Shattering the Ley

The Ley / Erenthrall #1

by Joshua Palmatier

Erenthrall—sprawling city of light and magic, whose streets are packed with traders from a dozen lands and whose buildings and towers are grown and shaped in the space of a day.

At the heart of the city is the Nexus, the hub of  a magical ley line system that powers Erenthrall. This ley line also links the city and the Baronial plains to rest of the continent and the world beyond. The Prime Wielders control the Nexus with secrecy and lies, but it is the Baron who controls the Wielders. The Baron also controls the rest of the Baronies through a web of brutal intimidation enforced by his bloodthirsty guardsmen and unnatural assasins.

When the rebel Kormanley seek to destroy the ley system and the Baron’s chokehold, two people find themselves caught in the chaos that sweeps through Erenthrall and threatens the entire world: Kara Tremain, a young Wielder coming into her power, who discovers the forbidden truth behind the magic that powers the ley lines; and Alan Garrett, a recruit in the Baron’s guard, who learns that the city holds more mysteries and more danger than he could possibly have imagined . . . and who holds a secret within himself that could mean Erenthrall’s destruction -- or its salvation.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Joshua Palmatier started writing science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories in the eighth grade, when the teacher assigned a one page Twilight Zone-ish short story. He wrote a story about Atlantis. It was from the perspective of one of the inhabitants as he escaped in a spaceship, watching his world being destroyed by water from one of the viewports of the ship. He got an A. Joshua hasn't stopped writing since.

"The Skewed Throne" is Joshua's first published novel, but it's the fourth novel he's written. The sequels--"The Cracked Throne" and "The Vacant Throne"--are now all available. His next series--comprising the novels "Well of Sorrows," "Leaves of Flame," and "Breath of Heaven"--was initially published under the pseudonym Benjamin Tate, but is being released in June 2016 under his real name. He is currently hard at work on the third book in his latest series, "Reaping the Aurora," with the first book "Shattering the Ley" now available and the second "Threading the Needle" due out in July 2016. He's also managed to write a few short stories, included in the anthologies "Close Encounters of the Urban Kind," "Beauty Has Her Way," "River," and "Apollo's Daughters."

Joshua is also the founder of a small press called Zombies Need Brains, which is focused on producing SF&F themed anthologies. There are two anthologies currently available--"Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs Aliens" and "Temporally Out of Order"--with two new anthologies due in August 2016 titled "Alien Artifacts" and "Were-". Find out more about Zombies Need Brains at www.zombiesneedbrains.com.

Bibliography: Novels:

Throne of Amenkor series:
The Skewed Throne
The Cracked Throne
The Vacant Throne

Well of Sorrows series:
Well of Sorrows
Leaves of Flame
Breath of Heaven (forthcoming)

Novels of The Ley:
Shattering the Ley
Threading the Needle (July 2016)
Reaping the Aurora (forthcoming)

Bibliography: Short Stories:

"Mastihooba" in Close Encounters of the Urban Kind edited by Jennifer Brozek (APEX).
"Tears of Blood" in Beauty Has Her Way edited by Jennifer Brozek (Dark Quest).
"An Alewife in Kish" (as Benjamin Tate) in After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar edited by Joshua Palmatier & Patricia Bray (DAW).
"The River" in River edited by Alma Alexander (Dark Quest).

Bibliography: As Editor:

After Hours: Tales From the Ur-Bar (DAW)
The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity (DAW)
Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs Aliens (ZNB)
Temporally Out of Order (ZNB)
Alien Artifacts (ZNB; forthcoming)
Were- (ZNB; forthcoming)

Reviews

[Mogsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2014/08/27/b...

I’m a pretty fast reader, but Shattering the Ley still took me about a couple months to read, due to the fact I started it earlier this summer right around the time when things got really busy. I was only able to read it in small chunks over the weeks, though it’s actually a very interesting book with well-developed characters and a good foundation in place when it comes to world building. That said, apparently it wasn’t a “must drop everything to read this now” kind of novel for me either, seeing how long it took for me to complete.

