A World Broken

Chronicles of the Lady Sar #1

by Carol A. Park

In every end, there is a beginning...

They say that long ago, the world was unbroken. That there was no war—nor poverty, nor disease, nor famine. That the gods themselves walked among mortals—choosing some to be their instruments of peace and justice among the races. They even say that there was no winter.

Then, it all fell apart.

The five races of Erets have lived in one accord since the inception of the world. But now, the seeds of hostility are growing due to a dispute over an innocuous plant, and three people find themselves entangled in affairs they would have once found unbelievable.

An advocate—trained to promote mutual understanding between the races—must confront the unimaginable prospect that peace is out of reach.

A priest—one who refuses to bend the knee to the gods he serves—finds that the only vow to those gods he has made might be harder to keep than he expects.

And a seeker—a gentle warrior sent to uncover the truth behind an unthinkable murder—stumbles into a labyrinth of lies that could shatter the world.

These three must save the world that they know.

But are they already too late?

Genres: Fantasy

608 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 2020

Reviews

[Angela Boord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Park’s books are on my auto buy list. I have been waiting eagerly for this one for a while, and I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s a lighter read than her other books, with a sweet, slow burn romance, a dash of murder mystery, a classic fantasy feel, and a world that might not be quite as harmonious as it appears. (Fantasies often seem to be post-apocalyptic, set after the destruction of a better, more magical world, but this one is set *in* the better, more magical world, although cracks in this facade are starting to appear.)

The book begins quietly, but there was enough suspense in trying to figure out what was going on (and worrying that something was about to go horribly wrong) to keep me reading until the end, when I couldn’t read fast enough.

Also- I read this during a very tumultuous news week, and I felt like there was enough seriousness and enough action in the second half to give me my epic fantasy fix, but it was never too heavy to add to my external stress. So if you’re looking for an epic fantasy with a lot of magic, original non-human fantasy races, and well-drawn characters (not all of them human)— but you don’t want *a lot* of darkness and grit — I highly recommend this one.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to preface this review by mentioning I’ve had this book on my Goodreads shelf for quite some time — at least two years, though I’m sure a bit longer than that. I’m not even sure how I managed to come by it at all, honestly, in a big bookish world of lesser-known authors and their tales.

But, I’m glad I did!

As a former gifted and talented kid-turned-ADHD adult, I’ve been trying to dip my toes back into the fantastical world of voracious, insatiable reading for a long time now — so when I noticed that “A World Broken” was available through the Kindle Unlimited subscription, I decided to go for it.

At 608 pages in length, it’s a hefty hunk of novel. I got about halfway through (page 375 I believe) before a few substantial life changes occurred, limiting my time to read for leisure, and eventually my Kindle Unlimited subscription ran out altogether. That’s life, isn’t it? Boo.

However, I never really forgot about the mystery of bashel and its confounding properties, or Doresh’s search for answers leading only to more questions, and I certainly never forgot about the sweet, budding romance between Advocate Aminah and the priest, Tirphon, with his (ahem, temporary…!) vows.

So I don’t know if they ever see these reviews, but I just wanted the author to know that I re-subbed to Kindle Unlimited very recently, instantly pulled up “A World Broken” on my device, and I thoroughly devoured the remaining 233 pages in just under two days. It was like I never left, and it felt really, really great to do that!

The adorable slowburn romance between Aminah and Tirphon isn’t the whole plot, but it does lend itself to it nicely towards the end. It’s a big, diverse and lovely world, and I enjoyed Carol A. Park’s style of writing — not pretentious, very digestible, but still descriptive and full of life. It gave me YA vibes without the YA label, if that makes any sense. As one reviewer here put it, it has an epic fantasy feel without all the gritty, gruesome descriptions of violence or overt brutality.

I’ll admit as I saw myself nearing the final page, I realized there was no way all the loose threads in the book were going to be definitively tied together before the end — so the cliffhanger was shocking, of course, but not entirely unexpected. A quick glance at Carol A. Park’s social media doesn’t grant much optimism that this story will be continued in the very near future, or if at all, but you know what? I’m not an author or a psychic — I’m just a reader, sitting in the afterglow of a lovely book I really enjoyed, hoping Aminah and Tirphon eventually get the future together that they deserve.

[Catherine Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book to experience world-building. Carol Park has really fleshed out the 5 races and how different they are all, in politics and architecture and economy and their generalized characteristics. At times the world building kept the plot from moving forward. I really enjoyed the interactions between Tirphon and Aminah and Ellirom; they were realistic and sometimes fun, awkward, and caring. I found Doresh’s whole plot line to be sad. I found myself not wanting to read any of his storyline whenever it came up.

[The Reading Ruru (Kerry) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for SPFBO7 - review and proper rating will come at later time after competition