The Providence of Fire
I recently finished The Providence of Fire, sequel to The Emperor's Blades. In this second book, things fly off the rails all the more. Heh. The biggest thing that comes to mind is it makes the series into a shining example of unreliable narration (something I sort of like to see, opposed to the fantasy prophecy trope, but it sure makes things confusing sometimes).
In the first book, some "secrets" of the world come out. There's an all-but-forgotten race of pre-humans who waged a war of extermination but largely lost, yet they still seem to have some agents working in the world. The emperor knew this, and that's why his eldest son was trained as a monk to attain the mental discipline to use a network of those precursors' magic gates that can traverse great distances. These beings are portrayed as cold, calculating, manipulative, and emotionless - horrible enemies who must be killed all all cost because they won't stop until humans are all gone.
In the second book, we actually meet a couple and... they don't seem that bad, exactly. One is a "historian" who seems more interested in watching human civilization than obliterating it. Another, while supremely capable and arguably heartless, seems more interesting in civilization building than destroying. Could they be faking it as warned? Maybe. But it's certainly not clear.
Kaden, Valyn, and Adare, the emperor's children, all make their fumbling ways along without any real clear goals to cling to. Kaden seeks out help from the sworn enemies of these big-bads only to decide they're the worse option. Valyn comes off helping to save his brother in the first book and launches largely into revenge for their father, losing sight of a lot of things along the way. Meanwhile, Adare starts off the book on her revenge quest only to decide that's not what's best for the empire. Lots of flip-flopping and oversight, but even when they settle on a new path (sometimes at odds with one another), they're doing so with woefully lacking information. It's a terrible mess that the book portrays reasonably well for the most part. I sort of expect to see a little more trust and understanding between the siblings, but they were trained/raised through formative years apart from one another, so I can believe the lack.
We also get gods thrown into the mix, a major battle, and a revolution of sorts and it's all a pretty crazy series of events. I generally found it an enjoyable read, though I still wish the main trio would figure out what they're doing - individually and as a group. If the emperor intended them as his "blades," he did a poor-ass job of pointing them.
In the first book, some "secrets" of the world come out. There's an all-but-forgotten race of pre-humans who waged a war of extermination but largely lost, yet they still seem to have some agents working in the world. The emperor knew this, and that's why his eldest son was trained as a monk to attain the mental discipline to use a network of those precursors' magic gates that can traverse great distances. These beings are portrayed as cold, calculating, manipulative, and emotionless - horrible enemies who must be killed all all cost because they won't stop until humans are all gone.
In the second book, we actually meet a couple and... they don't seem that bad, exactly. One is a "historian" who seems more interested in watching human civilization than obliterating it. Another, while supremely capable and arguably heartless, seems more interesting in civilization building than destroying. Could they be faking it as warned? Maybe. But it's certainly not clear.
Kaden, Valyn, and Adare, the emperor's children, all make their fumbling ways along without any real clear goals to cling to. Kaden seeks out help from the sworn enemies of these big-bads only to decide they're the worse option. Valyn comes off helping to save his brother in the first book and launches largely into revenge for their father, losing sight of a lot of things along the way. Meanwhile, Adare starts off the book on her revenge quest only to decide that's not what's best for the empire. Lots of flip-flopping and oversight, but even when they settle on a new path (sometimes at odds with one another), they're doing so with woefully lacking information. It's a terrible mess that the book portrays reasonably well for the most part. I sort of expect to see a little more trust and understanding between the siblings, but they were trained/raised through formative years apart from one another, so I can believe the lack.
We also get gods thrown into the mix, a major battle, and a revolution of sorts and it's all a pretty crazy series of events. I generally found it an enjoyable read, though I still wish the main trio would figure out what they're doing - individually and as a group. If the emperor intended them as his "blades," he did a poor-ass job of pointing them.
Interesting. I'm curious to hear your review of the next book.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how long it takes to come out.
ReplyDelete