The story takes place in Erenthrall, one of many large cities powered by the Nexus and a system of magical ley lines. This also links Erenthrall to the world beyond. Specialists called Prime Wielders control the Nexus and the ley lines, maintaining and protecting the infrastructure, but it is the all-powerful Baron who controls the Wielders. Seeking to overthrow the Baron and destroy the ley system, rebels who call themselves the Kormanley are carrying out attacks across the city, shaping the future of Erenthrall and forever changing the lives of many.

The story is told in multiple parts, following several characters through different stages of their lives. Kara is first introduced to us as a young child, but later on in the book we see her as a young woman coming into her power as a Wielder, then finally as a Prime. Likewise, we follow another character named Allen, a “Dog” in the Baron’s guard who goes from being a green recruit to a fugitive on the run with his infant daughter. The timeline skips ahead at least twice during the course of this novel; the first time it jumps ahead by about two years, but the second time it jumps ahead by about twelve.

Time jumps like these are necessary sometimes to tell a story, but they can also be quite dicey. There’s the risk of the reader becoming detached from the characters, and to some extent I think that’s what happened for me. I never really felt connected to Kara, despite practically watching her grow into adulthood. The same goes for Allen because I felt we missed out on too much of his life, especially in the twelve years since he was exiled and had to raise his child by himself. People change after all that time, and I couldn’t help but wonder about those untold years.

To the book’s credit, very little of the story is given to filler. There’s a lot happening, constantly driving the plot forward, and the political intrigue and ideological conflicts between the clashing factions keep things fresh and engaging. There are many intense scenes, often followed by effects that are significant in the long run. But another obstacle that kept me from being completely immersed was the complexity of the ley line system and the fact it wasn’t explained very well. I wasn’t exactly sure how the Nexus and the ley lines were powering the city, or how the Wielders’ abilities worked specifically in controlling this system. Like I said, we were given a pretty good starting point for the idea, but I still had many questions. No doubt more can be built upon this premise. And the great thing is, I think it has a lot of potential.

[Crowinator · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this series opener. I think the magic system works as a fresh take on modern electricity and how it is harnessed and distributed (frankly, electricity might as well be magic, right?), and the two main characters have compelling personal stakes in how well the ley system functions. I'll write more closer to publication date, but I'm in it for the sequel.

When is that coming out again? Oh, right...I have a long wait ahead.

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die magische Energiequelle (ley) gerät im Verlauf der Story mehr und mehr außer Kontrolle, was zum Ende des ersten Bandes zur Katastrophe führt. Ingesamt kein Meilenstein der Fantasy aber dennoch eine unterhaltsame Geschichte, die spannend genug ist, dass ich herausfinden will, wie die Story in den Folgebänden weitergeht.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shattering the Ley is a unique and intriguing tale that does not quite fit into commonly recognized genres. It is not quite high fantasy, yet does have a taste of the high fantasy world with the use of different magics and manipulation of ley line power. It also has a bit of the dystopian society feel with the use of ley line magic for common comforts such as cooking, heating, and transportation, although there is no premise provided of a more modern society coming to ruin and rebuilding through the manipulation of magics. There is a rather unusual and promising blending of the two that had me eagerly turning the pages.

The story begins with Kara as a young child and follows her intermittently through early adulthood, but in the meantime bounces back and forth between various characters making it difficult to become invested in any one or two characters to a significant degree and in my opinion this disrupted the continuity of the tale. I wanted to become attached to Kara, but never really had the chance before we were off on another plot twist. The story is full of greed and hunger for power, brutality and abuse, and expounds on how this all influences the magic of the ley, as well as society as a whole and the social hierarchy.

I cannot really say the ending was satisfying, as I felt a bit detached by the end and I did not really care much about what happens next. It does appear there is more to come, but the expectation I felt left with was that it would just be more of the same rather than a new adventure. There is some really good writing here with a wonderfully unique premise, but for me the outcome fell a little short of my expectations. I received this book via NetGalley.

[Melissa J. Katano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't often give out 5 stars, because I feel that a book has to be really something...and this one is.

SHATTERING THE LEY is the first book in a new series by Joshua Palmatier, and I feel like I've been waiting for this one to come out FOREVER. Sometimes, it's a little scary to be anticipating a book this much, because you wonder if it can live up to the build up you've created. This one did NOT disappoint.

I don't want to say too much, because I'm afraid of inadvertently spoiling the book. This book has a lot going on-political ambition, ideological battles over how the ley lines are used (and who gets to control them), and people whose lives are intertwined (even if they don't realize it). Seeing how they all intersect is fascinating.

Now, forgive me while I go sob loudly into my pillow. It's going to be another YEAR before the next book is out..... *sob*

[J.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I snagged at a convention after meeting the author that then sat on my "to be read" shelf for an embarrassing amount of time. When I saw the final book in the trilogy had been released, I figured it was long past time to dive in.

"Diving in" is an apt description of how it feels to immerse yourself in this book and its world. Despite the gorgeous cover, this is not a science-fiction novel. But at the same time, it's an epic fantasy novel set in an era that's hard to pin down, because the unique use of magic in the world has launched "technology" forward so quickly, creating an interesting amalgam of flying vehicles, clockwork, and handmade candles that never seems to clash awkwardly.

Unfortunately, it is the world and the state of how it's left at the end of the novel that propels me toward purchasing the next book in this trilogy. The two main characters were interesting, but never seemed to grab me. Kara, especially, seemed to spend the entire novel reacting to things instead of taking any sort of initiative. On top of that, so much of the book is spent also following the "villains." While their information was useful to have to get the entire scope of the story, I often found myself wanting to hurry them along. It must be noted that Palmatier did accomplish that delicate balancing act of creating villains who do villainous things but do such a good job of justifying it. 

A final secondary character that I found myself invested in seems to drop off the radar about halfway through the book. I hope he's revisited in the next, though I have no idea how he could have survived the turmoil we leave behind at this point.

The text was so dense that I don't find myself itching to dive immediately back into the next book (which has to be ordered and mailed anyway). But I'm certain to revisit this world and see what happens soon.

[Scott Rhine · Rating 4 out of 5]

talents against tyranny

Human and full of wonder. Reminds me of Metropolis by Walter Jon Williams.
Twice it jumped ahead by years and broke the flow. The cataclysm at the end was a little too extreme.

[Normalene · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I found the initial setup to be similar to his earlier series, The Throne of Amenkor, with a young girl who is coming into her powers as the main protagonist, the worldbuilding was sufficiently different, that I found this very entertaining. The idea of using ley lines as a power source is not new, but what Palmatier does with it is very different from the approach that Kim Harrison takes with The Hollows series or that Kat Richardson takes with the Greywalker series. Several great supporting characters compete for time, but when they all come together, you can see that their stories were integral to the plot resolution. The book is the first in a series, so be prepared for an ending that makes you want to read the next one.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very decent character development in an interesting world and a lot happens, but it felt like something was missing that would help me immerse in it all. Part may be that I never really understood the full structure of the ley-magic, despite it being discussed in 90% of the book. I think there was also a similar superficiality in the development of the society - a lot of discussion about its surface, but little feel for its depth was conveyed. So, I liked it and will read the next, but in the end I was disappointed.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this yesterday and, well, the only thing I have to say is this: I stayed up 'til 2:30 to finish it. The only question I have is this: when is the next book gonna be out?

[Florian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Von der Geschichte her ist das Buch ok. Zentral ist das Magiesystem der "Ley", welche die Stadt wie ein Flussnetz durchströmt und von den Lumagiern für Maschinen wie Öfen, Fahrzeuge etc. verwendet wird. Es ist also ähnlich wie Elektrizität. Die Protagonistin wird - mit relativ jungem Alter - zu einer Lumagierin. Hier ist der erste Kritikpunkt: Obwohl die Protagonistin Lumagierin ist, erfährt kaum etwas darüber, wie diese Magie funktioniert. Man lernt, dass es ein "Geflecht" gibt, in dem die Ley fließt, und dass Lumagier die Ley anzapfen/lenken können. Die wahren Experten für das "Geflecht" sind die Gelehrten der Universität. So weit, so gut - wenn es nicht alles gewesen wäre. Das Magiesystem bleibt so ein abstraktes System, das zwar von der Protagonistin beherrscht wird, richtig vorstellen kann man sich darunter aber nichts. Und noch etwas: Im Laufe des Buches treten "Verkrümmungen" auf, welche eine Irregularität in der Ley darstellen. Die Lumagier reparieren diese, indem sie das Geflecht reparieren. Richtig gelesen. Waren die Experten für das Geflecht nicht die Universitätsgelehrten? Das ist mir nicht ganz klar geworden: Was ist die Ley, was ist das Geflecht, und was machen die Magier eigentlich mit der Ley? Es gibt gute Ansätze, aber auch viele Sachen, die nicht geklärt werden.

