The Destroyer's Empire

God's Game Series, Book 2

By: Tiffany Brazell

Narrated by: Emily Lawrence

Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

A doomed rebellion…. An imperial proposition…. A gambit in the God’s Game….

What Salmaara has done to Yezhr haunts her. Above all else, she believes in the freedom to choose, fights for it. But in a desperate moment on a mauviasen clifftop, she took that from her lithian captor.

Prior to his tragic death, Salmaara ’s father told her his secret. Her true mother is Queen Kusae, she who fights the empress. But, Kusae is losing the war, and badly. The rebel queen’s forces are trapped in Arvitra Basin, surrounded, with no way out.

But that won’t stop Salmaara. She’s determined to reunite with her mother, and help her if she can. But will her mother want her back? Why was she thrown in the river in the first place?

Before she knows it, she’s swept up in imperial intrigues that take her from a city built into redwoods and a waterfall castle, to a treasure-filled palace made entirely of precious starsya, the most expensive metal in the world.

Will she save her mother, her people, and her friends by taking the hand of kinship offered by the Empress Velanoma? Or, will she risk her freedom, her life, her very soul to stand against Vias the Destroyer’s chosen for what she feels is right?

“Imaginative and vast, The Destroyer’s Empire is a big story vividly told, sure to satisfy fans of epic fantasy.” (Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times best-selling author of The Saga of Seven Suns)

“Tiffany Brazell's imagination takes off where others’ end. This is a tale of high magic that is sure to please.” (David Farland, New York Times best-selling author of The Runelords)

©2020 Regalis Publishing, LLC (P)2023 Regalis Publishing, LLC

Wonderful!

I see I get honor of the first review.

The world the author created is both deep and captivating, with well-developed characters and a rich system of magic. I especially appreciated the fact that the main protagonists were female. We have series after series of young men struggling to find their way in the world. The scales were tipped a bit with this work.

If you have ever read and enjoyed the works of Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan or N.K. Jemisin, you will enjoy this series from Tiffany Brazzell.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first in this series, but this installment really showed Ms. Brazzell coming into her own as an author. I suspect we will see many more great works from her in the future.

The narrator, Emily Lawrence, should also be commended. I don’t often look into the narrator’s body of work, but she impressed me. A narrator can either elevate or diminish an authors work. She was a great fit for this tale.

Heroes are created by their choices

Great book! Some fantasy works end up straying from their strengths. I love that this sticks with the core heroes we’ve come to cheer for. Shows off friendship and loyalty. The series is a really unique dive into free will. So much of the journey and battle is about choices, including the power to control others. Would you violate somebody’s mind if it were life-or-death? Where do you draw the line? More philosophical than many books that too often boil down to who has the most power or the best swordplay.