We Lie With Death
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The empire has fallen and another rises in its place in the action-packed sequel to We Ride the Storm, Devin Madson's brutal and breathtaking epic fantasy. Into Kisia's conquered north, a Levanti empire is born. Loyal to the new emperor, Dishiva e'Jaroven must tread the line between building a new life and clinging to the old. But his next choice will challenge all she thinks she knows and everything she wants to believe. Now empress of nothing, Miko is more determined than ever to claim her empire, yet as her hunt for allies grows increasingly desperate, she may learn too late that power lies not in names but in people. Abandoned by the Second Swords, Rah must choose a new path. Will honor be his salvation, or lead to his destruction? Sold to the Witchdoctor, Cassandra's only chance of freedom is in his hands, but when her fate becomes inextricably linked to Empress Hana, her true nature could condemn them both. There is no calm after the storm.
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4 primary books#2 in The Reborn Empire
The Reborn Empire is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Devin Madson.
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Second books in series are undeniably challenging. The characters are there, the world is created. By nature they tend to be explorations rather than completely new things. We Lie With Death is definitely in that character. It definitely feels like a middle book in a series.
Three main plots are followed, although they do interweave a bit, especially towards the start and ends of the novel. The first one follows the deposed empress and one of the disgraced invaders. This plot is kind of a typical questing journey type thing. It meanders somewhat, but we do learn a bit more about two key characters from the first book and get to see a bit more of a part of the world that was not really delved into previously. The second main plot is more on the politicking of the conquerors. Here we see the influence of a nefarious outside presence starting to have a malign influence on things. This ties into our final plot that dives a bit more into the source of this malign influence.
The book does wander around quite a bit and parts of it are a bit bloated, but there is definitely a sense of build towards something more climactic. The characters are definitely delved into more. Some of the more interesting cultural conflict established in the first book is lost a bit which is a shame. This is a solid middle book in a series. Nothing spectacular but definitely leaves me intrigued towards continuing
Huuuuuuge disappointment. The first book was absolutely great, 5/5, but this is just a slug. I gave up at 50%, bored and annoyed since absolutely nothing happens. Nothing! No action, no character development, no worldbuilding... just useless, endless talk.
