The Empire’s Ruin

So I was a big fan of the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne series which I listened to several years ago, and so I was very excited when I learned Staveley was doing a new series set in the same universe. The last trilogy is going to be a hard act to follow, but The Empire’s Ruin lays the groundwork for a strong contender.

The Empire’s Ruin is set several years after the climax of Chronicles, and things have not gone well for the Annurian Empire. With resources stretched to their absolute breaking point, the emperor unable to use the kenta gates to traverse the empire in an instant, and the Kettral (giant war-hawks) effectively extinct, everything is spiralling out of control despite the best efforts of a very capable emperor. It is into this time of turmoil that our story starts, following three individuals: Ruc, a priest of the wrong goddess trying to survive in a city filled with religious fanatics fresh off their successful rebellion from the empire: Akiil, the last (sane) Shin monk alive who has turned back to his pre-monk profession of thievery and conning; and Gwenna Sharp, one of the few surviving Kettral special forces, an absolute badass, and one of my favourite characters from the first series. These three stories are all very different and yet harmonise wonderfully by the novel’s end, granting us an incredibly wide view of the current situation that the empire and world in general finds itself in.

So where to start. Firstly, Staveley has once again shown us all his mastery of writing fallible, imperfect characters in a way that is both endearing and beautifully honest. All three of our main characters have depths that you just want to plunge into and start fishing around in for the pearls hidden between the jagged stones. And it isn’t just the main characters. I don’t have time to go into the detail needed to properly convey how brilliant so many of the supporting characters are, so I will just focus on one and endeavour not to give away any spoilers: Admiral Jonan lem Jonan. This is a man you come to both respect and utterly hate, and rarely is that combination pulled off to such a perfect level. The man is incredibly good at his job, will go to extreme lengths to save his men, and above all puts the needs of the mission ahead of all other considerations. And yet, and bloody yet, this man is an absolute piece of shit. A narrow-minded, vainglorious, inflexible dick of the first order, and one of the best antagonists I have come across in recent years. I hate him—by the gods how I hate him—but the man is just doing what he deems necessary to get the job done and adhere to the standards which, quite rightly, foster a higher likelihood of success. He is brilliantly written. Just brilliant. And he’s merely the best of a whole host of amazingly crafted side-characters.

For the story itself, or more aptly the three subplots, I can only think of one word to aptly describe them: harrowing. This is not some happy-happy book where the good guys always win and the bad guys get their rightful comeuppance. In fact, it’s usually the opposite, where even our heros’ victories are tarnished and successes overshadowed by the terrible things to come. Now this again speaks to the quality of the writing as one thing I personally hate in novels is when the main characters are consistently crapped upon by the gods of fate time and time again without reprieve. In fact, I have stopped listening to more than one highly regarded book series purely for that reason. I listen to books for entertainment and escapism, not feel constantly depressed or angry for the way an objectively decent character is being treated. Here, however, Staveley finds the perfect balance of giving us a constant stream of psychological gut punches just hard enough to wind but soft enough that we still have the strength to stumble towards the tantalising light he then dangles just out of reach. It is very well done. As for pacing, which is something that I consider to be the most essential part of any story, we as the audience are never once left bored from the three stories. When one gets maybe a little slow, you can guarantee that the next chapter will get your blood pumping once more. Again, it is a great balance that Staveley has found. All in all, we get a series of interconnected adventure narratives that build the groundwork for a new rising evil that I am extremely excited to see play out. Solid writing.

Now I don’t really have any issues with the book, but I do feel that I was lacking that special something that would make it one of my rare 5-Star reviews. I think I know what that something is, at least in part: epic action. Don’t get me wrong, there were some very good pieces of action within this book, with a boarding battle between two ships being the standout for me, but I feel that the true scope of the world Staveley has created was never really taken full advantage of. I was expecting some massive culmination of all the threads coming together in a giant action-packed finale, and although the ending was great, it lacked that true epicness that I had been anticipating. What it does do though is line things up very well for such epic conflicts to take centre stage in the next novels in the series, and as such, I shall be downloading Book 2 as soon as it appears on Audible. I am once again hooked on Staveley’s writing, and I have every confidence that he will not disappoint my eager glee.

As for narration, we have three different narrators here for the three different stories, and each of them have been cast perfectly for the role. Each still has a decent range of characters to perform in the three very different tales, and each manages to hit their marks perfectly. Using multiple voice actors is a risk that sometimes does not pay off. Here, however, I am happy to say that all three gave great performances.

Score: 4.75 stars

Like the way I write a review? Then you might like the way I write a novel. Link to my debut novel below, or for more info on my book click HERE.

Buy 'The Sage's Lot (Blood and Balance, Book 1)' here!