the same publisher. But nope, I at least, had another great time reading this book! Though I am usually pretty positive about everything, if I'm interested in something, I enjoy it.

They all have something going on. A lot of it is trust, that was broken, and a couple were secrets. A lot came out, and even more in this book, and they had to deal with that as a group, minus Tiyung, who was locked in prison. Between Daysum, Euyn and Mikhail's separate secrets and how Aeri has a relic, it kept me interested in all of their perspectives, not to mention all the personal relationships between all of the blades. 

The main plot for this book, is just trying to get close to Quilimar, which is not easy, given that power rests uneasily on her, with her husband dead and her son being very young, her attachment to the crown is tenuous. Of course that means that she'd limit how many people could get close to her, so it's understandable that they spent most of the book searching first for the ways in, and then how to fulfill those ways. 

That it ends with another evil moment, with all the reveals, and where we left all these characters, yeah, it has me anxious for book 3. I don't know how or if things can get better, because I am rooting for these characters, messy and flawed as they are. 

Loved reading this book, and I can't wait to read more by Mai Corland! 

Author: Mai Corland 
Series: The Broken Blades #2
Read: January 10th, 2025
Source: Bought
Reason Why: Loved the first book, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book, Sophomore Challenge Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Published: January 7th 2025

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars