The Shattered King by Charlie N. Holmberg
Charlie N. Holmberg’s latest fantasy creation, The Shattered King, is a breath of fresh air for romantasy lovers. It boasts a unique magic system, exceptional worldbuilding, and a romantic duo that will capture readers’ hearts.
In a world over-saturated with Shadow Daddies and Pick Mes, this soft healer and humble prince form a genuine connection that will leave readers eager for the sequel. I’m already foaming at the mouth for more of Holmberg’s magic!
A Broken Prince and a Reluctant Healer
In the kingdom of Cansere, craftlock — the magic of healing, mindreading and soulbinding — is outlawed; except for healing, which the queen made legal years ago in an attempt to cure her ailing son. Now a young man, the sickly Prince Renn remains confined to his wing of the castle, wasting the days away as his mother brings in healer after healer. Until Nym shows up.
Nym proves to be the only craftlock healer able to alleviate even the slightest symptoms of his condition. Nym’s ability sparks renewed hope in the queen, and she holds Nym captive in the castle until the prince is fully healed.
Nym just wants to go home to care for her family’s apiary and provide for her six younger siblings, but Prince Renn’s mysterious ailment doesn’t respond to her healing normally, and she finds herself constantly attending to him.
With the gradual reclamation of his legs — the loss coming from an unfortunate accident as a child, not the underlying illness which has plagued him since birth — Prince Renn discovers the independence he’s always longed for.
Nym watches as his physical transformation slowly widens his world, leading to unexpected emotional growth as the reclusive prince expands his scope and learns to open up.
Two hesitant strangers become closer than ever expected. But even if Nym can eventually heal him, between their opposing social standing and the impending threat of war on the Sestan border, could this spark between them ever be nurtured into something more?
Refreshing and Swoon-Worthy Characters
One of the things I loved most about The Shattered King is the refreshing characters. Nym is not a battle-hardened assassin or petulant “enemy” (excuse me while I roll my eyes at what passes for enemies-to-lovers in the romantasy sphere), and Renn is not a cocky lord or brooding warrior.
I liked how Nym’s main priority was her family, and her relationship with each sibling felt genuine. Some authors may struggle to distinctly portray six siblings (five, for a majority of the book, as the second eldest was drafted for the war effort), but Holmberg does so effortlessly, breathing life into characters in a way that makes readers feel connected to them.
However, what I loved most was Prince Renn’s development (queue dramatic swooning). This is a man of great power and influence who grew up with nothing, who felt ostracized and looked over in a way that made him determined rather than bitter. Watching him grow into his own, seeing how he became a strong man without all that toxic masculinity … chef’s kiss!
And who doesn’t love when the MMC falls first? I adored Prince Renn, and I am so excited to see what he has in store for us in the sequel (no spoilers here, but OMG I need someone to talk with about that ending).
Magic That Will Hook You — And Never Let Go!
Alongside these robust characters, Holmberg crafts a world that feels fleshed out without being overly complicated, giving us dynamic political tension and grounded cultural details.
Readers will likely find the most interesting of these aspects to be the magic system, and how the world treats magic users: from practitioners and skeptical physicians to the religious purists who look down on craftlock as an abomination and the common folk unfamiliar with — and therefore scared of — this magic.
I’ve never seen a magic system quite like craftlock: through touch, healers like Nym access a person’s lumis, a manifestation of a person’s physical being. It can manifest as a pair of scales, a labyrinth of caged animals, a chandelier, a brick wall, or any number of things. When a healer enters a lumis, they find what’s broken and fix it, a task which can be much harder or simpler based on the lumis’s complexity and the healer’s familiarity with it.
The “Acknowledgements” state that this magic system originated when Holmberg was developing her Book of Magic, a guide for fantasy readers that I desperately need to get my hands on.
In fact, having loved this book so much, I’m excited to see what other magical tricks Holmberg has tucked up her sleeve. Now that I’ve had a taste, I’ll definitely be reading more of her work.
About Charlie N. Holmberg:
Charlie N. Holmberg is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of fantasy and romance fiction, including the Paper Magician series, the Spellbreaker series, and the Whimbrel House series, and writes contemporary romance under C. N. Holmberg. She is published in over 20 languages and is a Goodreads Choice Award, ALA and RITA finalist. Born in Salt Lake City, Charlie was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters who also have boy names. A BYU alumna, she discovered in her 30s that she’s actually a cat person. She lives with her family in Utah.
