It may seem strange that I rate this book lower than the first. The Providence of Fire was bigger in scale, and more balanced in terms of characters. But, I didn't like it as much as [b:The Emperor's Blades|17910124|The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1)|Brian Staveley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369246817l/17910124._SY75_.jpg|25095579]. Many solutions in the book were a little too convenient.

I still enjoyed it, but the whole reading experience felt dragged on. This could've been at least 150 pages shorter and looking at the 3rd book in the series that is a 1/3 longer, I'm not sure when I will go back to this trilogy.

On a positive note, the female characters in this book shone. The chapters were more equally split between siblings. However, some motivations were confusing and some characters made unbelievably bad decisions. I wish I could say better things about the book after so much time I invested in it.
Favourite characters: Gwena, Kiel, Pyrre and Nira - all secondary characters. ( )

So....I stayed up too late and ignored the family just to finish this one. Scary good but a bummer and a half that I have a very, very long time before this story is finished. Normally, I'd caution anyone to wait til book 3, but the first two are so good that you really shouldn't wait.

My problem now will be to find worthy of reading after this one... ( )

I love when a second book is just as good, if not better than the first. This one is that, in spades! As a rule, I never give a male author 5 stars if he describes a woman by her breasts or makes an abundance of cock jokes (this one had a couple of cock jokes in it that were funny, but completely unnecessary/ added nothing to the situation in which they were used).

So, 4.99 stars from me for incredible depth of character, world-building, plot pacing, and excitement! Additionally, Staveley continued to give me new vocabulary to look up, which I absolutely LOVE in a book! His mastery of language is so enviable, as the words he uses are so precisely perfect for the context in which they are used.

While it seems to be a thing lately to fall back on our known Gods/Goddesses from Greek/Norse mythology, Staveley creates his own unique deities that inform character alliances and decisions throughout the book. I can't wait to see how this one concludes in book three!

Definitely give this series a read. Staveley is, hands down, now on my favorite authors of all time list! ( )

Terrible disappointment. After the first book constructed excellent premises for a really epic grimdark series... the second book does absolutely nothing with them. All the Shin training... for nothing. All the Kettral training... for nothing. All the life experiences of the 2 princes... for nothing. In here they are virtually different characters with the same names (and really really dumb ones at that) with a very weak story (not much of a story at all, actually). And the epic struggle expected since Kaden is suddenly Emperor? Not in this book...Will not continue the series (or the book, i gave up at 40% since it was really just wasting my time). ( )

Uncorrected Advance Reading Copy - Not For Sale