Beyond the Broken Throne

Kay_pristineprose — 5/5

I can not recommend this book enough! Everyone, go read it right now. Trust me! Wow wow wow! I adore this epic fantasy! One of the best books I’ve read in a while. Probably an all time favorite! On top of the book being phenomenal all of the art is created by the author herself!! She drew the cover, the character art, the weapons, the map!!!! And it is gorgeous!!! Gosh love that so freaking much. So much talent in one person. This is such an incredible epic fantasy! Well written, incredibly well plotted, characters that feel sooo real, and a fascinating world. I can not believe this is her debut. She has truly honed her craft because this is very well written. Okay, so massive fantasy world. Filled with unique words, dates, places, names, creatures. All of which can be found with a pronunciation guides in the glossary in the back of the book! Love that. Helpful to me when the different days of the week are used. There are Two races of people: men and elves basically. But they segregate themselves in their own kingdoms so we don’t see much interaction between the two yet. This is multipov. 4 points of view. 2 princess, the king, and their childhood friend Clarice. I adore multiple povs so I have read a few of them. Something that can be really tricky with these books is handling the pacing. Making each point of view move at the same pace, not leaving too many cliffhangers when switching back and forth. Rhys handled this marvelously. I was never annoyed or irritated when changing povs, but excited to see the next part of the story. Honestly might be the best multipov that I have read. It flows very well, telling the story of a kingdom that has been under siege in a four year war which still rages. Clarice is a girl coming of age. She has to pick her occupation and begin her career as an adult. Despite her adverse reactions to blood, she feels called to aid soldiers in the war. As a woman she has few options for that and so chooses field nurse. She sets off to the capital to begin her training along side her twin brother who is starting his own training as a drafted soldier. Clarice is kind and gentle, she loves her family and feels a deep need to help others. When the time comes she always pushes past her fears and helps protect others anyway she can. She’s a great character and I’m looking forward to seeing how she steps up to an even more important role in the next book. Also, I love that she has options when it comes to her dating life. That’s really nice, it makes her love for Curtis feel stronger, more real. I have a feeling this romance is going to be the slowest of slow burns. The amount of yearning after eachother we have already seen is adorable! Curtis. The younger prince. The prince who has spent years running his father’s errands across the kingdom trying to earn his love. The sweet soul who tries so hard to do the right thing. A man who doesn’t fight, but serves his kingdom in other ways. He is a really interesting character. Honestly I don’t know if I have read about such a sweet boy before. But knowing guys like this in real life, guys who are honest and gentle and won’t raise a fist even to defend themselves, I’ve seen how the world beats down boys like this. Always trying to snuff out their light. I really like seeing kind boys represented in a book. They do not often get to read about themselves as main characters. I feel like these personalities tend to be annoyingly useless side characters. Curtis is anything but useless. And I’m highly interested in seeing his character development in coming books. Prince Dominic. I mean, how can he not be my favorite point of view??? The eldest prince, the warrior prince, defender of Jushosh. And that character art? Swoon. Dominic has spent the last three or four years fighting a war. He’s been at the border wall leading the defense of his kingdom against the attempted invasion of the Marmeadan army. Years not only strategizing and ordering about troops but fighting on the front lines. He’s their kingdom’s hero. Until a new siege weapon destroys the border wall. Gravely injured Dominic and a few survivors are taken as prisoners of war. A twist I did not expect. We see the immeasurable weight on Dominic’s shoulders. How he deals with his first failure being such a grand one. The responsibility for his soldiers he voluntarily carries, sometimes to a fault. His brilliance in strategy, and great leadership skills in delegating and willingness to let others take charge. How he puts his pride aside when lives are at stake. Gosh. He’s just such a phenomenal character! Where’s the men like this? I’ll take five please. Morally good, honorable, valiant men will always be superior main characters to the dark, morally gray shadow daddies. Through Dominic’s story we see the war, travel through the land, meet people, and feel the depth of just how much is at stake. Also, we have my favorite side character Kenneth. Oh Kenneth! Dominic’s giant, loyal honor guard. Gosh I love him so much!!! Look, if Kenneth dies in this war we riot. Dominic loves his brother so much. Many times he thinks about him, wonders how Curtis has been these last years. Worries for him. Loves him. Due to their father, a troubled king, the parallels of Dominic and Cur to Boromir and Faramir are very strong. I have always loved their bond and personality differences. This is the first book I have ever read that perfectly replicates that feeling. So if you love Boromir and Faramir as much as I do, you need to read this book!!!! The group of soldiers Dominic is with through this story are the best. Wide range of personalities, but all the men are brave and persevere through extremely rough challenges. I loved seeing their commradery and brother hood. This is the type of story that shows the good in men. Male authors, please take notes. This is the type of male friendship we love to see. Where they lean on eachother’s strengths and are unquestionably loyal and honorable. Even when bickering. It’s just so freaking amazingly written!!!! A lot happens in this book. Like a lot. War, siege, mystery. A worn out king battling his own inner demons and wanning self confidence. A battle between the light and dark. Dabbling in old, outlawed magics called weaving. The king’s internal battle is fascinating. A once great man driven to making bad decisions due to burn out and self doubt. A battle we all struggle with at times. Self doubt in our own abilities is one of Satan’s greatest weapons. The battle between light and dark is a well thought out allegory for Christian beliefs. Something I am recently growing an appreciation for seeing in books. And I think Rhys does it exceptionally well in this book. My favorite part of this is the feeling this book gives me. Similar vibes to tolkein and c s Lewis. But especially Tolkein. The way he wrote his characters, men that are strong in battle yet had many soft sides to their personalities. Great warriors who cried and wrote poetry. The pinnical example of what I believe is the type of man God wants us to be. That’s the men these main characters are in this book. Valiant and strong, yet loving caretakers. Men who cry because they aren’t scared of emotions. For this reason I recommend this book to boys and girls. These characters are great example for both, and it is not often that we find books which are easily marketed to both men and women. But this one does. There was a noticeable difference while I read this book compared to some of my other recent reads. In my mind and home it brings a light with it. A goodness. It doesn’t chase away the holy spirit like I am realizing many secular books do. And I just think that is really cool. That a fantasy book can still carry a light with it. I want to find more books that do that. And will definitely be buying and reading everything Tiffany M Rhys publishes moving forward.