Review: 3.5 stars -  A mixed start but a good finish - there's a whole 'Realm' of possibilities in this series starter
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2013
3.5 stars = I liked it (with nits.) Despite a good beginning this Realm Walker series starter was slow to grab me, but at about half way everything - the world, the supporting cast - solidified and the conflict became personal enough to the heroine - and seemingly without any possibility of a happy resolution - that I was invested in seeing how things played out.The things that worked for me in Realm Walker were the heroine Juliana - she's suitably tough for a UF heroine, has an interesting skill set and parentage, and the fact that she is death resistant (though the reason isn't discovered until later so is confusing early on) adds an intriguing side note.  She is surrounded by some great supporting characters in her coworkers and 'family' (a werewolf, a fire elemental, his demigoddess wife and 'kids', and her inkmage 'brother-in-law') and there is a good mixed paranormal world in the background with demons, vampires, trolls, selkie and fae.What what worked less well for me (except in the big conflict) was her love interest the powerful vampire, Thomas, who 'married' her and then left her behind and heartbroken and  who is now back to claim her. This is a first book so there was a lot of ground work to lay in both the world and the characters, but Thomas was the least fleshed out to me and I just didn't 'feel' his relationship with Julia.  But then again, despite the third person 'voice' (instead of the typical 'first') Realm Walker seems to fall into the Urban Fantasy genre so I am not going to ding the book just because the romance element didn't really make it out of the woodwork.  And really that may have been on purpose because with all that the author has set up in this first book, she's left plenty of room for more from this Realm Walker world.