Review: The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley

The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley is the final volume in the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne trilogy. In my review of the first book, The Emperor’s Blades, I dig into how I felt uninspired because it was about a fight for the status quo, there was no progress, nothing new had been added. Yes, I enjoyed the book because Staveley is an excellent story teller, the book was exciting, and so well paced that I always needed to know what would happen next. Ultimately, that was enough to encourage me to read the sequel.

In my review of The Providence of Fire, I got excited. The Emperor’s Blades was a set-up, and big things happened in book 2. Huge I tell you. There are progressive ideas – thoughts of moving things forward. And it was so well wrapped together, that it was simply impossible to tell who was bad and who was good. Where was it all going to go? There were so many possibilities.

Of course, I had my hopes and ideas of where it was going. They were some really good ideas. They built on the ambiguity of book 2, explored some the more interesting (to me) concepts developed in The Providence of Fire. I was certain Staveley was with me in this, that he was going to pluck these ideas right out of my head, run with them, and then turn them around a few times to put some real sting into it.

But….Staveley wasn’t with me, he had ideas all his own. Yes, they are good ideas – there’s excitement, the stakes are upped even further, more complications added, and some really great fighting and sacrifice, and an unexpected character (Gwenna) leaps up and steals the whole show.

But…I wanted to see my ideas. And so I was disappointed. Much of what excited me about The Providence of Fire was abandoned in The Last Mortal Bond – the empire was not on a progressive path of improvement. In the end…we just got the status quo again. And that pissed me off – I’m just tired of epic fantasy that leaves us with the status quo. Where the people aren’t better off and there isn’t really hope that things have changed a bit. Just a bunch of big battles, lots of death, young leaders learn valuable lessons, the meaning of life is love, blah, blah, blah, and…the same old shit goes on into the future.

I had other ideas too – damn good ones. Of how the gods interacted with humanity and the immortal ‘elves’. I was looking forward to the ambiguity of good and evil, only to have a standard Big Bad fixated on as the story moves forward in more or less predictable ways.  

So, overall, I am fairly disappointed with how The Last Mortal Bond wraps things up. Yes, it was fun, and Staveley is just so excellent with the pacing, action, and tension that it really is almost impossible to stop reading his books. I know that it’s my own expectations that lead to my disappointment, and not (necessarily) what Staveley actually did with the book – because it’s not bad, not bad at all. It’s just that I saw so much potential in The Providence of Fire and where things could be taken, and it was crushing to see The Last Mortal Bond take the path that pretty much everyone else before has taken.

Final verdict: Good series, fun writing, exactly what fans of traditional epic fantasy crave…safe. But damn, it could have been great.

Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne

The Emperor’s Blades: My Review, Amazon

The Providence of Fire: My Review, Amazon

The Last Mortal Bond: Amazon

Set in the Same World As Emperor’s Blades

Skullsworn (forthcoming): Amazon

Review: The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley

Hello good readers, I know that you are all fans of epic fantasy so I have this book that I just have to introduce you to. I believe that this is as close to a perfect match as you’re going to find in this crazy world and I just know that it will lead to a long-lasting relationship. I’m sure you’ve seen it pop up through the internet matching sites, and maybe you’ve flirted with the idea, or maybe you’ve been reluctant to explore further, but this is the one. First, it’s a classic and even nostalgic epic fantasy that we recognize from the glory days of the 1980s and 90s, but trust me in this, it has modern sensibility. I know that this is the second book in the trilogy and I was a bit mixed when I met the first book, but this one builds on the first book so well that those previous problems go away. It grows, it improves, it actually makes its world a better place….well we hope it will. But I’m sure it will because this book is just perfect.

So, here is The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley – I just know you’re going to love it.

As mentioned above, I reviewed the first book in the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series, The Emperor’s Blades and found it a bit mixed. In the end I enjoyed the book very much because of just how compelling the book is, how much fun it is to read. I had a few qualms about the worldbuilding (mostly me being picky), an issue with a female character not getting the screen time she deserves (and that we were promised), and what bothered me most was that this appeared to be yet another book about restoring the status quo in epic fantasy without any move toward actual progress in the world.

Staveley must have laughed at my review, knowing what he was going to do in The Providence of Fire.

It’s the second book of the series – and as proper, worldbuilding takes a back seat to the story and continued character development. And when it’s needed, Staveley deftly weaves into the rest of the story. Picky problem I had with book 1 neatly goes away.

This is Adare’s book in many ways. The Emperor’s Blades was mostly about the brothers, but in The Providence of Fire Adare comes to life. The brothers are there, and I’m guessing there’s pretty equal time, but Adare isn’t left behind in this. The book still has too few female characters overall, but those that are there are the real deal. Issue 2 I had with book 1 shows great improvement.

