I'm thankful I managed to read through this book; halfway through the second one, it turned out to be one of the better fantasy epics I've read in ages, even better than Sanderson's Way of Kings in some ways (it has none of the inherent 'niceness' in Sanderson's works for one thing).
Imagine Jordan's Wheel of Time series, with the political complexity of George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice. It helps that Staveley is pretty unpredictable and has a ruthless streak to him, short of GRRM's bloody-mindedness, he still makes me careful about caring too much about the characters I come across.
The first book of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne starts slow, as most epic fantasy series go -- it was a struggle for me to listen through three fourths of the book, to the point where I almost gave up on it. It was slow, and ponderous, as it took its time introducing the three main characters, the environment around them and the world at large. The novel had world-building in troves, with areas upon areas, countless titles and made-up terms, and bits of the requisite ancient language thrown in.
Having to listen to everything was both easier and harder, as the fantasy jargon had a harder time sticking to my mind. Having to deal with three separate points of view also made it harder for me to get into the groove of things; this paid off in the second book though as each character and their respective manure filled situations took lives of their own (think Robert Jordan's fourth or fifth book in the WoT series, at least we did not have to go through three books before the action heated up).
The world of the Unhewn Throne does include magic (kennings in Hewnspeak), in limited doses as magic users are generally reviled and are pretty much burnt in stakes the moment they are found. The main empire does not feel much like your typical European setup, but smacks a bit of the orient and a mish-mash of other influences, enough so that you don't feel like its too familiar a ground, without being too disoriented by straying too far from familiar tropes. It works too as the world feels big without feeling empty, strange enough without being too alien. The balance here is nicely struck.
The main characters -- the emperor's children, are well fleshed out and work within the bounds of their respective situations. They are each distinctive, and you can almost see how they'd grow up to be and the parts they will come to play within the Empire... and then all that gets turned into jellied shit as Stavely puts them into a blender without the cover open. They make it with most of their limbs intact but they do grow as characters. As with the world-building, the character building gets its payoff in the second book, as the author spends less time sketching out the protagonists and goes into storytelling all-out.
I highly, highly, highly recommend this story with just a few caveats: it starts slow but you'll just have to deal with that. It's also a trilogy but we're only into the second book (which just came out this year). So... if you like a good epic fantasy read, go for it. If you like your fantasy story with grit, this is it! Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to my listening.
Verdict: Very Highly Recommended (4/5)
TL;DR:
- Starts slooooow
++ Elaborate world building
++ Good balance between a familiar world and a fresh one
-/+ Three points of view makes for variety but gets in the way of pacing
+ Good distinct protagonists, though the cast of characters aren't that wide
++ The politics of it is very good; it's no simple hack-and-slash, problems actually get solved politically
+/- It's a Trilogy!
Details:
Author: Brian StaveleyGenre: Epic Fantasy
Book Length: 480 Pages (Hardcover Version)
Published: January 14, 2014
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Emperors-Blades-Chronicle-Unhewn-Throne/dp/0765336405
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