You cannot fathom the realms I’ve seen, the endless ages, the limitless bounds of greed and fear. You cannot know how wrong you are. I almost pity you.’ The voice rippled over her, making her skin crawl. ‘And while I hate your heart, I admire it too.'” Fighting beside her band of unlikely companions, Corayne is learning to embrace the power of her ancient lineage and wield her father’s powerful sword. Blade Breaker is a worthy addition to the series and to the fantasy genre. It will make you laugh, cry, and think. It will also leave you enamored with the universe, and will have you cheering for the heroes to succeed. What else can you ask for in your next read?

Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard | Hachette UK

What Blade Breaker does best is further the stories of the characters we came to know and love in Realm Breaker. The stakes may be cosmically high; however, these characters are incredibly relatable in their world-saving quest. It’s clear Aveyard is committed to continually exploring her characters with greater depth, in spite of everything happening around them. The story is richer for it. The spots being red and green means that in the Final Fantasy VII, they would respectively be "Summon" and "Magic" materia. The Breaker Blade is a reference to the Buster Sword from the game Final Fantasy VII, wielded by the protagonist Cloud Strife. The resemblance can be seen in the synonymous naming (Breaker Blade/Buster Sword), and the weapon's similar designs, including its red handle, very large size and wedge shape, and the two red and green spots near the base of the blade, which reference Final Fantasy VII's "Materia" orbs that can be inserted into weapons. All original members own Beyblades that have names beginning with the prefix "Dr"; (Tyson - Dragoon, Kai - Dranzer, Ray - Driger, Max - Draciel). The BBA team went through several changes in Beyblade: G-Revolution after losing 3 of its top bladers to other teams (Max, Ray, and Kai). What's left of the team, Tyson, Kenny, and Hilary joined up with a new blader named Daichi Sumeragi to.form the "BBA Revolution" The Bladebreaker team re-formed with the addition of Daichi under the new name of "G Revolutions" to stop BEGA. This time the team's goals were to keep Beyblading as a sport everyone could enjoy and fight the new proposed direction of Beyblade Boris wished to take the sport.All of the Bladebreakers have been a part of a different team. Kai with the Demolition Boys and with the Blade Sharks, Ray with the White Tigers, Max with the All Starz, Tyson, Daichi, Kenny and Hilary with the BBA Revolution and Hiro with both the BBA Revolution and the BEGA League. The Bladebreakers's bit-beasts wield the Chinese elements: Wood, Metal (i.e. Gold), Fire, Earth, Water. Like all good zombie content, Blade Breaker leans in to the tragedy of the undead. It is always effective to remind readers that even hypothetical undead would be made up of actual former human beings. Blade Breaker’s ending is particularly heartbreaking. The set-up for the next entry in this series will be rooted in tragedy, continuing the themes that have already been introduced. Blessed Are the Burned The sequel to Victoria Aveyard’s instant #1 New York Times bestselling Realm Breaker features more of the breathless action, deadly twists, and gripping magic that makes this series perfect for fans of Garth Nix and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard | Waterstones

The Breaker Blade fares well as a "first hit" weapon for entering combat, as enemies above 90% health will take +150% damage. The bulk of Blade Breaker follows Coryane and friends on an extensive journey to the far corners of the Allward, as they search for Spindles and fight to close them. The book’s sweeping scope takes our heroes from the scorching sands of desert kingdom Ibal to the wild snows of the Jydi mountains to the north and the story’s propulsive feel and steadily rising tension make the simple act from walking from one town to another more interesting than it has any right to be. As I am really not persuaded that these two would choose each other if they had absolutely any other romantic options and weren’t consistently in life threatening situations, their relationship is uninteresting to me and reeks of codependency formed from shared trauma. I also completely agree with Dom that the last thing Corayne needs to do is fall in love and get herself killed trying to save someone when she’s the key to saving the world. Though I’m sure his disapproval is simply thrown in to add some much-needed spice to their bland developing romance, it just feels like good old plain common sense to me, and not at all like the forbidden or epic love I’m sure Blade Breaker hopes their relationship will come across as. In the first season of the show, Draciel and Driger's spirit colors were purple (Draciel) and green (Driger). However in V-Force, they changed to green (Draciel) and yellow (Driger). But while they successfully sealed the Spindle Taristan opened, they can’t rest easy yet. With his army marching across Allward, opening more portals into terrible alternate worlds as he goes, Corayne has no choice but to rally her own army and become the hero she’s destined to be.Kenny and Hilary are based on Rokumaru and Kurumi from Next Generation Beigoma Battle: Beyblade who fulfilled similar roles to Tyson as they do in the anime. Rokumaru is Tyson's "coach" and Kurumi is a girl who just got interested in Beyblade.

