The Emperor's Blades

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book 1

By: Brian Staveley

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Now includes special bonus content. Stay tuned after the audiobook to hear “The Last Abbot of Ashk’lan,” a short story by Brian Staveley.

The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.

Kaden, the heir to the Unhewn Throne, has spent eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, learning the enigmatic discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power he must master before it's too late.

An ocean away, Valyn endures the brutal training of the Kettral, elite soldiers who fly into battle on gigantic black hawks. But before he can set out to save Kaden, Valyn must survive one horrific final test.

At the heart of the empire, Minister Adare, elevated to her station by one of the emperor's final acts, is determined to prove herself to her people. But Adare also believes she knows who murdered her father, and she will stop at nothing - and risk everything - to see that justice is meted out.

©2014 Brian Stavely (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

A book I would recommend to read

Nice book, interesting in most parts. Nice idea of spreading the kids in different way of lives.
I intend on reading the next book.

Slow Start Decent Ending

The book started out a bit slow but really picked up for me in the last 100 pages or so. Most of the book was an introduction to the three pov characters, Valyn, Kaden and Adare. Since this is only book 1 of a trilogy I give it somewhat of a pass for not picking up until the end.

The point of view characters were not all equal. I really enjoyed Valyn's chapters, Kaden's were ok and Adare seemed like an afterthought. Maybe she'll have a bigger part to play in the next book.

There also wasn't much world building in the book. I'd like to see more of the world in book 2. I do think this book served well as a book one at introducing us to the characters and magic system though.

Simon Vance was the narrator, I've listened to other books by him didn't really think one way or the other but I think he's starting to grow on me a bit now. I enjoyed his narration for this book.

The Emperor's Blade review

Was very good. I was looking for something similar to Brent Weeks Night Angel trilogy. This book had the same general feel but a very different story if that makes any sense. I loved the story and cannot wait to begin the next book.

The narrator is one of the best I've heard. He does a great job with the voices of the characters and his voice doesn't grate on me.

Absolutely Enthralling

If you could sum up The Emperor's Blades in three words, what would they be?

Engrossing, Engaging, Epic

What other book might you compare The Emperor's Blades to and why?

I'm not a huge fan of comparing books to others. While there may be similarities, subtle differences can ruin a novel. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan would be my closest approximation.

Any additional comments?

The Emperor's Blades is one of the most engaging novels I have listened to in a long while. Many months and books later, my thoughts continually return to the novel. Many fantasy novels fall into the trap of spending all their time world building. You hear so much about different peoples and cultures that you end up losing any kind of narrative. The Emperor's Blades focuses primarily on narrative working in the world building perfectly. I can't recommend it high enough. The only novels recently that have held my attention to the same degree would be Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.

Good overall

Good book and promising start to this series but I have two big complaints. First, the story does not really progress much over the course of the book. The characters are well written and the plot is engaging but you don't really get anywhere until the final quarter of the book and then it's over. Second, the only female POV character has significantly less story time compared to the two male POV charterers which made it feel very unbalanced. It was clear which character the author favors. But other than that it was good and I look forward to seeing how the story professes and hope these qualms are addressed in the next volume.

Loved It!

What made the experience of listening to The Emperor's Blades the most enjoyable?

I love fantasy and sci-fi books that are well written and have depth to them. This was an interesting story with plenty of action, but was easy enough to follow along.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I probably enjoyed Valyn's storyline the most, but I also liked Kaden's and Adare's. Valyn's had the most action, and his character handled the most intrigue.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

I really enjoy most of Simon Vance's performances. His voice is rich and easy to listen to. I did think the accents came and went on a few minor characters, but that is my only "complaint."

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It is a long listen, and too long to be listened to in one sitting. But once you get into the story you really want to know the outcome, and I found myself staying up into the wee hours of the night/morning to "read" just a little more.

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to get the next two books and find out what happens.

a bit slow story, narration hard to follow

this is a true epic fantasy, with a large cast of characters and a dense, rather slow plot. i expect it works better to read than to listen to, as the narrator doesn't distinguish between characters as well as i would prefer, and uses a variety of difficult to understand accents

Interesting plot and clever plot twists

Fun read well-read though I do hope that the three see some less dire times. I am looking forward to more from Staveley.

Over Dramatized and Under Developed

The sister is one-dimensional and poorly explored. The sons would never survive years of the abuse they were subjected to. A weak story limping along and waiting for magic to fix it. It never quite does.

13 year old me would have liked this a lot in the 80s…

It’s just so…. All the boys are loved by the most beautiful women even if they shouldn’t. Training to be a munk, elite killer, or Emperor seems identical and is basically just getting used to being abused. Off camera training is said to be extremely hard resulting in the ability to regularly do hard things “all night” and be able to keep going the next day…. But in observed action a short bit of anything leaves everyone exhausted or tired or unphased randomly.

Elite trained killers, who have never actually killed, get defeated by Mundane in fighters…. Nah. Find something a little less predictable and less flat.