Review: Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent

Blurb:

A former slave fighting for justice. A reclusive warrior who no longer believes it exists. And a dark magic that will entangle their fates.

Ripped from a forgotten homeland as a child, Tisaanah learned how to survive with nothing but a sharp wit and a touch of magic. But the night she tries to buy her freedom, she barely escapes with her life.

Desperate to save the best friend she left behind, Tisaanah journeys to the Orders, the most powerful organizations of magic Wielders in the world. But to join their ranks, she must complete an apprenticeship with Maxantarius Farlione, a handsome and reclusive fire wielder who despises the Orders.

The Orders’ intentions are cryptic, and Tisaanah must prove herself under the threat of looming war. But even more dangerous are her growing feelings for Maxantarius. The bloody past he wants to forget may be the key to her future… or the downfall of them both.

But Tisaanah will stop at nothing to save those she abandoned. Even if it means gambling in the Orders’ deadly games. Even if it means sacrificing her heart.

Even if it means wielding death itself.

Fans of epic romantic fantasy like Sarah J. Maas and Raven Kennedy will devour this tale of dark magic, passionate romance, vengeance, and redemption.

Review:

“The echo of her mother’s kiss burned on her forehead. You have what you need to survive”

I randomly picked this up as the audiobook via Spotify Premium and was instantly pulled into the story. The narrators are superb! I highly recommend going that route if you decide to pick this book up! You’re in highly skilled hands with Esther Wane and Dan Calley, I promise ^_^

I am very much annoyed with myself for having waited this long to read Daughter of No Worlds as it was recommended to me by a friend around 2-3 years ago. As always you find so many books you want to read and just can’t get to them all fast enough, and this one sadly fell down the TBR pile. But now that I’ve utterly devoured this first book, I want to dive immediately into the next one! I can’t let those sit on my TBR for another 2-3 years. It would be such a travesty to allow it. 

“most valuable of all, she had the gift that her mother had given her: permission to do whatever it took to survive, without apology, without regret”

Daughter of No Worlds is very much a character driven story following former slave Tisaanah as she traverses the ocean in search of a better life across the sea, and the magical training to return to the continent of her birth to free her friends as well as all the other unfortunate souls that have been enslaved by the conniving spoiled lords of Threll. The other main character is Maxantarius Farlione, former captain in the army, as well as a Solarie mage bound to the Order of Daybreak. He is also the begrudging mentor Tisaanah is stuck with for training, and if there’s any hope of her joining the Orders she must find a way to work with him so she is prepared for what that kind of future has in store for her.

Other than the night when she gains her freedom, there isn’t much action for the majority of the book, which in the very capable hands of Carissa Broadbent was fine with me. Normally I prefer action driven stories, but every so often you find an author who does amazing character work that just grabs you by the heartstrings, tugging you along through the whirlwind of an emotional journey. Daughter of No Worlds is no exception to that. Tisaanah and Max are so endearing from the very beginning. Their struggles to overcome their pasts, to try to find a way to push through their different traumas and hope for a brighter future, was so realistic and impactful. The way their initial grumbling acquaintance starts, to where it leads by the end, we see a beautiful friendship unfold. Little by little they open their hearts to each other, letting each other see the scars and darkness, the brokenness of their souls laying it bare before one another. As we progress through the story we learn of the horrible things both of them have lived through & witnessed. 

“In this mutual understanding, we became each other’s stability”

The story line never sags or becomes overwhelmed with info dumping. There’s never a lull in it that had me bored. Each new reveal we’re given was purposeful and full of the intention of showing us all the scars, not just telling us of them. All of these snippets from their pasts are so full of emotion and pain, you’re just riveted, dying to reach out to them and heal all their hurts. Normally, no matter how good a book is, I often struggle to stay 100% focused on it. More often than not my mind is in half a dozen other places even when I’m really enjoying what I’m reading. But Daughter of No Worlds is one of those rare finds that wouldn’t allow me to have my attention anywhere else but on turning that next page. That is the testament of Ms Broadbent’s writing skill. My attention never once wavered as I devoured this book every chance I got. And when I wasn’t reading it, I can assure you I was thinking about it.

This beautiful chonker has all the things I love in a story, all the things that scream I need to go buy a copy ASAP to put on my shelves. We get the most beautiful friendship, that in turn, ever so slowly, grows to romance. It is the most delicious slow burn I’ve read yet this year! It isn’t your typical primal lusty romantasy book, in fact, I’d very much say it isn’t a romantasy at all as there is very little in it at all other than near the end. It focuses on the plot, on the characters' arcs which are so realistically handled and drawn out. The political scheming of the court in Ara, of the little tyrant queen, the conniving head of the Orders who thirsts for more power and will use anyone to get what he wants, all of it is just so perfectly laid out in Daughter of No Worlds. 

“What did I ever do to make my house so welcoming? I really tried to be as unpleasant as possible.”

In addition to my favorite romance trope of slow burn, Daughter of No Worlds also uses one of my other favorites: grumpy/sunshine. This personality combo, paired with the “master and apprentice” trope is what provides so much of the humor in these pages. There is never a lack of witty banter, which always heightens my reading enjoyment immensely! I always rate a book higher when there’s humor in it. Whether it's just a smidge, or in this book’s case, a whole hell of a lot, humor takes a book to that next level for me. I made so many highlights of the dialogue it’s borderline ridiculous. Like let me just highlight ALL the dialogue, it is seriously that good! :D 

While I was wholly and inexplicably absorbed for the first four hundred or so pages, there came a pivotal moment where I had to question how the story would end. I was apprehensive that things were going to deviate down a path I really didn’t want the story to go. I feared for my new favorite characters D: Those last one hundred pages were nail-biting, tense pages. The net of all those political power schemes was drawing tight and I just didn’t see any way things couldn’t  go horribly and irrevocably wrong. But again, Ms. Broadbent knew exactly what she was doing, and gave this story such a satisfying resolution that I had zero complaints! All my fears were alleviated to a point, but she also gave us some foreshadowing (not quite a cliffhanger) of the boot about to drop for the sequel within those final pages.

“My name is Tisaanah. I am a free woman and yet still a slave. I am fragments of many things but a whole of only myself. I am a daughter of no worlds”

Suffice it to say Daughter of No Worlds is going down as one of my top reads for 2024. I may have waited far too long to pick it up, but it was exactly the book I needed coming out of a summer long slump-fest. And again, when I couldn’t decide what book I was in the mood for, the audiobook is what initially helped me decide that this was the time to dive in. Don’t wait like I did to try this book! You’ll be mentally beating yourself up about it for ages if you do. As I said before, the audiobook is phenomenal and available via Spotify Premium and Audible, and the ebook is available on Kindle Unlimited. So if you’ve got any or all of those, you’re all set for a wonderful reading experience!