Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent Book Review

Ratings

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Content Warnings: Violence, Blood, Gore, Abuse (physical), Death, Sexual Content, Strong Language

Introduction

Tissanah is a young woman whose life is rooted in slavery and death. When she finally earns enough coin to buy her freedom, the negotiations don’t go according to plan which leads her to flee Threll and travel to Ara. 

There, she attempts to join the Orders and is placed as an apprentice to a war hero recluse, Max. In order for Tissanah to help her people in Threll, she needs the Orders. Will she pass her evaluations with the help of Max? And how does she plan to convince the Orders to help her cause? What price will Tissanah have to pay to aid those she loves?

Daughter of No Worlds rivals my favorite series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, for the #1 spot. This book is absolutely wonderful and captivating. I’m obsessed with the characters and romance of this book, along with its alluring plot. 

If you enjoyed A Court of Thorns and Roses or From Blood and Ash, read this book!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Plot

As I was reading on my Kindle, I thought I was nearing the end of the book when Tissanah went to have her Orders evaluation done, but that happened at less than the 50% mark! I couldn’t believe the direction this book took. But I love the Venom-esk aspect. 

The book could have easily ended after the first part, but I’m so happy it didn’t. The second part was even better and so much more of what we read in part 1 makes sense. Like why Max doesn’t want Tissanah to meet with Zeryth and why he couldn’t say anything. 

Then, we almost see Max die at the end just to save Tissanah! I was so ready to close the book and never pick it up again if he was gone. I wouldn’t accept it and I would have been so pissed because his death would have ruined everything that was built up.

But luckily, that wasn’t the case and he survived! And now I’m intrigued about this fire snake ability of his. Will Tissanah get something similar? Maybe his ability to control and use this ability will build his confidence and help Max heal. 

Through it all, though, the slow burn of Tissanah’s and Max’s romance is beautiful. There are lots of vulnerable and tender moments that really connected the characters and then to the reader. They are perfect for each other and I can’t wait to see them strengthen and grow.

Plot Thoughts

• What do the Orders, specifically Zeryth, want with Max?
• Is the war raging in Ara caused by Zeryth in an attempt to claim the throne?
• Are there others like Reshaye that we’ll find later? 
• Will someone else have a being like Rashaye?
• What role, if any, will Serel play in the series?

Characters

Tissanah

Tissanah is badass, to say the least. Her perseverance and drive are admirable, and the fact that she still has a caring heart after all the trauma she has been through is amazing. 

I love her quirky and stubborn character. Her “brute force” tactics are entertaining, but impressive when they pay off. However, we don’t really see much character development in her. She keeps her same determination and stubbornness throughout the entire book. She maybe uses a little less brute force with things toward the end, but that’s about it.

I’m not mad about this, but I am hoping we will see some development in the next book. 

Regardless, I adore Tissanah and her noble mission. But I wish she would take time to herself or let herself heal after difficult situations. I understand why she doesn’t, but I wish she would for the sake of her sanity. 

Max

Whenever reading about Max I thought of two people: Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender and Takeshi Kovacs from Altered Carbon. He may not have long hair like these two, but I imagine he does. 

Anyway! I love Max’s character development. He went from a recluse hating the world to actually being open to it again, with some hesitancy of course. Sometimes all it takes is one person to show you that the world isn’t that bad. 

Then there is his demeanor and sarcastic personality, which I fucking love. It makes him more endearing and relatable, and sometimes the comic relief. Like, “I’m not made for this,” is gold. He says it all the time and the one time he said the opposite melted my heart. 

I thoroughly enjoy Max and can’t wait to see more of his witty comebacks.

Side Characters

Sammerin

I enjoy Sammerin. He’s a stoic and supportive character that just has a calming feeling when he enters the scene. We don’t see too much of him in this book, but I hope to see more of him in the next one. 

Nura

I have mixed feelings about Nura. I think she is secretly an ally to Max, but is somehow wrapped up in what Zeryth is doing and can’t get out. I’m hoping we’ll see some character development from her, in terms of caring for the group instead of whatever the Orders’s mission is. 

