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I'm a very big fan of the other series I read by Richard Swan so was super intrigued by this one.
Richard Swans books are very well fleshed out, the world building is impeccable.
It's ne of those books you will read and forget you're reading because you get so sucked in the world.
Can't wait for more!

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Richard Swan's Grave Empire is one of my favourite reads of 2024.

Set around 200 years after The Empire of the Wolf trilogy, the story expands upon an already intriguing world. We follow a number of different character POVs, with their motivations not all equal!

Each of these arcs takes us to new parts of the Empire as well as to realms outside, with each journey linked to an arcane horror threatening the entire world.

I was hooked from the very start and engaged throughout. The pacing was consistently great, and I loved the third-person perspective taken. As you'd come to expect from this series, there is plenty of suspense and gruesome horror!

For those who haven't read the previous trilogy, do not despair, as this novel works so well on its own. The history of the Empire and events of the last series are referenced, though very subtley, and this book sets up the next trilogy incredibly well.

Finally, a huge thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for the ARC of this book.

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. What I think the author does exceptionally well in this book is the world building and atmosphere. It was really interesting to see how the world had changed and progressed since the events of the first trilogy. It was amazing how effective the author was at creating a creepy, gloomy atmosphere. The blend of fantasy and horror elements is quite unusual, but done very well! The battle scenes also did really capture the chaos of those moments. The characters, as I expected from the first series, are complex and varied with their motivations and morality. I do think that the pacing in this was not quite right particularly in the first half, but I blew through the second half. Highly recommend! While not essential, I would start with the author's previous series set in the same world as it will enhance the experience,

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If the previous trilogy saw the Empire of the Wolf in a medieval age, this trilogy sees the Empire in an industrial revolution with gunpowder, muskets and cannons.
We follow the POVs of three characters, although it is a bit unbalanced towards two of them. Renata is a human ambassador to the mermen, and her story begins when two monks confess that they tried to talk to the dead, but no one answered, so they assume it's due to a prophecy called the Great Silence, which will also affect mortals. Death magic is forbidden, so she starts to investigate what's going on.
Peter Kleist is a nobleman who never wanted to join the military, but he is sent to fight for the Sovan Empire in the Near East, a desolate area where strange things happen. Von Oldenburg is the bad guy of the story and has less chapters with his POV than the first two (fortunately, I might add).

I loved Renata and Peter. I thought they were well characterised, and I was glad to see that the author gives voice to men's emotions through Peter. Peter is not your typical brave hero, he's reluctant and just wants to go home. I can't say the same about the Count of Oldenburg, who is simply meant to be unlikable.

The world is described with a very lush and descriptive prose and I could feel myself immersed in the creepy atmosphere that the author has cleverly created. Even though necromancy et similia is not my cup of tea, I think the magic system was original in the fantasy genre, it was interesting and I am curious to know what role it will play in the sequel. What I liked most was the presence of different races, such as wolfmen and mermen, with magical and somewhat mysterious origins and customs.
What I think could have been handled a bit differently was the huge amount of place and world building names, which were often a patchwork of German words. I couldn't keep up because there was no map in the ARC, so I struggled to follow where the characters were and at some point I just couldn't. I hope to see a map and glossary in the final edition because different people use different words to say the same thing, which is cool and I loved it, but it was confusing.

The whole story started off a little slow to introduce the characters and the setting and then picked up towards the middle of the book. As I mentioned before, the author did a great job of creating a terrifying atmosphere throughout the story and I felt a constant sense of fear looming over me. The action scenes had the perfect rhythm and tension, but I often found them a bit confusing and struggled to understand what was going on. Luckily, everything was explained in the following chapter, but I would have liked to have had the chance to think about these scenes and form theories in my head.

All in all, even if some of the ingredients were not my cup of tea, Richard Swan managed to blow me away with a great world building, characters to root for and a creepy and dark story that kept me on the edge of my seat.
I would go a bit far and predict that this could easily be the best dark fantasy of the 2025s (fingers crossed!).

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All the reviews of this book I’ve seen so far are very positive and maybe that skewed my reading and my expectations were raised to high because I just didn’t feel the love for this book, I have almost read (DNF to be honest) other books by this author and I finally have to give up and say his writing is not for me, I’m sure many many readers will love it, not me however

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