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veronica87 's review for:
The Emperor's Blades
by Brian Staveley
4.5 stars
The world beyond Ashk’lan, which only a few days before had beckoned so brightly, now seemed a dark place, filled with treachery and confusion, death and disappointment.
This book has sat in my physical TBR pile at home for well over two years now and I could kick myself for not reading it sooner. The one good thing is that the trilogy is complete so at least I don’t have to wait to read the rest. And, even better, it looks like the author is returning to this world with a new trilogy so, yay! Because I freaking loved this book. I just recently read another fantasy book that featured young protagonists and while I liked it overall, it just didn’t quite measure up. But this, this is the book I wanted that other book to be.
To start with, it begins with a prologue whose significance wasn’t apparent to me until the last few chapters of the book. It certainly sets the tone, though. The story all boils down to the shaping of the future of the Annurian Empire. Its Emperor, Sanlitun, looks to do this through the specialized training of his three children. For the past eight years, his sons, Kaden (the heir) and Valyn, have been training far from their palace home. Kaden at a monastery with a dwindling monk population learning the disciplines of the mind and emotions. Valyn, the youngest child, has been training to become a Kettral, the lands most formidable and elite fighting force. And Adare, who has remained at home receiving instruction on the finer points of palace intrigue at her father’s knee. But there are other forces who want a different future for the empire and they seek to enforce it through treachery and violence.
Resist faith. Resist trust. Believe only in what you touch with your hands. The rest is error and air.
The story is told through the three POVs of the Emperor’s children, though Adare gets the least amount of page time. I think she only gets something like five or six chapters in the whole book...which is a shame since she’s located where the traitorous forces strike first. Hopefully she’ll get more attention in the next book. The ending certainly opens the door to a lot of interesting possibilities. It’s rare for me to like all the POV characters in a multi-POV story but that’s exactly what happened here. Adare, Kaden, and Valyn were all likable and easy to root for. They are all smart and capable but they’re not above making mistakes of judgement . They often show the proof of their youth and inexperience and yet still somehow avoid the “annoying brat” pitfalls into which their genre peers often fall. So refreshing!
The story captivated me from the beginning. I enjoyed reading about Kaden’s training with the monks even though, like him, I didn’t fully appreciate its utility at first. Don’t let the monks fool you, the training is harsh. In real life a lot of what is done to Kaden, and all the other acolytes for that matter, would be deserving of a report to Child Protective Services. And Valyn’s training is even harsher...but at least he’ll get to ride on huge birds once his training is complete. There are also several entertaining secondary characters around Valyn who I hope to see more of in subsequent books. As I mentioned, there’s not a lot of Adare in this book but there are still some important things happening in her POV chapters. And her final chapter? Stuff is coming, that’s all I have to say.
As the danger starts to close in around the three siblings, the tension really starts to amp up. Each sibling faces his or her own dark moment and comes away with a firmer measure of themself. Those last few chapters were really suspenseful. The solid character development and twisty turns made sure that I stayed riveted from start to finish. Adare, Kaden, and Valyn may have their backs against a wall but I can’t wait to see what they do next.
When you’ve only got one choice, you can bitch and moan, or you can draw your blade and start swinging.
The world beyond Ashk’lan, which only a few days before had beckoned so brightly, now seemed a dark place, filled with treachery and confusion, death and disappointment.
This book has sat in my physical TBR pile at home for well over two years now and I could kick myself for not reading it sooner. The one good thing is that the trilogy is complete so at least I don’t have to wait to read the rest. And, even better, it looks like the author is returning to this world with a new trilogy so, yay! Because I freaking loved this book. I just recently read another fantasy book that featured young protagonists and while I liked it overall, it just didn’t quite measure up. But this, this is the book I wanted that other book to be.
To start with, it begins with a prologue whose significance wasn’t apparent to me until the last few chapters of the book. It certainly sets the tone, though. The story all boils down to the shaping of the future of the Annurian Empire. Its Emperor, Sanlitun, looks to do this through the specialized training of his three children. For the past eight years, his sons, Kaden (the heir) and Valyn, have been training far from their palace home. Kaden at a monastery with a dwindling monk population learning the disciplines of the mind and emotions. Valyn, the youngest child, has been training to become a Kettral, the lands most formidable and elite fighting force. And Adare, who has remained at home receiving instruction on the finer points of palace intrigue at her father’s knee. But there are other forces who want a different future for the empire and they seek to enforce it through treachery and violence.
Resist faith. Resist trust. Believe only in what you touch with your hands. The rest is error and air.
The story is told through the three POVs of the Emperor’s children, though Adare gets the least amount of page time. I think she only gets something like five or six chapters in the whole book...which is a shame since she’s located where the traitorous forces strike first. Hopefully she’ll get more attention in the next book. The ending certainly opens the door to a lot of interesting possibilities. It’s rare for me to like all the POV characters in a multi-POV story but that’s exactly what happened here. Adare, Kaden, and Valyn were all likable and easy to root for. They are all smart and capable but they’re not above making mistakes of judgement . They often show the proof of their youth and inexperience and yet still somehow avoid the “annoying brat” pitfalls into which their genre peers often fall. So refreshing!
The story captivated me from the beginning. I enjoyed reading about Kaden’s training with the monks even though, like him, I didn’t fully appreciate its utility at first. Don’t let the monks fool you, the training is harsh. In real life a lot of what is done to Kaden, and all the other acolytes for that matter, would be deserving of a report to Child Protective Services. And Valyn’s training is even harsher...but at least he’ll get to ride on huge birds once his training is complete. There are also several entertaining secondary characters around Valyn who I hope to see more of in subsequent books. As I mentioned, there’s not a lot of Adare in this book but there are still some important things happening in her POV chapters. And her final chapter? Stuff is coming, that’s all I have to say.
As the danger starts to close in around the three siblings, the tension really starts to amp up. Each sibling faces his or her own dark moment and comes away with a firmer measure of themself. Those last few chapters were really suspenseful. The solid character development and twisty turns made sure that I stayed riveted from start to finish. Adare, Kaden, and Valyn may have their backs against a wall but I can’t wait to see what they do next.
When you’ve only got one choice, you can bitch and moan, or you can draw your blade and start swinging.