One of the biggest and least recognized problems with ‘traditional’ epic fantasy is that it is inherently conservative – it fights for maintaining the status quo, or a return to the past, and it’s often some form of governance that is tyranny by another name and keeps peoples firmly in their ‘place’. The Emperor’s Blades is presented as another version of this epic fantasy – the heirs to an empire fight to keep the empire intact. The Providence of Fire throws a wrench into the machine – a giant wrench, a hugely progressive idea. Where will it go…it’s too soon to say after book 2. But I love that The Providence of Fire isn’t fighting for the status quo of epic fantasy.

All of that great improvement I point to above is almost secondary, because, what The Providence of Fire does best, and better than just about any other epic fantasy book that comes to mind as I write this, is keep the reader guessing. The Providence of Fire plays coy, amps up the mystery as it slowly seduces the reader. It is irresistible.

This is the second book in a trilogy, and I still can’t say with any certainty who is the bad guy/gal. I don’t know – there are too many layers of possibility. And this is not a structural problem of the book – it’s as compelling as ever. In fact, it’s what really makes things stand out, because this may be a classic style epic fantasy about an empire in turmoil, barbarian invaders, court intrigue, ancient races, tyrannical sorcerers, meddling gods, and everything in between THAT DOESN’T HAVE A ‘BAD GUY’. This might be a case where everyone is a little (or more) bad and a little (or more) good with the ultimate challenge to find an ultimate balance that works for the world.

Or I could be completely off and there is a BIG BAD that the ‘good guys’ will defeat. That could work too (though former sounds so much cooler to me). It’s an amazing act of balance that has allowed Staveley to keep the reader completely guessing at such a relatively late stage in the trilogy without it destroying the credibility of the plot and the development of the characters.

So…..now that you’ve met The Providence of Fire, what do you think? Simply irresistible, am I right? Have fun together, remember me fondly and behave.

Pssttt…I also have my eye on The Last Mortal Bond and I’m not-so-secretly hoping it gets kinky.

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne

The Emperor’s Blades (My Review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Providence of Fire (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Last Mortal Bond (Forthcoming: Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

Review: The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley

A few times a year I notice a big push by one big traditional publisher or another about a book that they’ve clearly identified as the next big thing. The marketing is typically ratcheted up a notch or two – many review copies, interviews, blog tours, free sample chapters, etc. One of these books for 2014 is The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley – go ahead and search out the buzz, you’ll find a lot, including 7 sample chapters.

 

Of course these books are often mixed in how they are received both critically and financially, but in general it’s safe to say that they tend to have a potentially wide-market appeal and are not overly different from other popular books at the time. In this, The Emperor’s Blades is no different – it’s a fairly traditional sort of epic fantasy somewhat in a similar vein as George RR Martin and David Anthony Durham.

 

I rather enjoyed the story of the book, and I have to freely admit that Staveley writes a very good action scene and made me connect in a positive way with the characters of the story. This makes the book very readable, hard to put down, and flat-out entertaining. The world is neatly developed in the familiar medieval European and surrounding environs sort of way and the magic system is subtle in this opening book of the series with a potential to be bigger. All in all, it’s exactly the sort of thing that fans of epic fantasy crave, making this book a very logical choice to push as the next big thing.

 

However, I had a few nagging issues that simply didn’t go away. The first, and lesser, is with the character Adare, the daughter of the emperor, though not an heir due to being a girl. The book’s description talks her up in a big way, though this isn’t well realized in the book as she seems marginalized to a low page count as she plays something of the traditional role of female victim. It was disappointing, and consistent with the treatment of the only other female character of note in the book. I’ve been told that the second book rectifies many of these issues, but so far the series is not out to a good start.

 

But the bigger issue I had was with the general framework of this series. In short, epic fantasy is often a very conservative genre at heart and this series appears to be a poster-child example of it. Much of traditional epic fantasy revolves around the basic tenant of maintaining the status quo – the goal is keep or re-establish some monarchy or other style of generally oppressive government, usually in the face of some grave, even existential, threat that only the government can protect the people from. Only rarely is any sort of actual human progress sought.

 

This is absolutely the case with The Emperor’s Blades – there is a rather tyrannical empire, complete with casual slavery. Everything in the story is about maintaining this empire at all costs, and the always looming great evil that this government must protect its people from is introduced. This is a story of an aristocratic elite fighting to keep power.

 

To me, this sort of storytelling in epic fantasy is tired and lazy. I want something more, something progressive, or at least not something inherently conservative (and I’m not necessarily using these terms in a political sense). And I find it troubling where the default for epic fantasy is basically that tyrannical governmental structures are fine as long as they protect you from evil. Especially as I look at around at my own and similar governments.

 

In spite of my reservations, I feel that Staveley’s storytelling rose above the mediocrity of its framework, and I agree that most fans of epic fantasy will find it enjoyable. The book was fun to read and I imagine that I will read the second book, The Providence of Fire, to see where things go. Hopefully there will some big picture surprises that improve upon my reservations.

 

The Emperor’s Blades (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)