A modern telling of Irish folklore. A group of reluctant friends, mysterious murders, a druid, Fae, warriors and a quest. Sound familiar? Maybe. But you should definitely read this book.
The character development I'm the list book was superb. Not just individually, but watching the various relationships come together with real depth, without taking away from the plot. Loves it.
I really, really enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next one!
Excellent.

Thank you NetGalley for a ARC of this book.

Ash left her Irish fae clan including her mother the clan leader and her younger brother several years ago for a life of university study and living with her foster parents, only to be dragged back into clan when she finds the dead body of clan member who was once close to her. Back in the clan searching for answers, she struggles to find her feet and the confidence to stand up for herself against the clan who thought she had abandoned them, but there are expectations of her she must commit to if she wants to find out the truth. She leads her clan into a competition set by the High King against the other clans but things don't go as planned. Ash and her new-found friends must piece together the puzzle of numerous strange events and bring together her clan for the fight ahead.

Although this book could have benefited from more editing in places, and the fact that I wish there was more character development, I enjoyed it and thought it was a good read. I'm definitely looking forward to book two in the series.

I was lucky enough to be approved for an #ARC of Realm of Lore and Lies by Clair Wright through NetGalley. I've been on a fantasy kick lately, so this sounded right up by my alley.

I was really excited to read this book based on the synopsis, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. There are definitely things I liked about this book, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be. One thing I definitely liked? The Irish lore & mythology. It was really interesting getting to hear about some of the mythology that makes up Irish culture. I also loved how much you can tell Claire Wright put into creating this world.

Unfortunately, there were more things I disliked about the book, but they still didn't fully take away from the experience. I think the biggest thing about this book that made it a bit hard for me to really love was that is just was a bit much. There were a lot of character POVs, which I do love, but it just seemed that no one or two characters were really developed into what I could see Claire could make them into. There was also a lot going on. Sometimes it was too much to keep track of, & it detracted from the story a bit. Plus, the romantic relationship between Ash & Set just didn't have enough romance for me. I thought there was going to be a lot more to their relationship than there actually was.

Now, despite that critique, I will say that this book seemed to be a lot about creating Ash's world & leading up to more in the next book. The very ending of this book, it got me. I was laying in bed with about 25 minutes left in the book (thanks Kindle for always letting me know how much longer I have to go) when Derek said he was ready to go to bed. I decided that was fine. I could finish the book in the morning. Well, as I laid there, trying to fall asleep, I decided I couldn't wait lol. If the rest of the book was as good as the last, say, 10%, I'd have flown through this book.

Overall, I give Realm of Lore and Lies ⭐⭐⭐. I really wish I could give it more, but it didn't live up to my expectations based on the blurb.

I really wanted to enjoy this one so much. It sounded so good, Fae, Irish Mythology...yep sign me up.

Unfortunately, the end product did not work for me. The pacing was the main issue for me, it took sooooo long for the story to get going. I really enjoyed the first few chapters of Aisling and learning about her, with the elements of her past alluded to and then...we were with another character and this is how it continued...honestly, I read through some other reviews and I totally agree, I was waiting until around 60% before anything really happened.

I also felt there was a LOT of names and information to process and clans and who belonged where and what did this mean and just sometimes so much info dumping. Obviously, sometimes that is needed but show me, don't tell me all the time, show me some of this information and I cannot stand pages upon pages or information, description and no dialogue, it just bores me.

So unfortunately, this one just wasnt for me. With more editing this could be an amazing read as all the elements are there, it just needs some stripping back and more focus on certain areas that are glossed over, give me more depth to the characters, more of a journey and I would be one happy bunny.

*arc provided by Netgalley*

3/5 stars. I wanted to love this book more than I did. I was so excited to read a fantasy book based in an Irish setting.

3rd person pov following 4 different characters overall. As with other fantasy books I expected an info dump at the start of the book instead it seemed a lot time to get more information on the world you were reading about and it was hard to keep up when following so many different characters.

I felt like most of the main characters you followed and some side characters didn't have a full back story at all, which overall meant the plot and characters lacked depth. I also felt like they were lacking different personalities that I expected from the different pov's.

