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.

So good!

Second book is sadly not as good. But this first book is worth every penny. Such a good story. so well told. Thanks Simon on such a good performance.

good story, some new things to an old story

I am interested in this book especially as this was just setting the stage for a much bigger world

The best

Simon Vance make the book come alive WOW!!!
I am getting more books by Brian Staveley
Simon is the best

clichéd tale

Narrator was very good but the clichéd story and plot holes not so much. That sounds more negative then I intend but true nonetheless.

awesome!

a great performance for a truly exceptional book. I can't wait to go to the next one!

It is what you make of it.

It was confusing at first, we were given a brief glimpse at something that had no real context. If you let yourself get past this confusion the author explains it. Not in a concrete way, but it is understandable if you remember it when Kaden, the Monk in charge and Tan talk about Csestriim. His delay in mentioning it sooner might have made it harder to connect the two.

The only slightly frustration was when the narrator was using voices some of the changes between the monks and the Kettral veterans sounded the same to me.
In the end I would recommend the book. I am off to listen to the second one in the trilogy.

Overall I thought the characters were flawed like people are supposed to be. The plots engaging and made one want to listen to the end to see where the author was taking us. The interactions between characters held a nice degree of complexity yet were simple in their feel, even with the conflict between them. If you get the book give a a chance beyond the confusion of the prolonged and you can find the gem beyond.

An excellent start to a new epic fantasy

Gotta say it. I loved this one. An excellent epic fantasy opener to a series. I have just picked up the 2nd book, The Providence of Fire, and I can't wait to get started.

First off I'd have to say I 'read' this via audiobook. The narrator, Simon Vance, did an excellent job. He has a good range of voices and none of them sounded like he was stretching too far. He made most of the main players sound different enough that it was immediately obvious who's point of view we were in.

So the tale starts just after the death of the Emperor. It follows his 3 children. Kaden as he trains to be a monk, learning how to zen. Adare as she tries to uncover the truth behind her father's murder. And Valyn as he struggles to complete his training to become... what is essentially an assassin-y soldiery... kind of thing.

Most of the story centers around Valyn and that's a good thing because his is by far the most interesting. His portion has the most action and excitement. Kaden's part of the tale is largely exposition, setting the scene for the larger conflict that is to come. Adare's portion is... disjointed at best. It almost feels as though it didn't really need to be there at all, but she's being set up to have a much larger part to come.

There in lies my biggest criticism of the book as a whole. It feels very much like setting up a much grander story. The stakes for the finale were high, but the book did a good job of pointing out that they were soon going to be much higher.

Other criticism are the occasional bloating. At times it felt like chapters were bloated and could have been much shorter. It dragged the narrative down in places. I also feel that there were some large plot holes.

What I loved most about the book was the world building. The characters, especially Valyn and his Kettral, were very detailed and individual. Some of the interactions with bit players were a joy, and Valyn's side of the story was both riveting and gut-wrenching in places. Well-paced and well told.

The world building was fantastic. It's clear that Staveley has a good idea of the world he's created and how everyone and everything fits into it, both in the past and the present. He has an interesting depiction of magic, with defined boundaries and mysterious capabilities. He has created an interesting bestiary of creatures to populate the world. I don't usually say this, but I'd have liked a map to see where everything is located in relation to everything else. There might be a map in the book version, but they don't tend to come across too well in audio format.

Overall I give The Emperor's Blades about a 4. A thoroughly enjoyable start to a fantasy epic and I can't wait to start the second book.

Epic...ally long...

I got confused. Didn't realize the story was switching between two brothers until 1/2 way thru the story.

So good I'm listening a second time

So I got burned by my last few buys in the fantasy genre and had to come back to this story, the plot, character development, and wonderful style.


The narrator is superb as well.

I bought this series and loved them to the end!

Exciting and entertaining! Hard to stop listening.

I can't decide what I loved more the rich character, fascinating narrative, or excellent vocal performance. This is a fantastic fantasy novel that feels comfortable in the fantasy genre, yet it also feels unique.

I would highly recommend this book/audiobook. I have been searching for something to tide me over until GRRM finishes Winds of Winter and this hit the spot!