So viel zum Magiesystem. Von den Charakteren war das Buch auch ok. Schön ist es, dass manche Zeitspannen herausgelassen wurden, z.B. die Ausbildung von Kara zur Lumagierin oder ihre ersten Jahre als eine solche. Die Ausbildung wäre vielleicht interessant gewesen, um die Ley kennenzulernen, aber ich hätte keinen längeren Abschnitt darüber lesen wollen, wie Kara versucht, in der Universität zurechtzukommen (später wird geschrieben, dass sie mit manchen Mitschülern Probleme hatte, aber da hat auch die retrospektive Erklärung gereicht). Kara als Protagonistin war ok zu lesen, aber selten mitreißend, weil die Verbindung zu ihr fehlt. Klar, die Geschichte wird (zum Teil) aus ihrer Perspektive beschrieben, aber wenn ihre Gefühle und ähnliches beschrieben werden, wirkt das eher als deskriptive Beschreibung als eine empathische. Palmatier hätte sich am Ratschlag "show it, don´t tell it" bedienen können. Der zweite Hauptcharakter, Allan, hat mir da schon eher gefallen. Ihm habe ich gewünscht, dass sein Leben einen guten Gang nimmt. Bei ihm hat man die Höhen und Tiefen eher nachvollziehen können. Von ihm hätte ich gerne mehr gelesen.

Ansonsten lässt sich feststellen, dass dieses Buch eher Story-getrieben als Charakter-getrieben ist. In kurz geht es um einen Baron, der die Nachbar-Baronien unterdrückt, indem er das Recht beansprucht, die Ley-Energie verteilen und kontrollieren zu dürfen/können. Kara und Allan wachsen in dieser Umgebung auf und sind Teil der Lumagier bzw. der Rüden (eine Art besser gestellte Polizei, die sehr restriktiv und gewalttätig reagiert). In den Episoden, wo der Baron vorkommt, wird deutlich, dass ihm die Macht über die anderen Baronien zu entgleiten droht, weil die Ley sich verselbstständigt: Seitdem auch Ley-Flugzeuge unterwegs sind, gibt es die bereits erwähnten Verkrümmungen, die ein Symptom dessen sind, dass die Ley überstrapaziert wird. Dagegen protestieren die Kormanley, welche dafür plädieren, die Ley in ihrer natürlichen Form zu lassen. Zu Beginn sind sie friedlich, dann bildet sich eine terroristische Splittergruppe, die gewaltsam niedergeschlagen wird, und gegen Ende wird klar, dass sie für die Verkrümmungen verantwortlich sein könnten (so ganz klar wird das nicht, aber eben vermutet). Die Geschichte weist also mehrere Ebenen auf (Politik im Großen (Baron) und Politik im Kleinen (Lumagier/Rüden), Konflikt um die Ley, persönliche Beziehungen und Konflikte und weitere) und ist an und für sich
interessant.

An dieser Stelle auch ein Lob für den deutschen Buchtitel: Auf Englisch heißt das Buch "Shatterin the Ley", und in den ersten 50 Seiten kommen bereits die Kormanley vor, welche die "moderne" Ley zerstören wollen. Da ist der englische Buchtitel schon ein großer Spoiler, vor allem, weil die Ley am Ende in einem spannenden Finale tatsächlich zerstört wird.

Von der Inhaltsebene abgesehen, muss ich auch sagen, dass mir der Schreibstil nicht gefallen hat. Er schien nicht aus der Feder eines Autors zu stammen, sondern von einem unerfahrenem Menschen, der eben mal eine Geschichte schreiben will (aka a von mir. Genauso haben sich meine Versuche auch gelesen). Viel zu oft finden sich "cringe" Momente im Stil, z.B. wenn offensichtliche Dinge ausführlich beschrieben werden, die Charaktere unpassend zu ihrer Rolle sprechen und Dialoge als Infodumps missbraucht werden.