Zeryth

In the beginning, I thought Zeryth would be a friend. However, now I’m predicting that he is the main villain and will use Tissanah to do things she doesn’t want to, like attack the people of Ara. 

Outside of this prediction, Zeryth is a dick. The fact that he sends the group to Ahzeen’s home knowing damn well the man doesn’t like him nor the orders speak volumes of his character. I hope Zeryth gets taken down hard at the end of this series. 

Reshaye

I know Reshaye is made out to be the villain in multiple ways, but I believe that it is good. It experienced some trauma in its past that made it so emotionally volatile and I can’t wait to find out what that is. 

Reshaye seems to only want love and acceptance from its host and that’s just what Tissanah gave it. I also think it wants Max to apologize to it for abandoning it and make some type of amends. Otherwise, Tissanah’s and Max’s relationship will get really complicated really fast. 

Writing

Broadbent does a stellar job when writing every piece of this book that a movie played in my head. Her attention to detail, such as an echo of a smirk or the way someone’s eyes wrinkled in faint amusement, breaths life into the scenes. 

The only time I struggled to really understand what was happening is the march on Tairn when Tissanah and Max are trying to break into the tower to save the towns folk. I wasn’t sure what was happening with the fire, guiding it through the tower, and if they are actually in the room with Nura and what Tissanah saw. 

But besides that one scene, that I had to read multiple times, the rest of the book was amazing! 

Let’s get into other writing aspects Broadbent nailed. 

Handling of Trauma

Sometimes in books, authors attempt to describe trauma and how the characters handle it, but in those moments how the topic is handled is insensitive or just used as plot points and nothing more. Which is rough on those who have actually experienced similar situations.

However, Broadbent does an amazing job at handling the various traumas Max and Tissanah experience, how they cope, and how it dictates their actions. 

Here are two examples:

• Max initially refuses to help Tissanah through her merging with Reshaye due to his past trauma with the being.
• Tissanah hears echoes of past traumas, such as “Twenty-six” and “Crack!” over and over in certain situations, or “Look at me.” 

The characters in Daughter of No Worlds handle this trauma with care and understanding. This can be seen when we hear about what happened after Salzarai when Sammerin was the only person checking in on Max and tethering him to the world. Then again when Tissanah and Max listen to each other share their stories without any judgment or criticism. Only understanding and a shoulder to lean on. 

World Building

Ah, the intricate world-building in this book is *chef’s kiss*. From the magic system to the history to the diverse characters. It’s all fleshed out and we actually get to see how magic works— its limitations, the mental process, and how powerful magic can be. 

Even the history is fascinating. Sometimes characters unrealistically know too much about their history and how it has affected the world, but in Daughter of No Worlds we get to see it instead. As in how the Queen responds to potential traitors. 

Then there is the diversity. We have various languages, customs, and races. And it is all so intriguing! There are vast differences in attire and customs between Threll and Ara and it is fun to see how Tissanah handles it. 

Dialog

The dialogue in this book is fucking amazing. The wittiness and bad jokes make my day; and the conversations flow so naturally! 

Seeing Tissanah learn a new language and we get to see how she struggles with it via her sentence formations and loss of words is so accurate. This one aspect of the book truly made the whole story and character feel alive. 

I love seeing Tissanah struggle with Araian and how we sometimes get to see how she pronounces things, like “Maay-ucks” or “loo-vear.” It made her struggle real and brought us on her journey to learning fluent Araian. 

I cannot stress enough how much I loved the witty dialog and the process of learning a new language. Each character had their own tone and way of speaking which is simply brilliant. 

Final Thoughts

I cannot find the words to fully describe how much I love this book. I’m truly at a loss when attempting to describe how this book impacted me and the adventure it took me on. 

To say the least, it has definitely helped me through the last week of January. I needed this reprieve from life.

20/10 recommend this book.

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What did you think of the book? Did you like it or could you have done without it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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