Staveley is no Feist (who does the best large scale battles that I've read so far) when it comes to battles, but it's okay; the rest of it more than makes up for that lack -- the politics, the grit, the tension, the bloodletting. Despite being a trilogy (supposedly), this middle part does not lack in any of the usual departments middle volumes suffer - true, there's a hell of a cliffhanger at the end, but the story stands on its own well, being propped well up by the first volume.
Since The Emperor's Blades did most of the world-building and character setting, The Providence of Fire is pretty much non-stop action, taking up where the first volume left off, with the characters jumping from the frying pan and into the fire and then down into the gas tank. Everybody is just so... hard pressed, and it works! Pressure turns rock into diamonds and the characters are gems in their own little blindfolded worlds - you can see bits and pieces of information being parceled out and the characters reacting to these bits of information, and to each other, accordingly.
And the characters are not predictable - you'd think they'd head one way and find them jumping headlong backwards, leaving you screaming (inside yourself) at them to head the fuck back, or forward, or sideways.
This is a different sort of tension from George R.R. Martin's bloodletting - a different flavour; I often find myself holding my book in a state of shock reading one of GRRM's bloody plot twists. Stavely hooks fingers inside your nostrils, drags you along, down, and further down with you unable to let go.
Aaaaand, I'm not quite sure whom to believe! Everybody has their own little version of truth, of points of view, of facts so concrete you could've sword that last revelation one chapter back could not be true -- no reliable points of view here folks!
So, i'm probably a year or so away from the sequel and I'm trying to find other books to read to pass the time. It's going to be sooo much fun.
Verdict 5/5 Go read the first volume already!
TL;DR:
+ A sequel! With none of the usual sequelitist issues
+ Moar everything! It makes investing in the duller bits of the first book oh so worthwhile
++ The characters become dearer to you, especially since they're usually in danger of getting killed, maimed or both -- no one's safe!
- Descriptions of battles could be better, but this is not that sort of book
+ Longish book, but it sure didnt feel like it
+ Simon Vance narrated this pretty good on the Audible Version
Details:
Author: Brian Staveley
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Book Length: 608 Pages (Hardcover Version)
Read on: Audible Version by Simon Vance
Published: January 13, 2015 (A year after the first book!)
Preceded by: The Emperor's Blades
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Providence-Fire-Chronicle-Unhewn-Throne/dp/148051764X
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