Review: 3.5 stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 11, 2013
**Review written for an originally posted on my blog, Book Bliss.I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review**Review: 3.5 starsGeneral: Realm Walker nicely straddled the worlds of urban fantasy and romance, though it did lean very heavily on the romantic elements in comparison to the fantasy ones – not a problem at all really. The book felt very much like others in the category and it made it a pleasant read as it followed the loved formula so much. I think the strongest element of this book was the world building. Each and every page brought this world more and more to life for me and drew me in. The plot was a little slow to move (much like Keri Arthur’s see reviews here) but once it got going it was easier to enjoy the novel as the writing itself is wonderfully strong as well.For me there was one flaw that took the book down and it was the romance between Juliana and Thomas. Given that it was such a heavily impacted part of the novel it was hard to believe the two together. Separately they were both wonderful characters it just didn’t have the heat that you expect from characters when romance is such a heavy focus.Characters: Juliana Norris- Juliana was a true kickass female lead. I thought of her much like Xhex from the BDB to be honest. A little less cruel and locked away but very similar otherwise – tough life, bad situation with a lover, strong warrior. While I didn’t like her with Thomas I truly think she is a female character to get behind.Thomas Kendrick- Thomas is one of those love them or hate them characters. For me I hated him with Juliana but found his overall character very appealing and intriguing. He wasn’t an alpha male in the traditional “I man, you woman” sort but he still was and I loved that we got inside his head as well.