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Book: “Realm of Thieves” by Karina Halle
Publishing Info: Ace, June 2025
Where Did I Get this Book: ebook from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: For Brynla Aihr, crime and survival have always gone hand in hand. Ever since she escaped the fanatical dragon-worshipping cult that controls her homeland, she’s had to carve out a life doing the stealing dragon eggs. Egg theft is illegal and, in most cases, fatal. To breach a dragon’s nest means a harrowing journey through the ancient wards spelled to keep the monstrous beasts confined. Dragons can’t get out and only those with a death wish can get in.
Despite the risks, dragon eggs are highly coveted for their magic. A black market flourishes under competing criminal empires, and Brynla’s loyalty has always been to the highest bidder. Until she finds herself kidnapped and blackmailed by Lord Andor, a formidable lieutenant of House Kolbeck, and thrust into the dangerous political games of rivaling dynasties.
Brynla and Andor clash at every turn, sparking heat in ways Brynla’s never felt before. But in a world that’s prophesized to return to the dragons, and rife with betrayal and secrets at every turn…how close to the flames is she willing to stand?
Review: There are so, so many dragon books in romantasy. To be fair, dragons were always pretty popular in fantasy/romantasy, even before “Fourth Wing.” But now it seems out of control! I honestly sometimes lose track of them all, which one’s I’ve read, how many new ones are coming out and what differentiates them, etc. etc. So, yes, here’s another dragon romantasy review!
Unfortunately, I’m still thwarted in this area. I’m starting to think that I may just need to stick with my more traditional fantasy books for my dragon kick, at least until it dies down a bit in massive popularity. As it stands, too often it feels as if authors and publishers may just be trying to cash in on a popular trope instead of following an organic story-making process. Such is the case here. While there were aspects of the world-building here with its use of dragons that I thought were interesting, as the story continued, this book ultimately seemed to turn more into a gangster/mafia romance story. Which I don’t dislike as a romance subgenre on its own, but wasn’t why I was picking this book up.
Ultimately, from early in the story, everything felt rather flat. The author was telling me a lot of things, but I wasn’t seeing many reasons to become emotionally involved. The characters were just kind of there, following along in many of the standard FMC/MMC archetypes that we’ve come to expect from books like this. The pacing was fairly stilted, with the book dragging significantly in the middle of the story only to fall through the floor with the almost bait-and-switch with the genre change from fantasy to mafia romance in the end. And over and over again characters and plot points operated in ways that didn’t make sense other than as quick resolutions to any challenges that presented themselves. Things happened because a problem needed to be solved. And solved quickly with very little conflict being given any time to brew.
Much of this only came to play as I continued reading, but I was already started off on the wrong foot by the way the romance was handled. When I say “fast” I can’t emphasize enough just how fast I mean. The characters meet and that’s pretty much it. Their insta-attraction/lust/love was so extreme that it felt totally unbelievable and threw me out of the book. True, I prefer a slow burn (typically even across multiple books!) but there are numerous romantasy titles I can point to that have an established romance in book one that I enjoyed (see “Shield of Sparrows.”) This book totally missed the mark for me in this department. As a bit of a side note, I’m very over the cutesy nicknames that the MMCs give FMCs. They are getting more and more ridiculous and over-the -top. If someone talked like this in real life, the cringe would be off the charts.
Sadly, this was a miss for me. I know that this author is quite prolific, so I might need to dig around her back catalog and see if I connect better with one of her previous books. I’m sure fans of her work will enjoy this, but if you want a well-developed romance or a book that focuses strongly on the fantasy elements, you may want to pass on this one. That said, if you like mafia romance, this may be the unexpected hit you’re looking for!
Rating 6: With a flat-feeling plot, lack of complex characterization, and a romance that went from zero to one hundred in two seconds flat, this one sadly wasn’t for me.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Realm of Thieves” can be found on these Goodreads lists:Most Anticipated Romantasy releases of 2025
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