The Empire of Ashes

Executive Summary: Another solid book. I thought this was a much better ending to this series than [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753] was to his previous series.Audiobook: Steve West once again does a great job. I wish they would have just used him for the whole series rather than switching after one book. He does a variety of voices that adds that little something extra to the audio to make it worth listening over reading in my opinion.Full ReviewI absolutely loved [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421573407s/13569581.jpg 19148922], which seems to be a fairly popular consensus among my friends on Goodreads. I also loved [b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1382486392s/18138189.jpg 25481154] which was much less of a consensus. However most seemed to agree that [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753] was not a great ending to what I thought was an otherwise amazing series.I was initially reluctant to pick this series up as a result. Getting a free review copy made me give it a chance and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't enjoy it as much as his first series but it was an improvement over [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753].I keep referring back to that book because it loomed large in my mind as I went into this book. The last two books were good, but could he stick the landing this time? To me the answer is yes. I didn't love this book like [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421573407s/13569581.jpg 19148922]/[b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1382486392s/18138189.jpg 25481154], but it wasn't a drop off in quality from the previous books in this series that I felt [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753] was.Once again my favorite story belongs to Lizanne, or as I like to call her “Jane Bond”. I loved the idea of a secret agent with magic powers and cool gadgets that let her harness her magic powers in fun ways. With regards to the others POVs, they were good enough. I was originally not a big fan of Clay, but his story got much better as the series went on. Hilemore felt completely disconnected at the start of the series but became relevant by the end of the first book. His POV felt a bit redundant/unnecessary at the start of this book, but was important again later on.I did find some parts of this book slow, but it was always entertaining. I'm a big fan of dragons, so that helped carry me through some of the slower parts.It sounds like Anthony Ryan will be returning to the world of his Raven's Shadow series next (which I'm cautiously optimistic about), but I'd happily read another book set in the Draconis Memoria world if he decides to make one down the road.