Catching Pathways

The Five Realms, Book One

By: Danielle Berggren

Narrated by: Jessica Schly

A crown is always heavy, or it is not a crown.

Maeve Almeida thought she had left other worlds behind her 15 years ago. Back when she crowned her friend Sebastian as the new high king of the Five Realms.

But as years passed and the way between the worlds remained closed to her, she began to put her memories to paper. Much to her surprise, her stories gained a moderate cult following, were adapted to film, and she soon found herself a C-list celebrity with a wide audience.

Now, at a fantasy convention in downtown LA, Maeve sees someone who may as well have walked straight out of the pages of her books.

Rodan, a Fae noble and former king of the Five Realms, has searched the worlds over for Maeve - 50 years eaten up in the pursuit. Fueled by simple revenge at first, time passed and Rodan saw what befell his beloved Realms, urging him into a search of desperation. He needs Maeve in order to run the trial and take back the throne that was once his.

When Rodan finds her at last, he is thankful only 15 of her years have passed and that she is still the strong, resplendent woman he remembers.

The woman whom he once offered everything.

Now, Rodan must convince Maeve to help him save the Realms. Bringing her back into his world, he reveals to her the truth; that the friend she once revered has turned into a mad king.

The alliance the two must strike is built on a foundation of misunderstandings, and as they navigate their way through the Realms and all its perils, greater emotions begin to unfurl.

For those left wondering “What next?” when the heroine finishes her quest, Catching Pathways offers an answer.

Content warning: Audiobook includes strong adult themes, up to and including depictions of physical, emotional, and sexual violence.

©2019 Danielle Berggren (P)2020 Danielle Berggren

New favorite!

This story is beautiful and refreshingly unique. I love the characters, they are layered and interesting. I’m so excited to have a new favorite story. I can’t wait to devour the next in the series!

Also, the narrator did a fantastic job of bringing such incredibly written characters to life. Well done!

"Refreshing, often shocking, and remarkably fun"

As someone who has almost exclusively read fantasy for most of my life, it is not very often that I'm surprised by a book. Catching Pathways proved to be incredibly refreshing, often shocking, and remarkably fun. If you think you're in for a surface-level, light-hearted fantasy adventure, you're about to be delighted at just how wrong you are.

Maeve Almeida is a heroine that feels genuinely relatable despite having a strong personality of her own. She's not a perfect, bubbly Mary Sue who is beyond reproach. She is an anxious, somewhat naive, and overly trusting character who made a series of mistakes that worsened the fate of an entire world, and she now risks her life to right those wrongs. She has known real loss, grief, and betrayal long before we meet her, and those experiences lead to a depth of character that makes it easy to feel for her and understand her motivations. Rodan is equally flawed--a deposed king who must acknowledge his failures and weaknesses as a ruler and win back the hearts of his people. The pair have great chemistry, and Rodan's consistent prioritization of Maeve's boundaries and mental wellbeing is beautifully done. I commend the author for bringing us a developing relationship where the main characters don't lose what makes them so great individually as they become more entangled with one another.

The world itself feels so expansive, and we really only seem to crack the surface in this first book. There isn't a ton of time dedicated to worldbuilding, possibly due to the fact that we are following a character who is familiar with the setting, and my desire to learn more is part of what kept me locked into the story. The Realms and their magic have a fascinating sentience to them, and I'm full of questions about both that occupied my mind during non-reading hours. I hope we are gifted with lot more world lore in later books.

The story is very fun and original. The author easily dodges tired tropes to bring us something new and imaginative in a genre where many have chosen to stick to tried-and-true formulas, and it pays off. There are mind-blowing twists from beginning to end, and at no point did I have an accurate guess as to what would happen next (and boy did I make a lot of bad guesses). There is so much setup for the next couple books, and the author did an incredible job of reeling you into the series without leaving you too frustrated about unfinished business.

Catching Pathways definitely feels like a first novel, but the story, characters, and world are all so endearing that for this reader, it did not matter one bit. The pacing is very fast, which is a personal preference for me, without sacrificing on quality or making you feel like you're missing anything. The characters and setting are remarkable, the romance is a breath of fresh air, and the world is exquisite. My journey through the Five Realms got me out of a reading slump, and I look forward to visiting them again soon it Catching Embers.

A good debut novel gets a great audiobook

This story was a great read when it came out. But the audio performance has breathed a life into the story that takes it to the next level. Excellent use of regional accents to define the Five realms, and a sense of real emotion that made this book hard to put down.

Highly recommended.

I'm not one for fantasy, but...

this has gripped me every step of the way. The beginning unique and full of questions you want answers to. Every chapter that proceeds blossoms into a tug of war with your emotions from adrenaline fueled excitement to gut wrenching disgust for some characters' actions. It tackles so many relatable topics while still being 100% enjoyable. Extremely difficult to put down to the point that I already know I will be running through this one again and cannot wait for the sequel.