Da die Geschichte nicht schlecht war und die Mängel ausgleichen konnte, gebe ich dem Buch doch noch 3 (statt 2) Sterne.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok this one was loong, but I couldn’t think of anything that I would have left out. There’s just a lot going on. The story was cool I knew right away that Kara and Allen’s life would interconnect somehow but thought it would have happened earlier. I will say I do wish when the next part would start they put like 2 years later or 12 years later instead of reading it in the story. I can’t remember the name (Kara and Cory’s friend) that got kidnapped, that was crazy! When they did it from the kids point of view when they were invisible was heartbreaking and for him to become a hound! I hated Marcus! And….i don’t want Kara to be with Cory. I ship Kara and Allen even though there’s no Kara and Allen. I feel like the middle was consistent but the energy at the beginning and end was great and wish it was like that through out. No idea if there’s a second but I’d defiantly consider reading it cause the shit that was going on the mutant wolves and basically half the population is dead and with all the distortions….that stuff was awesome.

[Sic Transit Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting original concepts marred by slow execution and poor character agency.

The good: Shattering the Ley features really cool magi-tech, which is a topic more books should cover. Its world revolves around the growing technology, including its economics and politics.

The bad: There is a lot of buildup. Basically the whole novel is slow buildup. As such, it feels like the first twenty minutes of a pilot episode stretched into a 400 page novel, with huge time gaps and pages of reaction. The bigger problem, however, is lack of character agency (i.e. initiative). The main characters are not the subjects of the story, they are subjected to it. Three-fourths of the book is *bad thing happens*, main character feels bad, move on. I really like my stories to be driven by the actions of the characters, but this one falls flat.

[Andrew Ahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shattering the Ley was not what I expected, a very good thing. Characters changed as the story progress from preteens to adults, from good to neutral, and maybe even a little bad. I think the biggest shock for me was this first book in the trilogy was actually a Dystopia. And it rang with a certain environmental/political resonance applicable to our days and our society. The world was unique and the writing was incredible, descriptive and well handled fight scenes(something I cherish in a story). If I was to find a fault in the story at all some of the descriptive used for the final climatic imagery became repetitive and the warping of beings (no spoilers here) didn't have an explanation as of yet... which makes sense as nobody knows in the story either.

I can not wait to start book 2.

[Pamela Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw a notice that Josh was going to be doing a book signing in a nearby bookstore, I was thrilled!
I was first introduced to Joshua Palmatier's work about ten years ago through the Throne of Amenkor series and I really loved them. He has a marvelous way of combining Fantasy and Science Fiction, two genre's I'm usually not all that into, and I've grown to admire his writing.
"Shattering the Ley" is no exception to the amazing work Palmatier does. He creates a myriad of characters that you quickly grow to either love or hate and his visual descriptions easily draw you into the world of his creations.
A wonderful, engaging read and I am super eager to get the next book in the series!

[Ezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It becomes clear about a quarter of the way through this book that while Palmatier puts a bit too much trust in the reader’s ability to pick up on historical context and changes between timeskips, he has very little faith in their ability to remember basic details about characters. The story and magic of StL were interesting, but the imbalance between a lack of supporting detail and an overabundance of reminders definitely limited my enjoyment. Also, many of the attempts to evoke emotions in me failed because they didn’t feel earned. Catastrophes with seemingly no established cause or effect on the main characters just don’t work for me, and I think that was why the ending of this book left little impression on me.

[Ken Jurish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine. Decent. Better than average. Interesting world and concepts that are well-executed if exceptionally difficult to visualize. Almost science fiction but for the swords, verging on steam-punk-esque sort of world. Started out quite light but got VERY dark rather quickly. I have the next two books of the trilogy on my iPad and will eventually read them, but I need a break from all that darkness. I think I'll re-read some Terry Pratchett.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich habe ein Review gelesen in dem dieses Buch als „anspruchsvolle Fantasy“ beschrieben wurde, dem stimme ich absolut zu. Komplexe und spannende Geschichte die sogar über Jahrzehnte hinweg erzählt wird.

