The Guns of Empire
Ratings17
Average rating4.2
As the “audacious and subversive”* Shadow Campaigns novels continue, the weather is growing warmer, but the frosty threat of Vordan’s enemies is only growing worse... As the roar of the guns subsides and the smoke of battle clears, the country of Vordan is offered a fragile peace… After their shattering defeats at the hands of brilliant General Janus bet Vhalnich, the opposing powers have called all sides to the negotiating table in hopes of securing an end to the war. Queen Raesinia of Vordan is anxious to see the return of peace, but Janus insists that any peace with the implacable Sworn Church of Elysium is doomed to fail. For their Priests of the Black, there can be no truce with heretics and demons they seek to destroy, and the war is to the death. Soldiers Marcus d’Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass find themselves caught between their general and their queen. Now, each must decide which leader truly commands their loyalty—and what price they might pay for final victory. And in the depths of Elysium, a malign force is rising—and defeating it might mean making sacrifices beyond anything they have ever imagined.
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5 primary books7 released booksThe Shadow Campaigns
The Shadow Campaigns is a 7-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Django Wexler.
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Executive Summary: Can I have book 5 now? Please? This series has become one of my most anticipated new releases for the last few years, and Mr. Wexler once again delivers. Don't sleep on this series!Audiobook: I like Richard Poe as a narrator. He has good volume and inflection, and does a few voices to boot. I think this is a series that works great in audio, and Mr. Poe adds a little extra to story with his reading.Full Review[b:The Price of Valor 23435269 The Price of Valor (The Shadow Campaigns, #3) Django Wexler https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1423008261s/23435269.jpg 42905071] was one of my top reads last year, and I've been eagerly waiting for this book ever since. As my rare five star rating would indicate, I really enjoyed this one too. Mr. Wexler is setting the bar extremely high for the final book next year.Four books into this series, and it continues to delight. Much like the previous book it struck the right balance between politics and military action to keep me constantly engaged. It's a book I always hated to stop each day and looked forward to getting back to. That's usually my main criteria to push a solid 4 or 4.5 star book to the rare 5 star rating.At first blush, you might see this series and think it's just another military fantasy series. However the early books always felt more like low fantasy to me, and even these later books don't revolve entirely around the magic. What makes this series so great is the characters. Winter Ihernglass has probably become one of my all time favorites. And if Winter wasn't great enough, there is both Raesinia and Marcus. However I think more than anything is the supporting characters. It's hard to make a reader care about your protagonists. It's even harder to make them care about the secondary characters, who often don't get the kind of depth as the POV characters. I love them all, and worry constantly anytime they are threatened.This book really ramps up the stakes and set the stage for the fifth and final book, while still managing to come to a satisfactory stopping point. I can't wait to see how it ends! I highly recommend checking out this series.
