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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
In addition to being painfully slow, this book was incredibly sexist. Every single woman was labeled (implicitly or explicitly) either a "bitch" or a "whore," and the one female character who actually had a little bit of a personality was sexually assaulted and fridged to motivate the main male character. I was disgusted at how much the author described every. single. women's breasts and body shape. Moreover, the carefree attitude toward prostitution (of minors, nonetheless!) and sexual assault was completely unacceptable.
Even if the book hadn't been sexist, there was so much wasted space. The book could have very easily been cut in half without missing anything exciting/pivotal to the plot. Kaden's storyline, for instance, contributed very little. I wasn't even sure of what the overarching plot was until around 60% in, when the story started picking up. It was much too late by then.
Even if the book hadn't been sexist, there was so much wasted space. The book could have very easily been cut in half without missing anything exciting/pivotal to the plot. Kaden's storyline, for instance, contributed very little. I wasn't even sure of what the overarching plot was until around 60% in, when the story started picking up. It was much too late by then.
So I listened to this one on audiobook and I have to say I very much enjoyed the narrator. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one, as not many people I know have actually read this, but it sounded intriguing and I knew that Brian Staveley was getting more interest as this series went on.
This book reminded me somewhat of Brent Weeks' Night Angel series and Lightbringer series (possibly this links to the fact that the narrator for Lightbringer is the same) as it was written with quite a fast pacing and a few characters as the focus. We follow three main characters who happen to be siblings and they are the two sons, and daughter of the Emperor. When the Emperor is pronounced dead at the start of this story Adare (the daughter) and Valyn (in training to become an elite soldier) are both quick to learn of it and sense plots. However, Kaden is the actual heir to the throne and he his hidden far away, studying in a monastery without much connection to the outside world.
The two major storylines within this are certainly the boys, Valyn and Kaden. Although they both have led very different lives for the past few years they still both know their roots and family is very important to them. Of the two I think both were hard to connect to at first, and Valyn was easier than Kaden, but as the story went on I did find myself more drawn to both and caring about what happened to both.
One element I did like within this is that although we have battles, they aren't large epic ones, it's much more one on one for a lot of this story. We have players in games outwitting one another, training exercises and also mythical legends which might just be real. We have powers that come in the form of eggs and natural abilities, we have monks and monasteries, and we also have quite a collection of dark dealings.
All of these elements together, combined with the training of the two young men, makes this an interesting beginning to the story, but it does feel like a beginning. I think this book is slightly suffering from first-book syndrome in that although it's interesting the whole way through, it didn't ramp up and become really exciting until right at the end. However, that does leave me wanting to read on with book number #2 to find out what will happen next, so I suppose it's not a bad thing.
Overall I'd give this a 3.5*s as there are a lot of cool ideas and some good character moments, but I just wanted a bit more to happen. I am looking forward to book #2 a lot though, and I am hopeful that I will get addicted to the series once it opens up a bit more there.
This book reminded me somewhat of Brent Weeks' Night Angel series and Lightbringer series (possibly this links to the fact that the narrator for Lightbringer is the same) as it was written with quite a fast pacing and a few characters as the focus. We follow three main characters who happen to be siblings and they are the two sons, and daughter of the Emperor. When the Emperor is pronounced dead at the start of this story Adare (the daughter) and Valyn (in training to become an elite soldier) are both quick to learn of it and sense plots. However, Kaden is the actual heir to the throne and he his hidden far away, studying in a monastery without much connection to the outside world.
The two major storylines within this are certainly the boys, Valyn and Kaden. Although they both have led very different lives for the past few years they still both know their roots and family is very important to them. Of the two I think both were hard to connect to at first, and Valyn was easier than Kaden, but as the story went on I did find myself more drawn to both and caring about what happened to both.
One element I did like within this is that although we have battles, they aren't large epic ones, it's much more one on one for a lot of this story. We have players in games outwitting one another, training exercises and also mythical legends which might just be real. We have powers that come in the form of eggs and natural abilities, we have monks and monasteries, and we also have quite a collection of dark dealings.
All of these elements together, combined with the training of the two young men, makes this an interesting beginning to the story, but it does feel like a beginning. I think this book is slightly suffering from first-book syndrome in that although it's interesting the whole way through, it didn't ramp up and become really exciting until right at the end. However, that does leave me wanting to read on with book number #2 to find out what will happen next, so I suppose it's not a bad thing.
Overall I'd give this a 3.5*s as there are a lot of cool ideas and some good character moments, but I just wanted a bit more to happen. I am looking forward to book #2 a lot though, and I am hopeful that I will get addicted to the series once it opens up a bit more there.
The Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2014/02/the-emperors-blades-bane-of-kings/.
