The Providence of Fire

Executive Summary: I liked it, but didn't love it. The supporting characters really shone, while the “Emperor's Blades” seemed dull.Audio book: Simon Vance is excellent as always. He was one of the main reasons I decided to try out [b:The Emperor's Blades 17910124 The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1) Brian Staveley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369246817s/17910124.jpg 25095579]. His performance is such that this series remains a must audio for me, even if it means waiting a bit longer to get my hands on the next book.Full ReviewSo I gave this book the same rating as [b:The Emperor's Blades 17910124 The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1) Brian Staveley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369246817s/17910124.jpg 25095579], and I think in many ways it's better. But I also had higher expectations coming in. I had none for the first book, and found myself pleasantly surprised.So I was looking forward to this. And since I got a review copy that was coming via USPS (twice), I had to wait an extra month to get my hands on it. That further built the anticipation as I watched friends who I had recommended the first one read and highly rate it.This book started off slow. With how the last one ended, I guess I was sort of expecting the book to hit the ground running. The last book is largely the “magic school” trope, although there isn't a whole lot of magic. But there is rigorous training and rivalries and the like. And some of the characters can do magic.So maybe my love of that trope, or the fact that they were “in training” made me less aware of just how STUPID The Emperor's kids are. There was no hiding that here. I'm not a big fan of the super smart, super capable protagonist who can't seem to do any wrong. But I hate the I'm going to pull a plan out of my ass and somehow things will work out mostly right in the end protagonist even worse.It'd be bad enough if one of them did. But all three of them did. And continued to do it. They didn't learn from their mistakes. They didn't really seem to grow as characters. They just kept being idiots. And selfish. It got pretty frustrating.So why did I give this 4 stars? Well two reasons mainly. One the story is interesting. The world building Mr. Stavely does in this book is especially intriguing. The pieces he put in place in this novel look to make for a really interesting third (and final?) book in this series.Secondly he has some great supporting characters. Some are returning from the first novel, and some are new. In particular I really enjoyed the POV chapters from a former supporting character who was given a chance to shine. They were easily my favorite chapters in the book. I only wish they had started sooner. Maybe even in the last book, but it wouldn't have made too much sense, so I understand the reasoning.So overall this book is better, but with higher expectations, I found myself a bit disappointed at the same time. But I'm looking forward to the next book. I think for a middle book there is a lot to like. Hopefully the Emperor's kids will get a clue by then.

The Emperor's Blades ???????????????The Providence of Fire ???????????????

Brian Staveley was a brand new author to me when I originally picked up The Emperor's Blades in 2018. With his first book, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Ever since that first book, I've been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to read the next book.

The second book focuses more on Adare than the first, and gives her the space to establish herself more in the story. In the first book, Adare was still in the capital playing a political game with the ministers surrounding her. In the second book, she has to leave the capital and finds herself trying to establish of her own. A lot of reviews are not impressed with Adare as she is frustrating, and makes stupid decisions. I don't really feel like this is a fair assessment of her arc in this book, she is operating with almost no information; of which probably a small amount is current. The reader knows more than Adare for a good chunk of the book! I feel like Adare made decisions as best she could with her lack of information, and made the best of a shitty situation.

I still thoroughly enjoyed the second book in this series, and would highly reccomend this series to anyone who reads. The complex, well paced plot that I adored in the first book slows down slightly in the second half of this book. The book never felt boring and I really enjoyed every second of it. I cannot wait to pick up the third book.

Terrible disappointment. After the first book constructed excellent premises for a really epic grimdark series... the second book does absolutely nothing with them. All the Shin training... for nothing. All the Kettral training... for nothing. All the life experiences of the 2 princes... for nothing. In here they are virtually different characters with the same names (and really really dumb ones at that) with a very weak story (not much of a story at all, actually). And the epic struggle expected since Kaden is suddenly Emperor? Not in this book...Will not continue the series (or the book, i gave up at 40% since it was really just wasting my time).

Pros: lots of intrigue, lots of action, lots of unexpected plot twists, fascinating characters, brilliant writing

Cons: middle drags a bit, lots of swearing

Note: this is book two of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, and as such both the synopsis and review contain spoilers for book one. If you haven't read The Emperor's Blades, it's a fantastic fantasy novel.

Picking up immediately where The Emperor's Blades left off, the novel continues to follow the murdered Emperor Sunlitan's children: Kaden, heir to the throne, is now able to enter the vaniate and use the Kenta gates built by the Csestriim; Valyn, is considered a traitor by the Ketral under whom he studied for the past 10 years, learning how to kill to protect the Empire; and Adare, who leaves the capital to find an army she can use to wrestle power from the general il Tornja.

There is so much going on in this book. The characters all travel a lot to get closer to their various aims, discover those aims need to change, and in the course of the book change drastically as people. It's fantastic seeing characters react to situations based on limited and often faulty information, make decisions that affect their future - often very negatively - and watch them muddle through. The book feels more like reading history than a structured work of writing. Alliances change, trust is misplaced and/or broken, characters do things they regret and see things they're helpless to stop.

