The Shattered King: Book 1
Publication Date: September 2, 2025
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.
A young woman must leave her siblings behind in an effort to heal a chronically ill member of the royal family.
Told in first person, Nym’s adventures unfold in The Shattered King. Author Charlie N. Holmberg creates a fascinating world where craftlocks, such as mindreading and soulbinding, are banned, but their use for healing purposes is permitted.
The healing process depicted in the story is fascinating. By touching someone, the healer can look at the ethereal space of the person’s lumis. From there, repairs can be made.
Prince Renn doubts the young woman can do anything more than the countless other healers who have tried unsuccessfully. When Nym’s efforts show signs of working, it means she must stay at the palace.
Both Nym and Renn have secrets that unfold as the story progresses. Even as the forbidden romance elements fall into place, danger comes from an unexpected direction.
The world-building offers a phenomenal space for future installments. Given the cliffhanger, the hope is that the second book will be delivered sooner rather than later.
The Shattered King combines magical realism with a potentially ill-fated romance for an explosive new series.
Charlie N. Holmberg is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of fantasy and romance fiction, including The Hanging City, Star Mother, the Paper Magician series, the Spellbreaker series, and the Whimbrel House series, and she writes contemporary romance under C. N. Holmberg. She is published in more than twenty languages; has been a finalist for the ALA awards, the Goodreads Choice Awards, and multiple Whitney Awards; and won the 2020 Whitney Award for Novel of the Year: Adult Fiction. Born in Salt Lake City, Charlie was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters who also have boy names. She is a BYU alumna, plays the ukulele, and owns too many pairs of glasses. She currently lives with her family in Utah.