“A very promising fantasy debut that impresses with a confident narrative, however it suffers from poorly written female characters and plenty of repetition and a tendency to over explain certain elements. Despite this though, The Emperor’s Blades for the most part, is actually an incredibly solid read.” ~Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
"When the emperor of Annur is murdered, his children must fight to uncover the conspiracy—and the ancient enemy—that effected his death.
Kaden, the heir apparent, was for eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, where he learned the inscrutable discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power which Kaden must master before it’s too late. When an imperial delegation arrives to usher him back to the capital for his coronation, he has learned just enough to realize that they are not what they seem—and enough, perhaps, to successfully fight back.
Meanwhile, in the capital, his sister Adare, master politician and Minister of Finance, struggles against the religious conspiracy that seems to be responsible for the emperor’s murder. Amid murky politics, she’s determined to have justice—but she may be condemning the wrong man.
Their brother Valyn is struggling to stay alive. He knew his training to join the Kettral— deadly warriors who fly massive birds into battle—would be arduous. But after a number of strange apparent accidents, and the last desperate warning of a dying guard, he’s convinced his father’s murderers are trying to kill him, and then his brother. He must escape north to warn Kaden—if he can first survive the brutal final test of the Kettral."
Another year, another epic fantasy debut. Some have been successful and others have been a disappointment, but Brian Staveley’s The Emperor’s Blades, the first book in the Chronicle of the Unhwen Throne series, is a mixture of both worlds. On one hand, it has a great plot with an enthralling narrative that will really hook you in. It’s compelling, and the world is well developed with some mostly good characters. But nothing is perfect though and The Emperor’s Blades actually slips up in multiple areas such as its treatment of female characters and its use of repetition.
TheEmperorsBladesMost fantasy books that we’ve seen have started with the death of a King/Emperor/leading Monarch and this book picks up the paces, focusing on his children who are intent on uncovering the conspiracy. You get Valyn, a aspiring warrior of the Kettral, who is probably the most likable of the three siblings. There’s also Kaden, sequestered for eight years in a mountain monastery in order to learn the discipline that he needs to become the next Emperor as well as keep him hidden from the enemy. And there’s Adare, who is the sister of both Valyn and Kaden and gets the least amount of pagetime in the book that spends most of its focus looking at the struggles of Valyn and Kaden, and as a result she comes across as the least developed character of the lot.
However, there are problems, namely when it comes to the competency of the lead characters, Valyn and Adare in particular. Yes, they may not waste time doing what many fantasy novels struggle to avoid, having the characters whine and angst for most of the novel doing pretty much nothing else, because they at least get the job done, working hard to see it through. However, the competency is where the biggest issue is with the principal leads – Valyn lacks the ability to make important decisions, and he also suffers from the fact that he’s not a great team leader – something that you’d expect a character who has years of training as one to be good at. The other culprit is Adare, and what is frustrating is that in the few pages that she gets – she isn’t able to put her political skills to good use, unable to control her impulsiveness when it comes to speaking in public. Like with Valyn, Adare is experienced and highly schooled, or at least that’s what we’re told, but we don’t really see much proof to back it up. It’s a case of telling and not showing.
It seems for every bad thing about The Emperor’s Blades though is that there is something to enjoy about it. Staveley’s world building is very strong – richley detailed and you get a good sense of what’s going on – the book doesn’t struggle in the establishing of the scene – you’re thrust right into a fully-realised world that you can tell has been developed beforehand rather than just made up on the spot, as Staveley goes deeper into the world in one book than many fantasy writers do in a whole series, and whilst yes it does mean that the wordcount is long, it’s balanced by the fact that the pace is pretty quick. There aren’t any moments where you want to skip a few pages ahead because parts of the book has become too boring – it’s engrossing and highly captivating reading as a result.
And it isn’t long before we’re back at a negative element again. One of the biggest problems, if not the biggest in The Emperor’s Blades is its handling of female characters, and this is where it will be a make or break for the reader – some will enjoy the book regardless but others will be completely turned off by it.The only two women who are mildly tolerable are viewed with scorn and suspicion by the respective narrators, whilst the rest are treated either as damsels in distress or people to have sex with. It’s a vital flaw that prevents The Emperor’s Blades from reaching the four-star count or higher, which is a real shame as if there had been a few more developed female characters the book could have easily been one of the better novels of the year given its quality in other areas and this is something that any future books in the series need to turn around.
There’s nothing new brought to the table in terms of originality, and crucially, despite its many flaws - The Emperor’s Blades still manages to be mostly well written with confidence and has all the ingredients to create a novel that will be enjoyed by a great many. However, if you want strongly developed female characters and don’t mind large amounts of repetition, then this book isn’t going to be for you.
VERDICT: 3.5/5
“A very promising fantasy debut that impresses with a confident narrative, however it suffers from poorly written female characters and plenty of repetition and a tendency to over explain certain elements. Despite this though, The Emperor’s Blades for the most part, is actually an incredibly solid read.” ~Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
"When the emperor of Annur is murdered, his children must fight to uncover the conspiracy—and the ancient enemy—that effected his death.
