Victoria Aveyard is joining us today to talk about her novel, Blade Breaker. Here’s the publisher’s description:
The highly anticipated sequel to Realm Breaker is here and full of the twists, turns, magic, and page-turning action that fans of Victoria Aveyard have come to know and love. Get ready for the divided world that must rally to fight a formidable enemy, and with its large cast of characters and the fate of the world resting on the blade’s edge, the question remains whether they can rally and unify before it’s too late.
Andry, a former squire, continues to fight for hope amid blood and chaos.
Dom, a grieving immortal, strives to fulfill a broken oath.
Sorasa, an outcast assassin, faces her past when it returns with sharpened teeth.
Valtik, an old sorceress, summons a mighty power.
And Corayne, a pirate’s daughter with an ancient magic in her blood, steps closer to becoming the hero she’s destined to be.
Together they must assemble an army to face Queen Erida and Taristan’s wicked forces. But something deadly waits in the shadows, something that might consume the world before there’s any hope for victory.
What’s Victoria’s favorite bit?
VICTORIA AVEYARD
I don’t mean to sound like a simpering parent doting on a beloved child, but it truly is difficult to pinpoint my favorite piece of the Realm Breaker series. Largely because I wrote these books so specifically for myself, and especially myself at age fourteen. So many facets of the novels speak directly to my own heart, which makes it that much more incredible when readers enjoy them too. It feels like discovering a kinsman, or someone else who speaks your own weird language.
But while I love the world, the characters, the tropes, the battles, and the twists, I think what I truly love most is the pure id of the story. How visceral and impulsive and indulgent this series is, with everything I love in storytelling. And no bit of Realm Breaker expresses that better than the character arc of one of my point of views, Queen Erida of Galland.
As the nineteen year old queen of a powerful kingdom, Erida is both incredibly strong – and incredibly vulnerable. She lives life in silk and jewels, but a sword hangs over her head. There are men who want her throne, untrusting of a young female ruler. Advisors who want to control her. And most immediate of all, a consort to find. Erida must marry for the good of her kingdom, to preserve her dynasty and ensure an heir to the throne. It is the ultimate risk. Whoever she chooses, or is forced to choose, could be worse than any threat before. A jailor, a tyrant, a cruel king to control a young queen. Erida is shrewd enough to see the danger, and desperate enough to find another path, darker than any other. Her choices unfurl with delightful wickedness, creating a villain romance readers might find themselves rooting for.
Tracking her arc through the series, and where her desperation takes her, was a joy to write. I delight in creating believable villains, especially one so headstrong and forceful as Erida. And feminist as well. She is a woman trying to win in a man’s world, with a lust for power all her own. In no way is she a hero, but her journey is familiar to all of us trying to survive in systems built against us.
Monstrous worlds make monsters of us all.
And at the end of the day, I really wanted to write a villainous romance, where both leads are squarely set against the heroes, aligned only to each other, equally to blame, and equally bond. In the Realm Breaker series, I finally got to do it.
LINKS:
Blade Breaker Universal Book Link
BIO:
Victoria Aveyard is an author and screenwriter, born and raised in a small town in Western Massachusetts. She has a BFA in Writing for Film & Television from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling series, Red Queen, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Realm Breaker. The next installment in the Realm Breaker series, Blade Breaker, publishes June 28th.
She lives in Los Angeles with her partner and her dog, Indy.
Her books have been translated into over 40 languages and counting.
