Book Review: The Providence of Fire (Book 2 of the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne) by Brian Staveley

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

Book Review: The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne) by Brian Staveley

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 Staveley
Genre: 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