Blade Breaker : Victoria Aveyard’s Epic Fantasy Sequel Ups Blade Breaker : Victoria Aveyard’s Epic Fantasy Sequel Ups

Making Erida the villain in Realm Breaker was a stroke of storytelling genius. While this character absolutely could have gone either way, who doesn’t love a villain who girl-bossed too close to the Sun? Blade Breaker further takes us into the depths of depravity in a thrilling and kind of fun way. Everything Erida does is despicable. She’s unlikeable and commits unspeakable atrocities. Yet her chapters are among the most engaging. This may be more of a future problem, but yes, there are now zombies in this universe. Aveyard adds some surprising humor that actually works in the context of the story. The zombies just add another layer of chaos to the cosmic stakes readers have already been introduced to; they just illustrate the depths that the villains are able and willing to stoop to. It also gives our heroes yet another barrier to blast through in their quest to save the world. Queen Erida's army marches across Allward with her consort, Taristan, right beside them, opening more portals into nightmarish worlds, razing kingdoms to the ground.Another man would have been my jailer, his leash woven through my crown,’ she said, matter-of-fact.” Queen Erida and her consort, Taristan, continue their march through Allward, crumbling castles and conquering kingdoms with an unstoppable army and unthinkable forces of darkness. And even worse was an actual scene where a villain and a protagonist wrestle for mind control over a dragon. I am unfortunately not exaggerating when I say the lines completely and unironically read basically like this: Not only is it bad enough that Blade Breaker throws in these types of bizarre, nonsensical metaphors that don’t even fit with each other, but on top of this, the novel adds further statements that read as incredibly melodramatic. Characters have no issue literally announcing “into the jaws of death we go” or that their companions “remained silent, bent but not broken, resolute before their doom.” Frankly, people do not talk in such a histrionic manner, especially when they’re in life-threatening situations! These types of expressions and declarations are way too over-the-top and make the novel feel more like a parody of the genre, because how could a serious novel ceaselessly state this kind of stuff? Near the end of the novel, I was wholly nonplussed by the villain’s speech, as he went from ranting about how awful humanity is to complimenting the heroine —all in one little tirade:

Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker, book 2) by Victoria Aveyard Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker, book 2) by Victoria Aveyard

One of my biggest gripes of Blade Breaker is the practically non-existent world-building. The world Corayne and The Gang are trying to save is literally called “Allward,” because it is made up of all the wards on their planet—I am not making this up. Readers learn that there are elves on the planet who came from a different dimension and we literally have two narrators from that race and culture, but I know practically nothing about how the elves, as a whole, live. Other races and cultures aren’t any better. Blade Breaker mistakes every ward having their own battle cry for actual world-building. I literally cannot imagine all of these characters standing around thumping their chests and saying “with you” and thinking it meant anything significant, other than that these characters weren’t afraid of being embarrassed. A dragon can become such an overused plot device, and a fantasy story can rely on dragons to the point that the story suffers. Happily, Blade Breaker doesn’t fall into this trap. There’s just enough dragon content to keep readers intrigued. It’s never overplayed. The entire story is a heart-wrenching exploration of trauma, and the healing that comes from the support of those around you. Blade Breaker is the best of the found family trope. It also never devolves into trauma porn. Rather, this entire story is an authentic portrait of broken people trying their best to navigate the circumstances in which they find themselves. The hall echoed with triumph, but all Sorasa heard was the tolling of a death knell. Even as she smiled, dread curled in her belly. It was never far away, but now it reached for her with icy claws, its sting sinking too deep.” A true fantasy masterpiece."—Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling authorof An Ember in the Ashes series

Did we miss something on diversity?

I will say that some characters are a bit more fleshed out than Corayne or her perfect squire-boy Andry, however. The saving grace for Blade Breaker for me was most definitely the villains. Taristan and Erida, who seek to turn Allward into an empire under their and He Who Waits supreme and malevolent control, actually have some rare layers and complexity to their feelings. Erida struggles with her attraction to her new husband, her bloodthirsty ambition, her need to placate her courtiers, and her fear of He Who Waits and his undead armies. Erida and Taristan’s budding romantic relationship and often horrific actions were the main reason I was able to push through reading this book. I honestly would have much preferred to read an entire series about these two taking over the world and not have to deal with all of these other uninteresting characters who more or less have one defining feature of their personalities. A fantasy fan's dream."��Roseanne A. Brown, New York Times bestselling author of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin The only other relationship I enjoyed in Blade Breaker is the reluctant camaraderie between Sorasa and Dom, which might actually be progressing into something more. These two, who have previously had a contentious relationship, have come to terms with the fact that they trust and rely on each other to accomplish their goals. As more comes to light about Sorasa’s past, I was more interested in Dom’s reaction to it than what the novel told readers about her actual past itself. The two relationships between Eridan and Taristan and Dom and Sorasa show the most complexity and nuance this series has to offer. The G in G Revolutions stands for Good, according to the last opening, "Identified" by Springs. However, in the dub, the G in G Revolutions stands for Great, as in Great Revolutions. However, as "Good" and "Great" have almost synonymous meanings, there isn't much of a difference.