Book Review: The Shattered King by Charlie N. Holmberg
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The Shattered King by Charlie N. Holmberg
Published: September 2, 2025
Series: The Shattered King #1
Genres: Adult // Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice Rating: 🌶️ (Glimpses & Kisses)
Quick Thoughts: I did not expect to like The Shattered King as much as I did. This is a character-driven book rather than a plot-driven one, so readers expecting twists and political intrigue may find it slow. However, there is no shortage of character and relationship development between our characters Nym the healer and Prince Renn, making this the slow-burn romance I’ve been waiting for. Highly recommend!
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Learn more about my rating & spice scales here.
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Chronic Illness
Caretaking for someone with chronic illness
Death/War/Violence
Sexual Assault
Death of parents/sibling
Rape (Described by character as past experience)
Miscarriage (Described by character as past experience)
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Slow-burn romances
Healer/Patient dynamics
Creative magic systems (specifically healing)
Sweet, gentle MMCs
Competent FMCs
Character-driven stories
Forced proximity
Caretaking
Political/court intrigue
Prophecies
What is The Shattered King about?
A captive healer and a mysterious prince are drawn to each other in the midst of war and magic in a beguiling dark fantasy by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.
The kingdom of Cansere is on the brink of war. Young men are conscripted from their homes, and a royal decree from the queen has made healing the only legal form of craftlock. Nym, a healer and beekeeper, is the sole provider for her family of seven now that her younger brother has been sent to the war front. But when a letter comes from the queen, summoning Nym to the palace to heal Prince Renn, the kingdom’s ailing shut-in, Nym finds herself making the tumultuous journey from her family’s apiary to the capital city. Nym is determined to fail the queen’s mission and return to her younger siblings as soon as she can.
But escaping the castle’s hold isn’t as easy as failing a simple test. Prince Renn is cold and distant, and his illness is like nothing Nym has ever seen before, nothing she could ever imagine treating. In a moment of connection with Prince Renn, Nym manages to remedy the faintest symptom of his ailment—only to discover that no healer before has made such progress. Forced to become the prince’s official healer and a ward of the castle, and with her only hope of returning to her family hinging on the prince’s recovery, Nym must navigate the castle’s cruel and twisted court and uncover the haunting truth behind Prince Renn’s illness—even as she finds herself irrevocably drawn to him.
The Shattered King Review
I’m a bit surprised about how much I enjoyed The Shattered King. Actually, that’s an understatement…this book consumed me. This is the first book in a long time that made me resent having adult responsibilities that took away from reading all day.
Plot & Pacing
The most important thing to know going in is that The Shattered King is a character-driven book, not a plot-driven one. There isn't a ton of action or political maneuvering happening on page, and if you're expecting something packed with twists and intrigue, you might find this boring or feel like nothing is happening. This book really focuses on building relationships between the characters, particularly Renn and Nym. But because it’s only 333 pages, nothing drags on for too long and each scene felt purposeful.
Romance & Characters
This focus on the characters serves the romance really well. THIS is the slow-burn romance I’ve been waiting for! We see the slow development from a resentful healer/patient dynamic to real friends to more, and the pining feels completely earned.
Renn's transformation from cold and calloused to warm and tender with Nym is tied directly to his improving health, so I really enjoyed seeing him open up as a character. Because of his illness he's not a typical warrior romantasy MMC, so the "who did this to you" moments and the tender acts of service felt more authentic than what I've been seeing lately. I just ate it up.
Nym was equally interesting and complex. She’s been raising her siblings since losing her parents in a very small, remote town. Even though she’s young, she is mature and stands up for herself. This book also has one of the most creative explanations of healing powers I’ve ever read. When Nym heals someone, she enters a visual representation of their physical health (a lumis) that looks completely different for every person. For example, fixing a broken ankle might mean repositioning a rock in a stream or treating an illness might mean piecing a chandelier back together. It's such a simple concept but executed really well. I genuinely never got tired of reading the healing scenes.
Storytelling
A lot of the important context like the reasons for the war, the motivations of side characters, and the full extent of Nym's past are kept vague throughout the book. The author gives us just enough details to stay interested, but there are still many open questions by the end. At first I was frustrated by this, but having read the second book, I can confirm these gaps are intentional and they make the beginning of the next book so much more interesting.
So, should you read The Shattered King?
Overall, if you're looking for a real slow-burn romantasy with a unique magic system or if you tend to love character-driven stories, definitely check this out!
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
The Shattered King FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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Yes! The Shattered King is the first book in a duology by Charlie N. Holmberg. The second and final book, The Half-Hearted Queen, came out on March 3, 2026. The first book ends on a pretty significant cliffhanger, so you can go straight into the second book without waiting!
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The Shattered King follows Nym, a healer and beekeeper who is essentially the sole caretaker for her younger siblings. When she's summoned by the queen to heal Prince Renn — who has been chronically ill for years and whose illness no healer has ever been able to treat — she goes in fully planning to fail so she can go home. The problem is, she accidentally succeeds a little, and that tiny bit of progress gets her trapped at the castle as his official healer until he fully recovers.
The story is less about action and political maneuvering and more about watching Nym and Renn's relationship slowly develop while she works to unravel the mystery behind his illness. There is a war looming in the background that becomes more important by the end, and the whole thing wraps up with a cliffhanger that will absolutely send you looking for book two immediately.
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The Shattered King book 2 is called The Half-Hearted Queen and it was published on March 3, 2026.
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The Shattered King is a 1 🌶️ or glimpses/kisses. That means there is no spice on or off page, but there is definite tension and kissing.
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Ursa is Nym's twin sister and was also a healer. After a near death experience, Ursa sacrificed herself to save Nym’s life and now a piece of Ursa’s spirit lives inside her. Nym can hear and speak to her but no one else can see her.
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Sesta and King Nicosia attack Rove, killing all the royals, except Renn and Eden. Those who survive, head to another small town. It takes Nym a few days but she is eventually reunited with Renn.
Nym figures out how to fully heal Renn by essentially destroying what's left of his shattered lumis and rebuilding it from scratch. Through her experiments throughout the book, she found out she can make new elements of one’s lumis with magic alone only if that element was part of the lumis originally. She doesn’t know what Renn’s lumis looked like originally; she only knows what hers looks like, so she remade his to match hers. Because she gives him half her heart to power it, the two of them are now connected mind-to-mind and can feel each other's emotions.
After that, the Nym and Renn admit their feelings for each other before being torn apart again by Sesta/Nicosa attacking. This time Eden and Nym are kidnapped.
This is where book 1 ends.