[Patrick St-Denis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The folks at Daw Books seemed to have high hopes for Joshua Palmatier's Shattering the Ley. As the first volume in a brand new trilogy, the novel was meant to be the opening chapter of a new and complex fantasy series. Sadly, the book suffers from a number of shortcomings which precludes its chances of ever making a great first impression, and those who will nonetheless persevere and read it to its end likely won't be hooked enough to wish to read any of the future installments. . .

And yet, Shattering of the Ley could well feature one redeeming quality. Throughout the novel, my mind kept reminiscing about Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, especially The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages. Indeed, black and white characters plagued by boring inner monologues and a decidedly simple view of politics, Palmatier's new book offers a similar feel to that of Sanderson's trilogy. Minus the cool magical system and the thrilling action sequences, that is. Still, given the popularity of the Mistborn saga, pitched to the right crowd Shattering the Ley might do quite well commercially. On the other hand, I doubt that a better read and more demanding readership will find the novel appealing. . .

Here's the blurb:

Erenthrall—sprawling city of light and magic, whose streets are packed with traders from a dozen lands and whose buildings and towers are grown and shaped in the space of a day.

At the heart of the city is the Nexus, the hub of a magical ley line system that powers Erenthrall. This ley line also links the city and the Baronial plains to rest of the continent and the world beyond. The Prime Wielders control the Nexus with secrecy and lies, but it is the Baron who controls the Wielders. The Baron also controls the rest of the Baronies through a web of brutal intimidation enforced by his bloodthirsty guardsmen and unnatural assasins.

When the rebel Kormanley seek to destroy the ley system and the Baron’s chokehold, two people find themselves caught in the chaos that sweeps through Erenthrall and threatens the entire world: Kara Tremain, a young Wielder coming into her power, who discovers the forbidden truth behind the magic that powers the ley lines; and Alan Garrett, a recruit in the Baron’s guard, who learns that the city holds more mysteries and more danger than he could possibly have imagined . . . and who holds a secret within himself that could mean Erenthrall’s destruction -- or its salvation.

The premise of the tale was intriguing. The city of Erenthrall is powered by the magic of the ley lines. Years ago, the original flow of those ley lines were altered and used to make Erenthrall the greatest city of its time. The ley magic powers everything in the Erenthrall, turning the cityscape into something occasionally quite modern. Hence, Shattering the Ley is often a blend of fantasy and science fiction, at least to a certain extent. However, though compelling at the beginning, one soon discovers that this book suffers from a serious lack of depth and the worldbuilding aspect quickly loses most of its appeal.

The pace is atrocious. It drags and drags and drags, going through chapter after chapter without much taking place. Shattering the Ley occurs over the span of fifteen years or so, and in a nutshell is about a group of people trying to break the Baron's control over the ley lines. There are a number of cool moments throughout the novel, mind you, such as distortions and how to unravel them. But those are few and far between, which makes it impossible to maintain any degree of interest in the various storylines from cover to cover.

The characterization is definitely YA in style and tone. Which was understandable at first, given that every major character was a teenager or a child. But they grow up and become adults, yet there is very little character growth to speak of and they continue to act, think, and speak as if they were still more or less dumb adolescents. As mentioned above, they are all black and white men and women. There is not a single shade of grey within the narrative. The bad guys are bad, ugly, and they sneer a lot. As was the case with Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, Joshua Palmatier's narrative is often made sluggish because he interrupts the already slow flow of the tale with a never-ending stream of unnecessary thoughts and feelings in every single POV. There are "inner monologues" going on in everyone's head, which often makes you want to throttle the protagonist whose POV you are reading. I found that off-putting to say the least.

There are a few cool and interesting episodes within the pages of Shattering the Ley, yet they remain too few to truly make an impression on the reader. The lack of depth, the subpar characterization and the absence of any engaging characters, as well as the snail's pace found throughout the book; all these shortcomings prevent the tale from ever getting off the ground. As readers, we are forced to simply go through the motions, hoping that something--anything--will finally take place and make reaching the end worthwhile. But it was not to be. . .

For more reviews: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[Kelly Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great sci fi/fantasy novel. The main characters all drew me into the story and I am eager to read the next two in the series.

[Kolbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-fi fantasy mixed up with mystery, action, and dystopia, and somehow it all makes sense.

[Maren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was engaging, and I was really impressed with the author's ability to weave multiple characters and plot lines without it being confusing to the reader.

