Waiting on Wednesday – Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out the awesome upcoming sequel to a great fantasy novel I read in 2024, with Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland.

Amazon

Earlier this year I had the great pleasure of reading the fantasy debut, Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland. An exciting, intense and clever character-driven fantasy novel with some strong romantasy elements, Five Broken Blades was a fantastic read that saw several of the biggest liars in a fantasy kingdom team up to take down their immortal king. Essentially one big heist novel with over-the-top characters, excellent action, tons of intrigue and a whole lot of personal issues, Five Broken Blades was a deeply enjoyable book, and I had a brilliant time getting through it, especially in its audiobook format which featured multiple excellent narrators.

While I didn’t love absolutely everything about Five Broken Blades (I’m not a huge romantasy fan, although Corland kept these elements fairly subtle), I did get really caught up in the narrative and I am very curious to see how it is going to continue. As such, I am eager to get my hands on the upcoming sequel, Four Ruined Realms, which looks set to send the protagonists on another deadly heist. Set for release in early January 2025, Four Ruined Realms has a great plot behind it, and I’m looking forward to finding out how Corland builds on the clever twist and cliffhanger at the end of Five Broken Blades.

Plot Synopsis:

The lies are bigger and the plots more treacherous when your favourite backstabbers return in the mind-blowing sequel to instant Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller Mai Corland’s epic adventure fantasy Five Broken Blades.

The King of Yusan may be the greatest liar of them all.

His sister’s ring is in his sights, and he will do anything to get what he wants. Even manipulating the five blades to steal it…

Bonded by deceit, the blades must rely on their skills to pull off King Joon’s pursuit or risk his legendary wrath.

A foreign rule of law stands between them and Quilimar, the Queen of Khitan. Now they have one month to steal the powerful Golden Ring of the Dragon Lord. But that impossible task might be easier than trusting one another, even though their lives, their families, and the realms depend on it.

They can all agree on one thing: the king can’t win. But can they beat him at his own game?

Because for the blades, this time it’s not just personal, it’s revenge. Lies may have torn them apart, but now vengeance will bring them together.

The lies have only just begun…

Four Ruined Realms sounds like a very fun read, and I cannot wait to see how Corland’s protagonists fair during their next heist. There are so many cool elements from the first book that need to be continued here, including the consequences of their various lies and manipulations, their own unique desires that often run counter to each other, and the fact that they now all want vengeance on King Joon, the man who brought them together in the first place. I cannot wait to see how the characters interact in Four Ruined Realms, especially now that all their cards are on the table, and I am sure there will be even more backstabbing and betrayals along the way. As such, I am imagining that Four Ruined Realms will be another intense, clever and captivating read, that continues to explore the excellent protagonists, while also presenting an exciting new target for them.

Due to how much I enjoyed the first book in this series, there is no way that I won’t be grabbing Four Ruined Realms when it comes out early next year. I am very curious to see how Corland continues this story, and the author has really hooked me with her various cool characters. This will probably be one of the first books of 2025 I read in the new year, and I am hoping to grab it on audiobook again after the great experiences I had with the format for Five Broken Blades. No matter how I read it though, I have no doubt that Four Ruined Realms is going to be an outstanding and addictive fantasy read.