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Korean Cuisine Recipe ** 50% Off Today!! *********************** Korean Cuisine Recipe is an...
The Infinite Board Game
Book
Infinite games, infinite fun, infinite possibilities. Designed by James Kyle to be for board games...
Hardworking Cats: A Humorous Look at the Feline Contribution to Our Workaday World
Book
An ode to the feline in your life, Hardworking Cats shows cats are much less lazy than we give them...
Bendy
Book
Straight guy (24M, photographer) tries to cheer up his straight best friend (24M, electrician) by...
Contemporary MM Romance Novella
Pound for Pound: A Story of One Woman's Recovery and the Shelter Dogs Who Loved Her Back to Life
Book
The brave, inspiring story of one woman's recovery from a debilitating eating disorder, and the...
The Leftovers
Book
What if — whoosh, right now, with no explanation — a number of us simply vanished? Would some of...
Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated The Fractured Empire in Books
Oct 25, 2021
“Clark and Adelaide think their lives can’t get any worse. Until they meet each other.”
The style of this book is distinctly steampunk rather than the medieval style that I am used to with ElBin books. I was nervous about this as I generally don’t read books in a steampunk setting but I did find I really enjoyed it. To me the world building wasn’t quite as clear in my mind but I’m not sure if this was because I wasn’t reading a physical book.
Despite this, The Fractured Empire met all my expectations and more! How can it not when it includes all my favourite tropes such as enemies to lovers and, of course, the old forced shared-bed situation.
“who kidnapped someone and then introduced themselves? Yet here we were”
The characters are amazing, of course they are! There isn’t an underdeveloped or “2D” character in sight as we follow Addie, Clark and his 2 brothers around the Ceithren Empire, desperately seeking answers … and finding some that they didn’t expect!
Clark and Addie’s relationship is a rollercoaster! The term enemies-to-lovers does not do this pair justice, it’s more like enemies-to-almost lovers-to- definite enemies- to- begrudging colleagues. There is a definite attraction though and it is very physical to begin with: there are a lot of references to Clark’s muscles, Addie’s dress slipping down etc. I have read other reviews where they use this to say that the romance relationship is shallow but I don’t believe this is the case, they are both quite young as characters and it merely demonstrates, in my opinion, how they are constantly drawn to each other.
The best thing about Clark and Addie’s dynamic is 100% the amount of bickering and sarcasm. Oh the amount of sarcasm in this book speaks to my soul and it is here where I think the audiobook may have been better than a physical book (I know, I know! Don’t shoot!) The narrators for Clark and Addie really captured the personalities of the characters, even down to the pacing of their reading and, in Addie’s case, the haughty tones.
From the mysterious best friend Nell (who I’m still not sure if I trust or not) to Addie’s oppressive Director father to the playboy prince: the cast of supporting characters deserves an honourable mention, particularly Gunther. If you aren’t in love with Gunther we can’t be friends – it’s as simple as that!
“I gave them a mocking salute before I turned and jumped, right out the hundredth story window”
The Fractured Empire presents twists upon twists and constantly changes who you can trust but still manages to flow really well and keep the reader engaged. This is a testament to the writing of Robin but also to the narrators of the audiobook, Cris Dukehart and Graham Halstead. Some small snippets felt like they were recorded in sections and sounded out of place but on the whole the pair really embodied the characters and kept me hooked.
Thank you to Robin Mahle for providing a free copy of the audiobook of The Fractured Empire. My TBR list however, does not thank you as it now has 3 more additions to it! (*Edit* 4! I found out about the prequel!)
The Chronicles of Downton Abbey (Official Series 3 TV Tie-in): A New Era
Matthew Sturgis and Jessica Fellowes
Book
The official companion to all three seasons. The Great War has ended, but Downton Abbey is far from...
Twisted Blade in the Arena: Boys of Imperial Rome 4
Book
"The Roman Empire, AD 108: Rich and poor alike revel in the bloody thrills of gladiatorial combat...