Several battles pepper the book and the climax revolves around a war. There's a lot of action, blood and gore. There's also a lot of politicking, much of which went in directions I did not expect, especially in Kaden's storyline.

The characters are varied in how they act, react and change. They remain entertaining and engaging throughout the novel, though I did find that the middle of the book dragged a bit, especially around some of Adare's arc. The ending was fantastic though, and sets things up for what ought to be an amazing third book.

There is a lot of swearing, which fits the characters but isn't something I'm particularly keen on. I'd place this on the lighter side of grimdark, because most of the characters remain sympathetic, even as they often end up doing horrible things. It feels like a cross between Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and Daniel Abraham's Dagger and the Coin series.

I really recommend this series.

4.4 stars. Not as good as the first book which was a masterpiece but it was still very entertaining. The plot has shifted from a war to save the throne to now saving all of mankind and it is awesome. I feel like I know who the bad guy is but then it shifts points of view and then he doesn't seem so bad. I love that style of writing where the writer builds up the suspense and then gives the grand reveal at the very end. Stavevely has become one of my favorite writers and if the third book is as good as the first two then this will be a top 10 series for me!

Repeat lesson to self. Do not read a series that is incomplete. Else suffer the interminable wait that Brian may force upon me though March 2016 is not that far off. The Providence of fire sets an excellent pace and brings a whole lot of relief to the reader. Relief because its the second book that dictates whether the trilogy will be an epic or just another might have. Brian sails through easily. Each protagonist makes excellent progress and the story line is still muddled enough that while the end is predictable we have no clue how we will get there. The title of the last book is a bot of a giveaway though. So we get a few more Csestriim, we meet a few new gods and we also get a confrontation between another set of siblings. Maybe the final book will culminate with Kaden & Adare facing off. Who knows? Lots to look forward too. Highly recommended!

Every now and then, a book gives me a case of ???plot whiplash???: that feeling that I???ve been wrenched, twisted, and spun around in a roller-coaster ride of a story, when I can???t tell what???s going to happen next, or when things do not go the way I think they will go. This sort of thing can be a good thing, or a bad thing, of course: sometimes I get plot whiplash from a story that can???t seem to decide on what to do with itself, twisting and turning with no real purpose. This generally happens when a story has a confusing, overly-wrought, overly-convoluted plot that tries to be ???crafty??? and ???clever??? even when it doesn???t have to be, or in a way that just makes things even more confusing than they ought to be (example: the TV show Lost).

But every now and again, one encounters a story that delivers plot whiplash, but in a very, very good way: the twists are well-executed, and are done to push the story forward, as well as emphasise a specific concept or idea. George R.R. Martin???s A Song of Ice and Fire has its moments for this, as does Scott Lynch???s Gentlemen Bastards series. However, the space between twists is relatively large, and the reader has time to breathe???or rather, to believe that everything and everyone is safe, and then the twists comes from out of nowhere and slams one in the gut, taking one when one leasts expects it.

Brian Staveley???s The Providence of Fire, however, is something else entirely. The twists came hard, and fast, and there was barely any breathing room before the next one came pelting out of that one specific corner one didn???t expect it to come from. And this, I think, was a very good thing indeed.

The Providence of Fire is the second novel in Staveley???s Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series, and continues almost right from where the first novel, The Emperor???s Blades, left off. Valyn and Kaden, who have both survived assassination attempts on their lives, and have also managed to uncover the source of those attempts, now need to decide what to do next. Kaden wants to find the Ishien, a group of warrior-monks who, like the Shin, have found a way to use the kenta, a network of gates that can only be used by those who have mastered the vaniate, a trance that wipes away all of one???s emotions for as long as the trance holds. Valyn, on the other hand, wants to get Kaden to Annur as quickly as possible, as well as strike back against Ran il Tornja, the man behind the plot to wipe out the entire Malkeenian line. In the meantime, in Annur, Adare is trying to find a way to strike back at Ran, whom she now knows is responsible for her father???s death. She???s not entirely sure whom she can trust???except, perhaps, the people whom she has just made into her enemies: the Sons of Light, the militant arm of Intarra???s faith. However, she knows that winning them to her cause will be difficult, because it was she who crippled them in the first place when she executed High Priest Uinian, and then issued a set of laws that basically hobbled the Sons of Light and the entire religious infrastructure for Intarra???s worship in the first place. But the enemy of her enemy is likely her friend, and so she decides to go to escape from the Dawn Palace, to leave her life as a princess behind, and ask for the help of those whom she so recently cut down.

In my review for the first novel, I stated that there was not a lot going on, and it was quite true: The Emperor???s Blades was devoted, primarily, to character development and to setting the stage. In that book, the reader is encouraged to really get to know the characters, to really get into their heads and understand why they do the things they do, and act the way they act. It also firmly establishes that the Malkeenian siblings, unlike many other noble, royal, or imperial siblings in other fantasy novels, are most assuredly not out to kill each other for the throne. For reasons of their own (a combination of sibling love and duty, for the most part), they all decide that only one person (Kaden) may rightfully sit the Unhewn Throne, and the others (Adare and Valyn) will do whatever they can to make sure that Kaden does just that. It was this devotion to each other, and to their duty, that made me fall in love with the siblings and really want to know what happened to them further down the line.

