Review: Realm of Beasts (Legend of the Nameless One #1)

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
An enchantress and a wizard get tangled in the grisly plans of an undead creature.
Tor Lir, the Nameless One, is unsure what he is. However, he knows he was born to bring balance to the powers of good and evil.
Forsaking his birthplace and fleeing from suggestions of a dark knowledge he’d rather not discover, he decides to take his fate into his own hands.
A chance encounter with a dead body, a dangerous beast, and a desirous creature lead him on the path to Paradise, where he senses imbalance.
Banished from her village and lost in a wicked forest, Citrine makes a deal with a dark creature, but that was before she found Paradise—the legendary land of a friendly giant.
Falling in love with the land, Citrine takes advantage of her time to study the lore of herbs and craft a spell of protection for her mythical beasts.
When darkness creeps into Paradise, bringing the mysterious Nameless One and an omen of death, Citrine realizes the consequences of her actions spell danger for herself, her beasts, and Paradise.
As time runs out the undead come to life. Citrine faces the ultimate showdown as everything she holds dear is ripped away.
Will the Nameless One save Paradise or destroy it to welcome an era of peace?

Reading the synopsis of the book again after finishing the book, I wonder, if the synopsis is meant to serve as the primary introduction to the world of the book, so that there doesn't have to an introduction in the story itself.

Realm of Beasts did not make sense to me at all. For the better part of the book I was questioning what is happening, why it's happening, and to who. The frustration just built up and up by every read page. Then, I got to the 'Dear Readers' -page just before acknowledgements. Then and there, I realised maybe the biggest reason for why nothing made sense: There is an entire series written about the world this book is based in. An entire series about the war between mortals and immortals. Series about the history, about the different races, about everything, maybe explaining a little bit more about, well, about everything in this book.

Sadly, I couldn't feel any emotional connection with the characters in the book. They just were there and did their own thing. It felt like there wasn't a proper introduction for any of them which made connecting with them even harder. 

The world of the book is based on sounds beautiful and magical. I wanted to know more about its history and inhabitants. Where was the world building? Where was the grand tour of the lands of Paradise? So many questions left unanswered.

Readers want to jump into the plot, they want to use the front door the author provides when they turn the first page. With Realm of Beasts, it felt like there wasn't a front door, just a window from where you could see inside but unfortunately, not get in.

The things is though, I wasn't cringing while I read. I was just reading. The writing flowed nicely most of the time and towards the end the end the plot started to get better and better.