B's Tuesday Review: The Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley

960 pages, Paperback

published July 6, 2021 by Tor

Series; Ashes of the Unhewn Throne (#1), Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (#5)

Format: 960 pages, Paperback

Fantasy / Own

Damn, I have forgotten a lot from the previous series. Like what happened to Kaden? Ack. But yes it still worked great to jump back in into this new series.

We follow Gwenna, sent to find more Kettral in a hostile land. The first part of the trip was not the most interesting, but when they got there. Oh so good.

Then there was Ruc, I liked him at once. But when Gwenna´s story started getting really good, Ruc´s waned as he was stuck in one place. Oh and totally need more info about his foster parents. It kept me reading like crazy

Then there was Akiil. He just was. Sorry man, but Gwenna´s and Ruc´s stories was too good. I needed to binge through those.

Such a good book and I can´t wait to read more. I need more now!

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 . . .

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Skull Sworn by Brian Staveley

Pyrre Lakatur doesn’t like the word skullsworn. It fails to capture the faith and grace, the peace and beauty of her devotion to the God of Death. She is not, to her mind, an assassin, not a murderer--she is a priestess. At least, she will be a priestess if she manages to pass her final trial.

The problem isn’t the killing. Pyrre has been killing and training to kill, studying with some of the most deadly men and women in the world, since she was eight. The problem, strangely, is love. To pass her Trial, Pyrre has ten days to kill the ten people enumerated in an ancient song, including "the one you love / who will not come again."

Pyrre is not sure she’s ever been in love. If she were a member of a different religious order, a less devoted, disciplined order, she might cheat. The Priests of Ananshael, however, don’t look kindly on cheaters. If Pyrre fails to find someone to love, or fails to kill that someone, they will give her to the god.

Pyrre’s not afraid to die, but she hates to quit, hates to fail, and so, with a month before her trial begins, she returns to the city of her birth, the place where she long ago offered an abusive father to the god and abandoned a battered brother—in the hope of finding love...and ending it on the edge of her sword.

My thoughts:

Ok I confess, I do not remember much of Pyrre from the series that happens after this book. But that is me, I forget things, I read too much. But would I read one page from that series it would all come back.

This happens before then. She is not a priestess yet. She has her trial to finish and damn the skullsworn are freaky things. All in awe of their Death God, willingly killing everyone and dying for their god. Her trial will have her kill, if they are innocent who cares. One she must kill is one she loves. Is this something she worries about? Not in the way you think. She does not love anyone and can't pass her test. That she would have to kill that person does not bother her one bit. But I like her, her sociopath cult is quite interesting.

The place where story takes place is even more interesting. A deadly place where everything will kill you. There are tiny spiders that kills you like that. I would so not even get near that place. But there are even more deadly things there and dang, that was even more interesting. I was all whaaat?!

I can't say more but...yes it gets good. Death, deadly things and romance? Haha if you call it that. She must find love after all. And everything throws you for a loop.

Conclusion:
A good story. Read it after or before the other series. It does not matter.

Cover
Good

Hardcover, 320 pages
Published April 20th 2017 by Tor
Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne 0
Fantasy
Library