Review: Realm of Thieves

Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The latest publishing craze is "romantasy," which is a cutesy mashup of "romantic fantasy" that is being pushed like it's a Brand New Thing (it isn't). I tend to be wary of such books on general principle, but occasionally I test the waters. Most of the ones I've read are unsatisfying on both counts, the "roman" and the "tasy." Unfortunately, this book falls into that category.

Now I will admit that I am sometimes demanding of both my fantasy and my science fiction. The most important thing about an SFF book, to me, is worldbuilding, followed closely by characterization. I can forgive a lot--even a slow, meandering plot--if those two items are up to snuff. In this book, the worldbuilding is sketchy at best, and some of what's there doesn't even make sense. For instance, one of the protagonists has purple hair, and some other characters have blue and green? What's up with that? (The male protagonist, on the other hand, has good old-fashioned dark hair. I get the feeling that she has lavender hair because she's Supposed To Be Special, which is, ummm....not a good way of indicating that.)

This is a story of dragons which are not the usual sentient, talking creatures--these dragons are wild, savage animals. Their eggs, or more specifically the fluids drawn from those eggs known as "suen," give enhanced abilities to those who ingest it, up to and including immortality. The dragons are confined to an island by a magical dome, but some people--thieves--visit the island to steal eggs for their suen. Our protagonist, Brynla Aihr, is one such thief, and as the book opens she and her giant teleporting hound, Lemi, going to steal some dragon eggs. (How Brynla and Lemi can pass through the wards but the dragons can't is a bit of handwaving that is left as an exercise for the reader.)

But on the island, Brynla is confronted by a man, Andor Kolbeck, who unbeknownst to her has been observing her for a while. House Kolbeck needs Brynla for a special heist, one that will shore up their house and its allies for a war that is coming. Andor is determined to persuade Brynla to work for them, even if he has to resort to a bit of subterfuge (and kidnapping).

(As a side note, it's a bit unfortunate that this is his name. Every time I read it, it kept reminding me of Star Wars' Cassian Andor, who is a more complex and better-written character in every way.)

Thus Brynla is swept up in the politics and the court intrigues of the Houses, and also into a romance with Andor. This is another place where to me the book falls short. When the romance gets started, it pretty much shoves the worldbuilding to the side, which I don't care for. I mean, if you've seen one cock/cunt/mind-blowing orgasm you've seen 'em all, you know? I find if you have to have a romance, I am much more invested in the emotional beats of the relationship than the physical ones. (And if you are writing explicit sex scenes, please do only one. Any more than that wastes pages and becomes boring and redundant.)

Nevertheless, Brynla and Andor pull of the heist and steal the immortal dragon egg, and Brynla discovers something about herself that....severely broke my suspension of disbelief. That was pretty much a "wtf" moment, which kind of ruined the book's ending. Yes, the two protagonists have their happy ending and the epilogue sets up the next book in the series, but I don't think I'm going any further. Rebecca Yarros may go completely overboard with her own sex scenes, but she knows her dragons and her worldbuilding, and that makes all the difference.

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