Official Review: The Broken World by Joel Martin
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Sarah G
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Official Review: The Broken World by Joel Martin
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Broken World" by Joel Martin.]
2 out of 4 stars
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The Broken World by Joel Martin follows the mercenary Karn in his search for his lost memories. He is a strong-willed man who will do anything to gain the talisman holding his memories, including inciting a rebellion in Falmar and regicide of their King for the Vor Warlord. However, no one can be trusted. He has been double-crossed and is left with only half of the talisman he was promised. Now the search begins for the other half. With his men consisting of thieves and murders, will they remain loyal or will they turn on him?
The Broken World is split up into three different sections. The first two concentrating on Karn’s point of view and the third section from Yovan’s point of view (one of Karn’s men). I did find this set up a little confusing as it is not clear how much time has passed between sections; for example, the end of part one and the start of part two. The interval between these two sections is explained with part three being a flashback, meaning the chronological order of the story is part one, part three and then part two. This does leave the reader feeling confused during section two as to what’s going on and why. I feel this lack of continuity and confusion did detract from the story.
The pace of the book was good, with many action sequences and the occasional plot twist to keep the reader interested. I thought the character of Karn was very interesting as he wasn’t as cut and dry as you would see in most books. He doesn’t fall into the normal category of ‘goodie’ or ‘baddie’ but is something in between. He is out to help himself, and sometimes those actions lead him to help others, sometimes not; however, that would not alter his course of action. There may not have been much character development in this book with him however, this is only book 1 of The Karn Chronicles. I believe there will be more time for development later and for plot holes to be covered in this book, such as Karn’s ancestry.
There was one issue I had with Karn. At times the character seemed very unrealistic. He would convince people to do drastic things with a few simple words. An example of this would be when he enters Falmar, he convinces the King that he can trusted with a couple of sentences, even though none of the other soldiers recognise him, and becomes part of the King’s guard straight away. I don’t think anyone could be that charismatic; however, occasions like this happen again and again in the book.
The character of Yovan however, has very interesting character development as his idea of Karn changes throughout the story and his allegiance moves. The way he makes decisions is very cut throat so I liked his unpredictability that keeps the reader guessing.
Overall I would give this book 2 out of 4 stars. I liked the story and the characters in this book however, I found the chronology of the sections too confusing, which ruined the flow of the story. A change of layout might help this.
It should be warned that there is strong violence and gore in this book, so those with a weak stomach beware.
******
The Broken World
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2 out of 4 stars
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The Broken World by Joel Martin follows the mercenary Karn in his search for his lost memories. He is a strong-willed man who will do anything to gain the talisman holding his memories, including inciting a rebellion in Falmar and regicide of their King for the Vor Warlord. However, no one can be trusted. He has been double-crossed and is left with only half of the talisman he was promised. Now the search begins for the other half. With his men consisting of thieves and murders, will they remain loyal or will they turn on him?
The Broken World is split up into three different sections. The first two concentrating on Karn’s point of view and the third section from Yovan’s point of view (one of Karn’s men). I did find this set up a little confusing as it is not clear how much time has passed between sections; for example, the end of part one and the start of part two. The interval between these two sections is explained with part three being a flashback, meaning the chronological order of the story is part one, part three and then part two. This does leave the reader feeling confused during section two as to what’s going on and why. I feel this lack of continuity and confusion did detract from the story.
The pace of the book was good, with many action sequences and the occasional plot twist to keep the reader interested. I thought the character of Karn was very interesting as he wasn’t as cut and dry as you would see in most books. He doesn’t fall into the normal category of ‘goodie’ or ‘baddie’ but is something in between. He is out to help himself, and sometimes those actions lead him to help others, sometimes not; however, that would not alter his course of action. There may not have been much character development in this book with him however, this is only book 1 of The Karn Chronicles. I believe there will be more time for development later and for plot holes to be covered in this book, such as Karn’s ancestry.
There was one issue I had with Karn. At times the character seemed very unrealistic. He would convince people to do drastic things with a few simple words. An example of this would be when he enters Falmar, he convinces the King that he can trusted with a couple of sentences, even though none of the other soldiers recognise him, and becomes part of the King’s guard straight away. I don’t think anyone could be that charismatic; however, occasions like this happen again and again in the book.
The character of Yovan however, has very interesting character development as his idea of Karn changes throughout the story and his allegiance moves. The way he makes decisions is very cut throat so I liked his unpredictability that keeps the reader guessing.
Overall I would give this book 2 out of 4 stars. I liked the story and the characters in this book however, I found the chronology of the sections too confusing, which ruined the flow of the story. A change of layout might help this.
It should be warned that there is strong violence and gore in this book, so those with a weak stomach beware.
******
The Broken World
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Sarah G's review? Post a comment saying so!
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