[Kimm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Such an interesting world.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erenthrall is a city, built on a magical flow called the Ley. The ruler of the city, baron Arent, has influenced the Ley, built the Nexus around it to manipulate it, to make it flow in the ways he needed it to. Using that, the city of Erenthrall flourished, managed to reach a degree of civilization beyond the one in our world. However, the Ley is slowly starting to revolt against its new flows and against the baron. It all comes down to a girl named Kara and a Dog, a servant of baron Arent, to try and save the city from the Ley…

The premise of this book is awesome. It plays with all the tropes of normal fantasy by creating a city, and a world, that is hard to pin down on one era; most fantasy is medieval, and there’s roman or Western fantasy out there, but despite the fantasy taking place on a different world, it usually neatly follows Earthly history. This book says ‘no’ to that by setting up a science-fiction-like world where they still use swords. Very original and very enjoyable.
Sadly, a good premise alone does not a good story make, and the main problem with that are the time-jumps and the prose that, occasionally, feels like it could have used a few more proofreaders. In combination with the multiple POVs, the time-jumps feel stunted – because the story has so many POVs, what the writer is basically telling us is that, in between the time-jumps, all those years, nothing of particular notability happened to all the characters. That feels unrealistic.
It also makes it hard to empathize with some of the characters. Marcus gets the shortest end of the stick; he’s a character that pops up in the second part of the story and we miss all the good stuff in his life because that takes place in between time jumps. As a result, it’s almost impossible to feel anything for him. The book tries to set up a love-triangle between him, Kara and Cory, Kara’s childhood friend, but it doesn’t pull it off nearly as well as it should because it’s impossible to empathize with Marcus and it’s nothing more than a relief when he dies and Kara and Cory hook up.
The book also asks a few questions but then doesn’t bother to answer them, which makes for a bit of an unsatisfactory ending. Justin, a childhood friend of Kara, gets kidnapped and is forced to join a terrorist organization that follows baron Arent, the Hounds – he gets a POV all until the fourth part at which point he just disappears without explanation. What happens to baron Arent is a big question that should be resolved but isn’t.
In addition to that, the ending feels unsatisfactory. One conflict gets resolved in a very sweet way, but while there’s no Deus Ex Machina and the resolution is foreshadowed very well, it still feels unfinished and a little too convenient.
The first and the last part are great, however. I started reading the book with pleasure because of that first part, which is very well-written. It’s only after that when it started to disappoint me. The final part, where it feels fantasy-apocalyptic, is original and well-executed in all ways but in the ending.

This book gets three stars(instead of two, what I said in my status updates) because of the premise being great and because of the great first and last parts. However, I feel they should’ve been books on their own. Because of the poorly-placed time-jumps and the difficulty to empathize with the characters, it doesn’t get four or five. Read this book if you love a great setting, can handle multiple POVs and time-jumps well and are not too interested in characters. Otherwise, you can skip this.

[Erin Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid fantasy story, sort of in the "epic" variety in that it has multiple points-of-views (POVs) - following a political situation. But also has strong romantic elements, several coming of age storylines, great worldbuilding start for a series, and some kicking sword and fist fights.

Not of the standard "epic" in that there are no orcs and elves, and the magic - while wieldable by individuals - is treated by this society more like electricity and the "mages" come to your house to fix the stove while the stronger mages fix the power lines - or in this case the ley lines. In some ways this ends up feeling more science-fiction in a historic setting than a fantasy (steampunk?). I guess that is why I enjoyed it so much.

We first meet the POV major characters in their childhood - Justin is 8, Kara is 12, and Allen is 16. The book has many chapters divided among five parts - these five parts read like mini-books and have two major skips through time - one of four years and one of twelve years - so at the end of the book Justin is 24, Kara is 28, and Allen is 32. One or two timing issues made me go "er", but did not impact the story at all. For example not exactly certain what Cory's age is at the beginning of the book. Not that it matters since he isn't a primary POV character, although he does have a couple short POV moments.

Overall a good way to spend a few days.

With the second book coming out soon I think it is okay to mention this is the first book of an apocalyptic story within a fantasy setting. Ecological magic-based disaster. And by apocalypse, I don't mean the more common post-apocalypse where you see the survivors ten or twenty years or even hundreds of years after the disaster. No, this book is about the apocalypse - the destruction of civilization. Characters die - POV characters, both minor and major, die. Ones you like. Ones you don't like. Ones you have bonded with over the course of the book. You feel the loss. Great writing.

