The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, 1)

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In this epic fantasy debut, Staveley has created a complex and richly detailed world filled with elite soldier-assassins, mystic warrior monks, serpentine politics, and ancient secrets. Readers of Sara Douglass’s Wayfarer novels and George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” series should enjoy this opener. —Library Journal, Debut of the Month, Starred Review It'd be bad enough if one of them did. But all three of them did. And continued to do it. They didn't learn from their mistakes. They didn't really seem to grow as characters. They just kept being idiots. And selfish. It got pretty frustrating. But that doesn’t go according to plan either and there are plenty of surprises in store for him regarding using the gates and who can also go through them.

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne Series - Goodreads

In Annur, Adare drags Uinian IV to trial, only to discover, to her horror, that he demands an ancient Annurian ritual: trial by flame. When he places his hand into a burning fire, it emerges unscathed, proving his innocence. Or so it seems. Adare consults with il Tornja, with whom she has a growing romantic connection, and concludes that Uinain is not, in fact, blessed by the goddess, but a magical leach, using his powers to feign divine blessing. This is a hard book to rate and review. In many ways The Providence of Fire was a stronger book than The Emperor's Blades. It was faster paced, full of surprise twists and turns, and just all round more exciting to read. Unfortunately all three of the main POV characters developed in directions that I disliked. Which is a pity because without a core of likable lead characters to root for this series becomes a bit like a poor man's A Song of Ice and Fire.

Maybe I’m too harsh, but it will take me a long time to accept how making someone stupider in a book is part of his characterization. Adare hui’Malkeenian, the Malkeenian princess, the Minister of Finance, now Emperor’s eyes and ears. Anyway, I'm rambling. I loved the worldbuilding. I really enjoyed most of the characters, but mostly Kaden. His character arc stole the show here. I think we've set up great antagonists for the next book and maybe (hopefully) a couple of redemption arcs?! We'll see!

The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley | Goodreads The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley | Goodreads

Alexander, Niall (3 January 2014). "A Boy and His Toys: The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley". Tor.com . Retrieved 25 June 2017. Finished Blades last night – now I can give my poor family some attention, I’ve seriously neglected them of late.. Till the next one. Liptak, Andrew (20 March 2016). "Brian Staveley Shows How To End A Fantasy Epic With The Last Mortal Bond". io9 . Retrieved 25 June 2017.

So I was looking forward to this. And since I got a review copy that was coming via USPS (twice), I had to wait an extra month to get my hands on it. That further built the anticipation as I watched friends who I had recommended the first one read and highly rate it. Sheer amount of bad decisions this guy made, effectively going from bad to worse, makes you wonder is he maybe a writers parody, a comic relief in this book? Or author deeply hates him.

Brian Staveley - Wikipedia

The world that Staveley has created is stunningly well constructed. The different peoples (the Kettral, Csestriim, Ishien, Urghul, etc.) are all fascinatingly different. Each of the groups is so vastly unique from the others, yet, surprisingly, many of the groups want the same thing (total destruction of the other groups, bitches!). Kaden learned the prologue lesson in earnest. Triste remains an eager enigma. And the ending has me baited foe the release of the third installment. Please hurry. I think what Stavely does best in this book is give the supporting characters a lot of depth. They aren't just props for the heroes but fully realized characters with their own agendas and passions. Valyn's wing is just awesome (even and especially when they are fighting) and I love the Skullsworn, Pyrre, that falls in with them; her nonchalance but deadly efficiency is a nice contrast to the soldierly professionalism of the Kettral. I also thought the "advisor" that joins Kaden was fantastic and offers a fascinating perspective on events. The other gripe I had about the first book was that for an epic fantasy, the story just didn’t feel quite big enough. Kaden’s everyday life seemed to revolve being beaten silly by the monks, and for Valyn it was being beaten silly by his trainers and other rival wings. Adare hardly appeared at all. Well, no problems with any of that here. Whereas in The Emperor’s Blades our settings were mostly restricted to the mountain monastery for Kaden, the Kettral training island for Valyn, and the Dawn Palace for Adare, The Providence of Fire opens the world right up as all three royal siblings travel far and wide on their quests. And rather than dealing with their immediate personal problems, the conflicts they face in this novel are far more urgent and significant as well, with far-reaching consequences for the whole empire and not just our three main protagonists.Nira is a great mentor or sorts to Adare, one she needed to grow from a pampered Princess into someone who could rule. It is still a bumpy road and while most of the time I liked Adare she made some huge choices that I hated and might cost her in the end.

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (3 book series) Kindle Edition

Senft, Michael (1 April 2016). "Brian Staveley on Wrapping up His Fantasy Trilogy, "The Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne" ". Phoenix New Times . Retrieved 25 June 2017. The Emperor has been murdered, leaving the Annurian Empire in turmoil. Now his progeny must bury their grief and prepare to unmask a conspiracy. Unknown to Adare, her brother Valyn, renegade member of the empire's most elite fighting force, has allied with the invading nomads. The terrible choices each of them has made may make war between them inevitable.In the series of very unfortunate events he's been through in this book, he handled himself only mildly stupid. Sure, he stumbles in the dark, completely oblivious to his surroundings, but he could gone worse.