Karys Eska is a deathspeaker hired to investigate the death of smugglers in a mysterious tower. However, what killed them may still be inside, and, to make matters worse, she finds a dying man. She has few options, so, desperate, she puts him in a Time Lapse and binds him to her shadow.
This type of magic has unintended consequences though. Now she must find a way to undo the binding before he either takes control over her body or their warring minds accidently split her body in two.
Asunder by Kerstin Hall delivers a heart-pounding dark fantasy that'll keep you turning the pages and make you fall in love with the genre again.
First off, I loved how the religion in this book wasn’t just quasi, watered down Catholicism. It’s intricate with in-depth lore and grief rituals and gods with distinct personalities. In this world, there exists two warring pantheons of gods. On one hand, there’s the grotesque, eldritch Usurpers who require a human tether to access the mortal realm. One of which, Sabaster, Karys has a compact with. Then there are the older Heralds who were mostly wiped out.
The worldbuilding in this book is just so rich and fantastical—like there’s giant interdimensional spiders, organic trains that are caves on the inside, and enchanted alarm rabbits. It has a level of detailing that I get from beloved series like His Dark Materials, and I couldn’t help but get lost in it.
At its core though, it was the compelling, messed up characters and their believable relationships that made me so dang invested in the story. I'm telling you, this book made me cry, and rarely do books make me cry anymore, so that’s saying something.
All and all, Asunder is a searingly imaginative, engrossing, and bittersweet story that I didn't want to end. That, to me, is the mark of a truly phenomenal novel and I hope readers will someday get to revisit this world again (wink wink).
Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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