Future books of the series hopefully will not be as emotionally draining as the last two parts of this book.

[Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vividly imagined world, characters I cared about and an engaging story. Sounds perfect, right? It was, mostly.

I really enjoyed Palmatier's take on what amounts to a sort of magic in the Baronies. It was like reading a SciFi novel in Fantasy clothing. The best of both worlds! Much of the basic (and now considered essential) technology we've developed using electricity, they've managed to create using ley... and what they don't have that we do is more than made up for by what they have but we don't. Palmatier gave us in-depth looks into the two protagonists' lives while letting us learn nearly as much about a handful of secondary characters. There was never a moment where I was banging my head, feeling like the Palmatier was either withholding pertinent information or over-sharing.

What kept this book from getting five stars was sentence structure. Some people would probably find my complaint nit-picky, but I just didn't like his style after a while. I need more variety in the length of my sentences and in the way verbs are used. Not every sentence with more than one action going one needs to follow the She did this, the man across from her -ing something else, as she did. I've got nothing against that structure – hell, I ended the last paragraph with a variant of it – but I don't need to see it several times on every. Single. Page.

Other than that, the book was perfect. Watching Kara and Allan evolve kept me turning pages long after I should have closed the book. Waiting in anticipation of how Baron Arent and his deputies, Captain Daedallen and Prime Wielder Augustus, would next complicate the lives of Erenthrall's citizens nearly drove me to bite my nails – and I'm not a nail-biter.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel started off quite strong; I was impressed with Palmatier's world building of a power ley forced into certain paths to do a superbaron's bidding, where the ley workers are completely under his thumb, due to a semisupernatural force of men that act as police and thugs, with extra senses from dogs and wolves. But certain holes started appearing in the novel about halfway through (SPOILER ALERT). For instance, Kara has 2 best friends. When one of them disappears on an outing she persuades them to go on, there is nothing to show how upset she is...in fact she goes home and deliberately doesn't tell the parents to start an early search. She also completely drops out of touch with her other friend Cory, until he is needed back in the plot, and then, here he comes. MORE SPOILERS Also, the final part of the book makes no sense....a superloading of power turns the evil policement into werewolves, but just destroys everyone else? Palmatier needed to make things a bit clearer there. And why wasn't the Baron already deposed? Still, it was an intriguing world...I liked the idea of the ley being forced into unnatural paths for power (kind of like drilling shale) and the idea of time/space distortions being created through the abuse of said power.

[Denyse Loeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early on, the book was slow to get to the events in the description. Things do happen, but there's a lot of back story. Interesting back story, thankfully, but still back story, some of which probably could have been trimmed, though I can see why the back story was needed. In some ways the blurb is representative of the story, but at the same time, not really. And the leaps in time were often disorienting. All that being said, for me, it all comes together at the end and makes the earlier bumps worth it. In a way, those jarring jumps mirror the ending of the book, reinforcing it. While the rest of the book kept me curious enough to keep reading, the ending sucked me in and left me breathless. I'm looking forward to book two.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It kind of reminded me of an end of the world scenario butt in fantasy style. I really liked it, and will definitely continue reading the series. This book was very interesting. It took me a good minute to figure out what in the world was going on. Now that I did, I couldn't stop reading it. The only reason why I give it four stars is because the characters. I am not sure if I like them or not. Other than that I love the originality of the story. Very creative. It kind of reminds me of electricity. That was the first thing I thought about when I got halfway through this book. It is kind of like what would happen if technology today, and electricity were to suddenly die out.

[Rachel Chiapparine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a Hardcover copy of this book in my April case from my BookCase.Club subscription(I paid for the subscription myself) my personal review of the book is as follows:

I personally was confused by how magic works within the world of this book which caused me confusion in regards to certain plot points in the storyline which took away my enjoyment of the story as a whole however I did enjoy most of the main characters themselves through honestly probably not enough to make buy the next book in the series. Overall I personally rate this book a 6/10 (I gave it an extra point because of how much I liked the imagery of the world it's self).