Kaden, the heir apparent, was for eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, where he learned the inscrutable discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power which Kaden must master before it’s too late. When an imperial delegation arrives to usher him back to the capital for his coronation, he has learned just enough to realize that they are not what they seem—and enough, perhaps, to successfully fight back.
Meanwhile, in the capital, his sister Adare, master politician and Minister of Finance, struggles against the religious conspiracy that seems to be responsible for the emperor’s murder. Amid murky politics, she’s determined to have justice—but she may be condemning the wrong man.
Their brother Valyn is struggling to stay alive. He knew his training to join the Kettral— deadly warriors who fly massive birds into battle—would be arduous. But after a number of strange apparent accidents, and the last desperate warning of a dying guard, he’s convinced his father’s murderers are trying to kill him, and then his brother. He must escape north to warn Kaden—if he can first survive the brutal final test of the Kettral."
Another year, another epic fantasy debut. Some have been successful and others have been a disappointment, but Brian Staveley’s The Emperor’s Blades, the first book in the Chronicle of the Unhwen Throne series, is a mixture of both worlds. On one hand, it has a great plot with an enthralling narrative that will really hook you in. It’s compelling, and the world is well developed with some mostly good characters. But nothing is perfect though and The Emperor’s Blades actually slips up in multiple areas such as its treatment of female characters and its use of repetition.
TheEmperorsBladesMost fantasy books that we’ve seen have started with the death of a King/Emperor/leading Monarch and this book picks up the paces, focusing on his children who are intent on uncovering the conspiracy. You get Valyn, a aspiring warrior of the Kettral, who is probably the most likable of the three siblings. There’s also Kaden, sequestered for eight years in a mountain monastery in order to learn the discipline that he needs to become the next Emperor as well as keep him hidden from the enemy. And there’s Adare, who is the sister of both Valyn and Kaden and gets the least amount of pagetime in the book that spends most of its focus looking at the struggles of Valyn and Kaden, and as a result she comes across as the least developed character of the lot.
However, there are problems, namely when it comes to the competency of the lead characters, Valyn and Adare in particular. Yes, they may not waste time doing what many fantasy novels struggle to avoid, having the characters whine and angst for most of the novel doing pretty much nothing else, because they at least get the job done, working hard to see it through. However, the competency is where the biggest issue is with the principal leads – Valyn lacks the ability to make important decisions, and he also suffers from the fact that he’s not a great team leader – something that you’d expect a character who has years of training as one to be good at. The other culprit is Adare, and what is frustrating is that in the few pages that she gets – she isn’t able to put her political skills to good use, unable to control her impulsiveness when it comes to speaking in public. Like with Valyn, Adare is experienced and highly schooled, or at least that’s what we’re told, but we don’t really see much proof to back it up. It’s a case of telling and not showing.
It seems for every bad thing about The Emperor’s Blades though is that there is something to enjoy about it. Staveley’s world building is very strong – richley detailed and you get a good sense of what’s going on – the book doesn’t struggle in the establishing of the scene – you’re thrust right into a fully-realised world that you can tell has been developed beforehand rather than just made up on the spot, as Staveley goes deeper into the world in one book than many fantasy writers do in a whole series, and whilst yes it does mean that the wordcount is long, it’s balanced by the fact that the pace is pretty quick. There aren’t any moments where you want to skip a few pages ahead because parts of the book has become too boring – it’s engrossing and highly captivating reading as a result.
And it isn’t long before we’re back at a negative element again. One of the biggest problems, if not the biggest in The Emperor’s Blades is its handling of female characters, and this is where it will be a make or break for the reader – some will enjoy the book regardless but others will be completely turned off by it.The only two women who are mildly tolerable are viewed with scorn and suspicion by the respective narrators, whilst the rest are treated either as damsels in distress or people to have sex with. It’s a vital flaw that prevents The Emperor’s Blades from reaching the four-star count or higher, which is a real shame as if there had been a few more developed female characters the book could have easily been one of the better novels of the year given its quality in other areas and this is something that any future books in the series need to turn around.
There’s nothing new brought to the table in terms of originality, and crucially, despite its many flaws - The Emperor’s Blades still manages to be mostly well written with confidence and has all the ingredients to create a novel that will be enjoyed by a great many. However, if you want strongly developed female characters and don’t mind large amounts of repetition, then this book isn’t going to be for you.
VERDICT: 3.5/5
This would have gotten 4 stars if I hadn't had to read the seriously over-used "'Kent-kissing..." phrase so many times. It gets slightly less used in each subsequent book but was over-the-top irritating in this first one.
