It has been quite some time since I’ve participated in a blog tour. The synopsis of this book, The Tortured Kingdom by Bryan Asher, piqued my interest, and I couldn’t help but sign up for this one. Thank you to TheWriteReads for organizing the tour and allowing me to be a part of it!
Title: The Tortured Kingdom
Author: Bryan Asher
Illustrators: Batsky Starman and Arief Rachmad
Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Number of Pages: 276 Pages
Publication Date: January 31, 2025
Links: Goodreads | Storygraph | Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (Canada)
After a comet strikes the continent of Yohme, it’s left in shambles. Nations lay in rubble, magic has been corrupted, and a plague has turned most of the inhabitants into flesh-eating, undead, ghouls.
Traveling this apocalyptic landscape is Evan, a bounty hunter taking missions to survive. However, his latest quest to capture a thief leads to more than he bargained for. After uncovering an ancient map, he forms a party to hunt the sacred treasure inside the most formidable dungeon.
Once inside, they’ll have to overcome the trials of a god to reach it, and they’re not the only ones searching.
***Thank you to TheWriteReads for providing a copy of the book. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***
The Tortured Kingdom was a relatively short, fast-paced adventure that was a lot of fun to read. The world was interesting, and the characters were engaging and entertaining as they learned to work together. I was surprised by how easy it was to sink into the story. I also appreciated that the plot worked great as a standalone, which can be difficult to pull off in the fantasy genre.
The plot of The Tortured Kingdom reminded me a lot of playing a video game. The first part of the story was spent on corralling the band of characters. Then the rest of it followed them as they beat level after level in the dungeon to get to the treasure at the center. This structure kept things fairly simple and easy to follow while still being fun. Each trial was unique, and I found myself surprisingly quite interested in the time spent to gear up the characters. I’m sure some people will find the plot a bit repetitive in its structure before the end, but I had a great time with it.
I do wish there had been a bit more to the world-building in The Tortured Kingdom. I wanted to know more about the cataclysm, and the history of the world. The zombies mixed with the sword and sorcery aspects was a fun combination. It all just felt very surface level. For example, the rivalry between two groups was at the center of the race to the treasure, but very little background was given on why the two races didn’t like each other. It seemed like there was a lot of history there to be explored, and instead it was just used as a backdrop.
Thematically, there wasn’t much to chew on in The Tortured Kingdom other than the group dynamic of the characters learning to work together. Each of the characters had distinct personalities, and I enjoyed their interactions with one another. They made such an interesting group, and I was surprised at times to see certain characters grow closer. However, I do wish a little more time had been spent on adding more depth to the characters. Most of them didn’t have much of an arc other than ‘find the thing,’ which was fun but not nearly as satisfying as something with emotional impact would have been.
Overall, The Tortured Kingdom was a really fun adventure that is perfect for readers who enjoy quest stories but don’t want to be burdened with a ton of backstory and world-building. It was an easy, quick read, and I’d definitely check out other stories set in this world. Therefore, I rate it 3.75 out of 5 stars.
There you have it! My thoughts on The Tortured Kingdom by Bryan Asher. Thanks again to TheWriteReads for allowing me to participate in this tour!