But this happy equilibrium cannot last, no matter how much wishing and crossing of fingers I or any reader may do in the hopes that, come hell or high water, the Malkeenians come out of this whole mess with their regard for each other intact. It was already quite clear in the first novel that Staveley had something very big planned, and The Providence of Fire proves that he???s very much up to the task of turning his series into something absolutely explosive, and absolutely heartbreaking.

The first proof of this is how the world in which the novel is set appears to grow, with more and more details about the world as a whole coming to the fore. For example, in the previous novel Adare???s chapters (such as they were) were limited to the premises of the Dawn Palace; in this novel, the reader gets a glimpse of the rest of the city???specifically, the slums and poorer quarters that were completely absent in the first novel. The Providence of Fire gives Annur the feel of a proper, living, breathing city???something that was absent in The Emperor???s Blades. More non-Annurians also make an appearance: the Urghul, for instance, become prominent actors in this novel, as do the Ishien. As for the Csestriim, they, too, become exceedingly important in this novel, though how that is I will not say.

Another clear indication of how Staveley is ramping up the plot is how he???s started to chart the individual stories of his three protagonists. I said in the first novel that Sanlitun was wise to raise his children as he did, but in this novel, it becomes clear that though there was wisdom in his actions, it wasn???t completely foolproof, either. Adare, in particular, is a great example of this (which I find especially interesting, since it???s obvious that, of the three siblings, she was the one who spent the most time with Sanlitun). I really like how Staveley has taken the time to really, truly develop Adare in this novel, to really flesh her out and make her into a character worth reading about, and more than worth getting attached to. I especially like how she realises that she???s made a mistake???several mistakes???and is determined to fix them as best as she can. In order to do this she takes a great many risks, second-guessing herself at every turn, and all the time wondering if she???s done the right thing, if she???s made the right decision???but not for herself, no, never for herself. She???s always wondering if what she???s doing is what???s best for the empire, because if there is one thing Adare wants to be, it is worthy of her father and his legacy, and I love how Staveley hinges so much upon that particular motivation, which is, really, what???s defined Adare from the very beginning of the series. As for Kaden and Valyn, it???s not an easy journey for them, either. Valyn must come to grips with the fact that he???s no longer as human as he used to be (because of certain events that take place in the first novel), and that he might not be as great a Kettral as he assumed he would be. As for Kaden, he???s under a lot of pressure to master the vaniate, because without it he cannot use the kenta efficiently, The one thing that all three of them must learn, though, is that they are leaders, but also human. This means they are going to make mistakes, and they must learn to live with the consequences of those mistakes. It is here that the characters really shine as characters (if not necessarily as people): they make decisions thinking it is the right one, only to learn later on that their decisions were the wrong ones, and try their very best to correct them. But all three are united in their conviction that what they do, they do for the benefit of their people???a conviction which leads to some very heartbreaking moments in the latter third of the novel, when the reader is forced to accept that the Malkeenian siblings??? regard for one another cannot withstand the greater events of the world around them.

And those events are mind-blowing, to say the least. The plot of this novel is such that events happen very, very quickly, one right after the other, but for all that everything in the story seems to happen at breakneck speed, Staveley manages to ensure that most of them don???t feel implausible. When certain spectacular revelations are made (and they are truly spectacular; they???re the reason I got plot-related whiplash in the first place), it???s easy to look back a few pages, or even to think back to the first novel, and realise that the groundwork???s already been laid for such surprises. It???s become such that one cannot take a single detail in any of the novels for granted, because one never knows if they will become vital to something very big further down the line.

Overall, The Providence of Fire fulfilled every expectation promised in The Emperor???s Blades, and, moreover, built up on those expectations and made them even bigger. With the reader almost certainly invested in the fate of the Malkeenian siblings and certain other characters (such as the members of Valyn???s Wing; or Pyrre Lakatur, the Skullsworn assassin), Staveley takes the reader on a wild ride that twists and turns and makes promises for something bigger, something grander, further down the line. Since Staveley has proven he???s capable of delivering on his promises, I???m very much looking forward to the next book in the series. 2016 can???t come soon enough.

2.5 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Picking up where series-starter The Emperor's Blades left off, siblings Adare, Valyn, and Kaden, continue their fight to save the Annurian Empire. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the first book, but any goodwill that carried over to book #2 quickly evaporated. Gone are the training sequences, monk wisdom, and black ops action scenes that made the first book so absorbing. There is more bloodshed, fighting, and military maneuvering here, and the scope has expanded to such a degree that more intimate, personal narratives are left in the dust.

I had seen some stellar reviews from people I trust, but this didn't end up being for me. I don't think I'll finish the trilogy, but I am intrigued by Skullsworn, a prequel novel that focuses on Pyrre, an assassin that has been a fun side character in this series. I have faith in Brian Staveley as an author and I hope my dislike The Providence of Fire came more from the story evolving out of my comfort zone, than from the quality of the narrative he is telling.