The Empire’s Ruin (Ashes of the Unhewn Throne #1) by Brian Staveley

The comradeship and romance in this book were well executed, and I was pleased to see the fight scenes and the magic system well-depicted.

History is never over. Sometimes it sleeps for a while, that is all.

The Empire’s Ruin is the first book in The Ashes of Unhewn Throne series and the spin-off series of Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne. Although I wouldn’t say I like how the last book in the initial series ended, and I have some issues with that series though I liked it, this book fixed most of the problems.

The comradeship and romance in this book were well executed, and I was pleased to see the fight scenes and the magic system well-depicted.

“Love is not earned,” he quoted. “Love exists beyond all limit and precondition. It is given absolutely, or it is not love. It is given with no thought of merit or blame—”

Worldbuilding and Writing

The world-building and writing are awesome! I love how Brian Staveley describes his world, especially the Delta (which is like the Amazon forest with many deadly creatures that can kill you before you scream).

The book is written in the third person multiple POVs of Gwenna, Bien, and Akiil. The POV switches were well done, and the writing was easy to understand.

“Measure a person not by what they keep,” Stupid said from beneath the hat, “but by what they can afford to throw away.”

Characters

The characters are phenomenal and well-written, even if I don’t have a favorite yet. Gwenna was in the original series and had a reputation for being brash and hot-tempered but also brave, caring, and courageous.

Akiil is also a character from the original series and is the only one who survives the slaughter of the Shin monks. Akiil had some questionable qualities, but I don’t mind much, given what he went through in life.

Ruc, a priest of Eira (the goddess of love), is good-natured and tries hard to be a good person. Bien is also a great character, a priestess of Eira of her life. But then something horrible happens that puts her faith in doubt.

Some other great characters here are Talal, Rat, Cho Lin, and Pattick. Adare is still here making stupid decisions as usual.

Life is an unwinnable fight, Gwenna Sharpe. If ends are all that matter, then we are all fools and failures.

Plot

The title of the book says it all. It’s been five years since the civil war, and the empire is yet to recover. To make things worse, some kingdoms under the realm, like Dombang, have seceded. Although Dombang finally gets the imperial freedom they want, somehow, things are worse now than before, and something is lurking in the Delta.

“A thing I have learned about both monsters and madness,” he replied, “is that they range more widely than people are willing to believe.”