The research and passion that went into this book is evident, I can understand why other people loved it. However for myself the characters needed to be less alike and have more depth.

The story had potential but something about the writing just didn’t grip me unfortunately. I personally prefer books written in the first person, especially when it is dual POV. The beginning and middle were slow but it did pick up towards the end of the book, with an ending that had the critical shock factor.

I loved reading a fantasy book based on Irish mythology as it’s something I haven’t seen done much. Interested to see where book 2 takes the story!

I think the premise of this book is interesting. There are always lots of fantasy novels thst incorportate elements from medieval England, but not many of them draw from the legends of Ireland. This novel introduces us to a cast of interesting characters, each a member of the Fianna, a group of nomads who are sort of keepers like of the fairie.

Although I like the idea behind this novel, I was bored by the execution. Overall, I found the pace to be extremely slow. I think this has a lot to do with the writing. It is very clunky and super wordy. Every single noun is modified by at least one adjective. There are lots of descriptions of what everyone is wearing and what the locations look like but the dialogue between characters is often bland. The book's main action is that the Fianna warriors travel to the fairie realm to compete in an ancient quest to be numbered among the high king's warriors. However, it takes our characters over half the book to get to this point. Before that, all the characters have to meet and be moody for a while. I was so tired of reading the clunky, inelegant prose that I ended up just skimming the second half of the novel. This book could have been really interesting, if it was about a fourth of the size.

Needless to say, I won't be continuing with this series.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This book was a great mixture of old Fae lore and what that looks like in conjunction with a community who is still aware of them and tries to live in harmony with them. Ash left her family 7 years ago to live on her own outside of her clan. But now her family history is starting to catch up with her. When strange things start happening, Ash starts to wonder what's going on. When everything hits the fan, she finds herself back with her clan and trying to figure out what comes next for her and her clan while maintaining relationships with the High King and his court. This book made me feel like I was in it in a way that few other books have done recently. It definitely a must read for fans of the Fae.

Claire did a fantastic job of combining a modern setting with Irish mythology and fantasy.
I loved the characters and they were written so well. Ashling is the first character thats met and she is the one I actually loved the most. Her passion for history and archaeology made her very relatable to me because history is one of my biggest passions.

The setting was absolutely amazing. It’s written by someone who has actually experienced those places and has been there and lived there her whole life. You can tell. The places are written in detail and I could picture them in my head.

I loved this book and I’m excited for the second!

I can’t wait to dive into the rest of this series once they come out. This book had everything I needed! Romance, murder, evil creatures, and fighting. No one is as they seem and I wasn’t prepared for the twists and turns this story threw my way.

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)

3.5 Stars

This book was definitely a refreshing take on the usual fae books I read.
Inspired by Irish folk Lore, filled with mystery, intrigue and slow burn romance.
The story follows Ash who is an ex member of a Fianna clan having walked out 7 years earlier only to discover her mum murdered where she works. Fighting for the truth on who murdered her mother, Ash takes on a new role within the Clan but her brother isn’t telling her the whole truth.
We also meet other characters who

Plot was a little slow to get to but eventually it does pick up about half way through the book. I enjoyed the world building but did feel that the pace was a little off.
I enjoyed the characters but felt that they needed a little more to them with some development.

This book definitely has big potential to be an amazing book, I just feel that the pace needs to be a little more consistent and whilst I do enjoy multiple point of views I felt that it wasn’t always necessary.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next book and hope to see a little more in character development going forward.

Thank you to Netgalley , the author and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

I do not like magical realism but this book changed my mind. I absolutely loved this book. It was wonderfully executed with beautiful characters, great world building and a really nice plot. Excellent book! I highly recommend it!

AN INTERESTING FAE-WORLD THAT WAS LET DOWN BY A LACK OF EDITING

The starting point was strong. A wandering people who are able to see and interact with the Fae? Wonderful! However, the potential of the story and the setting was let down by a lack of editing. It was clear to me that Wright is a talented writer with a great story in her heart. But this really did need more editing to really get the story to shine.

