One soldier will bear the hopes of an empire
The Kettral were the glory and despair of the Annurian Empire – elite soldiers who rode war hawks into battle. Now the Kettral’s numbers have dwindled and the great empire is dying. Its grip is further weakened by the failure of the kenta gates, which granted instantaneous access to its vast lands.
To restore the Kettral, one of its soldiers is given a mission. Gwenna Sharpe must voyage beyond the edge of the known world, to the mythical nesting grounds of the giant war hawks. The journey will take her through a land that warps and poisons all living things. Yet if she succeeds, she could return a champion, rebuild the Kettral to their former numbers – and help save the empire. The gates are also essential to the empire’s survival, and a monk turned con-artist may hold the key to unlocking them.
What they discover will change them and the Annurian Empire forever – if they survive. For deep within the southern reaches of the land, a malevolent force is stirring…
The Emperor’s Ruin by Brian Staveley is definitely a continuation of his earlier series. So while this book is much stronger than Emperor’s Blades, and Staveley has come a long way as a writer, I’d still highly recommend reading all the books in order. Otherwise you’ll miss a ton of backstory and I think you’ll enjoy it a lot less.
As I said already, Staveley has become a way stronger and better writer since his debut. While I really enjoyed The Unhewn Throne, I had a lot of niggles – all of these have been eliminated by now, and I can’t think of any complaints whatsoever with this book.
Especially Gwenna’s POV and character arc were so utterly brilliantly done. I loved her from book one, but she reached new depths and quickly became one of my favourite characters. Especially when she gets a new “companion”, whose interactions just made it all the more real.
We also get a new POV who, again, was really intriguing to read about. Having grown up in the delta, as a fighter, then later switched to be a priest for the goddess of love. The inner conflict that comes with that was bleeding of the page, and addictive.
The third POV is a shin monk, who we don’t see nearly as much of, so while his parts were interesting, he didn’t have enough page time to hook me just as much as the other two.
I can’t wait to read on, and see how these stories will start to weave together and change the whole direction of the empire.