It's been a while since a fantasy novel has so caught my attention. After readint eh r/fantasy tops recommendations which feels like a mutual admiration society of about 10 authors, this work is refreshingly new. Partially because it's not by any of those authors, but also because the author has taken fairly common ingredients and has created a believeable and relishable dish. Looking forward to part two and more.
I do wish
I do wish
Spoiler
Ha lin had not died, I could use some puppy romance in a harsh military fantasy.
It was ok. Although the number of times boobs were used to describe women was a bit much.
It was a little bit, um, slow. Things were happening but not immediately plot- related things. I just felt like the characters consistently had trouble with everything and they had so little success in any endeavor that it made the whole thing drag.
I will however, be reading this series all the way through. I want to see what happens. :D
I will however, be reading this series all the way through. I want to see what happens. :D
Well, it took its bloody time, but once the novel got to the actual plot development it got interesting there was some definite promise for the series. Unfortunately, the world building to get there took 300 pages or so and could have suffered to lose many if not several of those. A definite 'first novel' but one that shows distinct potential.
The story follows three siblings with their own POV chapters: Kaden, monk acolyte who also happens to be the heir to the throne; Adare, newly appointed Finance Minister who struggles to prove herself in a society that doesn't value the opinion of women; and Valyn, who is currently wrapping up years-long training to become a soldier within the Kettral, an elite unit of bird-mounted soldiers.
The overall plot was intriguing to me - the emperor is murdered and whispers of a conspiracy trail behind the wake of his death. His daughter is the only one of his children in the capital when this happens, and while navigating the political turmoil caused by the emperor's death, works to uncover the murderer and bring them to justice.
Across the empire in an isolated monastery, Kaden, clueless to the fact that he's now become the Emperor, continues his studies despite the mysterious monster that has begun stalking the mountains that he calls home.
Deep in his own training on an island far away, Valyn hears news of his father's death and fears for his brother's life, but is powerless to do anything until he completes the final trial and takes command of his own Wing of Kettral soldiers. In the meantime, he fends off attempts on his own life and begins to piece together the connection between these assassination attempts and other murders happening on the island.
It took a *long* time for me to really get invested in the story. I struggle with the beginnings of books while things get set into motion, and the setup for this book was, and I'm not exaggerating, the first 65% of it. Another part of my struggle was the Valyn had the most POV chapters, and he was my least favorite character. I get irritated with characters when they have access to the same information that readers do and yet make illogical and irrational decisions just for the purpose of moving the plot forward, and that's what happened with Valyn chapters. I also found the antagonist for his plotline to be generic and boring.
Kaden's POV chapters were frustrating because he's a really interesting character and the side characters he interacted with were some of my faves, but a whole lot of nothing happened with him until the final quarter of the book, despite him having almost as many POV chapters as Valyn.
In contrast, Adare had the least amount of pagetime but the most interesting plot, though I will say I wasn't satisfied with how her plotline was ultimately resolved, it was too convenient to feel like it had any payoff. That being said, what happened *after* makes a really compelling scenario for the next book and I'm very
The overall plot was intriguing to me - the emperor is murdered and whispers of a conspiracy trail behind the wake of his death. His daughter is the only one of his children in the capital when this happens, and while navigating the political turmoil caused by the emperor's death, works to uncover the murderer and bring them to justice.
Across the empire in an isolated monastery, Kaden, clueless to the fact that he's now become the Emperor, continues his studies despite the mysterious monster that has begun stalking the mountains that he calls home.
Deep in his own training on an island far away, Valyn hears news of his father's death and fears for his brother's life, but is powerless to do anything until he completes the final trial and takes command of his own Wing of Kettral soldiers. In the meantime, he fends off attempts on his own life and begins to piece together the connection between these assassination attempts and other murders happening on the island.
It took a *long* time for me to really get invested in the story. I struggle with the beginnings of books while things get set into motion, and the setup for this book was, and I'm not exaggerating, the first 65% of it. Another part of my struggle was the Valyn had the most POV chapters, and he was my least favorite character. I get irritated with characters when they have access to the same information that readers do and yet make illogical and irrational decisions just for the purpose of moving the plot forward, and that's what happened with Valyn chapters. I also found the antagonist for his plotline to be generic and boring.
Kaden's POV chapters were frustrating because he's a really interesting character and the side characters he interacted with were some of my faves, but a whole lot of nothing happened with him until the final quarter of the book, despite him having almost as many POV chapters as Valyn.
In contrast, Adare had the least amount of pagetime but the most interesting plot, though I will say I wasn't satisfied with how her plotline was ultimately resolved, it was too convenient to feel like it had any payoff. That being said, what happened *after* makes a really compelling scenario for the next book and I'm very
I loved this. Really did. The world feels fleshed out and huge. The characters were interesting. Overall it just feels like there is so much more to learn - as if the story is only just getting started. If I had it in my hands I would already have started book two.