👍 What I Liked 👍

Setting: I was immediately attracted to the Irish setting and the world of the traveling folk, the Fianna. They made a living as entertainers while also, under cover, protecting regular people from the Fae. It was a world that fascinated me and caught my interest.

👎 What I Disliked 👎

Characters: I don't necessarily think that any of the four main characters were decidedly bad. They were just slightly blah. We have four main characters, each with their own POV (more on that later) - but it was just too many characters for the story to handle. I never really felt like I got to know any of them. Or that they were more than just surface characters. They lacked depth and clarity of personality. The only one I kind of felt like I get to understand and really feel was Maebh.

Pace: This was definitely an editing issue. The pace was simply too slow for my taste. Probably because of the four separate POVs (more on that later). But also because nothing really happened. And then suddenly something happened all in a rush. And then we were back to nothing again.

POVs: Four POVs were too much for this story to handle! The characters and the pacing suffered immensely. But I was especially saddened by the lack of voice in each POV. If you do multiple POVs, my opinion is that you should make each of them unique. Give each character their own voice, their own flair. If every POV is written in the same voice, it creates a distance between the reader and the characters, in my opinion. I believe that this story would have fared much better with only to POV.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this Arc!

I would like to say that I can see the potential of this book and definitely understood the direction that the other was trying to go. With that being said, the biggest thing that I enjoyed was this being based on irish mythology. I am a sucker for mythology period, so it was most fun for me that this book included that. I really loved the characters introduced and this book left me with wanting to read more. The only thing that I was weary of was the editing, but other than that it was still easy to follow along and understand what is going on. I can't wait to see what happens next!

This book has so much potential and I can see it being a huge success for the right audience. I don't believe I'm that audience.
I'm not a fan of "insta-love" but if you like that then you'll most likely enjoy this book.
I did however enjoy the world /fantasy based on Irish folklore. The clan family's hierarchy and the quests after made for a good story. It as just one I wasn't hooked on.
I found the 4 POV's would change at the wrong times, it took to long to get into the main plot of the story, but when you have 4 peoples backstories to do that does take time.
Some of the character behaviours didn't quite match to what was written about them either in the book and that threw me a little. But overall it was a 3 star book for me personally.
I think for the right audience it would do better.

Beautiful story with a beautiful setting. I love a bit of Irish mythology with lots of fun twists and turns along the way. I would have like a little more background on some of the characters but hoping this will be explored in book 2.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC

Always wonderful to read stories set in Ireland. You can tell the author put a lot of care and passion into this work. The worldbuilding was wonderful and easy to follow, the characters were interesting, and the plot was full of fun twists and turns that kept you wanting to read more. I'm excited for the rest of this series!

I received an ARC from NetGalley.
Ash, her brother, a friend and twins from another clan team together to help win the high kings Tournament. This story contains mult POV, magic, mystery, murder and monsters!
Found family and finding power in yourself are two big themes of this book.
This good had a really good story line and characters I really enjoyed. However what brought the star count down was the poor world building in the beginning made it really hard to understand what was going on. The writing needs a little bit more editing as it was also hard to follow at many points throughout the story.
The idea was great and the ending left you curious for more but I think the book could use a few more pages at the start to explain the worlds and hierarchy.
The multi POV was interesting even though each chapter was labeled with the charter the author was going to focus on, the third person narration would give snippets of other peoples views in the same chapter. This could be confusing at times. Therefore, I wish it was wrote in first person.

Thank you NetGalley, for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
*spoiler free review*
l'I start off by saying, going into this I had no expectations. thought the cover was cute and so decided to jump in. Although it definitely gave me some mixed feelings, overall I really liked it.
loooved the found family trope, and so many of the characters quickly captured my heart. You can tell the author really loves the story she is telling, as she did so much research and put so much effort into writing it- I really appreciated that. I loved all the Irish lore that was interlaced throughout the book, and of course anything fae realm related I'm a huge fan of, so naturally I was hooked in fast with this story.
I found myself constantly wanting more, and I'm hoping that some of the characters and side plots get more action in the next books in the series because there was a lot that left me questioning at the end of the book.