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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This is my first fantasy series after almost a full year MBotF and ME, and it now shows it was a difficult competition to undergo for 'The Emperor's Blades'. I really liked this book, but it just can't compete with Malazan.
This book does a lot of things good but nothing really exceptional. The book follows the story of the three children of the Emperor after his death. The story line that got me intruiged the most was the one from Valyn and his Kettral training; it was by far the most exciting one. Valyn is training on a remote island to become a Kettral, an elite soldier for the empire, the deadliest fighting force they have.
Kaden, the heir of the throne, resides at the far end of the world at a monastery. He has to learn the ancient teachings from the monks that follow the Blank God. It provided a pleasant read but was already far less fascinating than Valyn's story.
Finally we have Adare, the daughter who stayed at the capital with her father. She has risen to minister of finance after her father's death. Her story line was far too short to give a good grasp of everything.
Main characters are also the children. We have several interesting side characters, but I didn't feel someone really stood out. I feel I still need to read more to see some characters grow before they can really grab me.
The world building was interesting, but also here I still have to see more to fully be convinced of the potential. After Malazan I'm just accustumed to so much more. I hope that Staveley can provide this in the next two books.
Conclusion:
A decent start for this new series, a debut for Brian Staveley. I thought his writing was very good for a starting author, but the story hasn't fully convinced me and neither did the characters and the worldbuilding. Still a good read to start of the year.
Rating: 7.3/10
This book does a lot of things good but nothing really exceptional. The book follows the story of the three children of the Emperor after his death. The story line that got me intruiged the most was the one from Valyn and his Kettral training; it was by far the most exciting one. Valyn is training on a remote island to become a Kettral, an elite soldier for the empire, the deadliest fighting force they have.
Kaden, the heir of the throne, resides at the far end of the world at a monastery. He has to learn the ancient teachings from the monks that follow the Blank God. It provided a pleasant read but was already far less fascinating than Valyn's story.
Finally we have Adare, the daughter who stayed at the capital with her father. She has risen to minister of finance after her father's death. Her story line was far too short to give a good grasp of everything.
Main characters are also the children. We have several interesting side characters, but I didn't feel someone really stood out. I feel I still need to read more to see some characters grow before they can really grab me.
The world building was interesting, but also here I still have to see more to fully be convinced of the potential. After Malazan I'm just accustumed to so much more. I hope that Staveley can provide this in the next two books.
Conclusion:
A decent start for this new series, a debut for Brian Staveley. I thought his writing was very good for a starting author, but the story hasn't fully convinced me and neither did the characters and the worldbuilding. Still a good read to start of the year.
Rating: 7.3/10
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was a fun read. The story comes together nicely. A slow start and the over-the-top violence and torture hold it back a bit for me though.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Superb! Three children of the emperor sent to be tempered in the fires of different experiences coming together to attempt to defeat the plot to remove their line from the throne. Great pace, and makes you care about the main characters
Resist faith. Resist trust. Believe only in what you touch with your hands. The rest is error and air
The was a solid start to a series! I like what’s being set up for the future books. I didn’t love everything about this and mileage varied at times with the characters mostly due to how much page count each of the three POV’s got. One of them couldn’t have gotten more and 75 pages total so hoping for more in book two. Looking forward to continuing in February!
The was a solid start to a series! I like what’s being set up for the future books. I didn’t love everything about this and mileage varied at times with the characters mostly due to how much page count each of the three POV’s got. One of them couldn’t have gotten more and 75 pages total so hoping for more in book two. Looking forward to continuing in February!
I really like monastery based books, and the emperor-to-be training with the monks is a great storyline. Not so well understood is the emperor's brother training to become an elite night-assassin. The sister is also almost forgettable, a politician in a world of magic and night-assassins.
Slow, but really good. Great narration by Simon Vance of course.