NetGalley Review: Empire of Exiles by Erin M Evans
Hey all, Sam here.
It’s the final day of Gen Con, and I think today is going to be a little more chill. I decided not to go to my Sunday panel, because it was technically one I went to last year, and all I had planned to do was to see if new advice came out this time around. Instead David and I are just going to walk around the exhibit hall and try out some games, and just try to see if there’s anything we missed over the past few days.
Which, okay, yes, we know there’s lots that we do miss every year. Gen Con is huge, and there’s just so much going on, and so everyone needs to pick and choose how to spend their time, knowing that they won’t be able to do everything. Heck, lots of people have spent the weekend waiting in like 14-16 hour lines to get an early release of the upcoming Lorcana game…which, I honestly can’t imagine waiting that long for a game that will be out to the general public in just a few weeks, especially after spending the money that it takes to come to Gen Con.
But, who am I to judge. If it makes their geeky hearts happy to wait in those lines for the chance at getting a product early, then I’m glad they’re enjoying themselves.
Anyway, let’s go ahead and jump into today’s book review…
My Thoughts
Magic, mystery, and revolution collide in this fantasy epic where an unlikely team of mages, scribes, and archivists must band together to unearth a conspiracy that might topple their empire.
“What makes this book special, even by Erin’s lofty goalposts, is the world she weaves around the characters. Detailed and mysterious, a place to explore and relish. Empire of Exiles is highly recommended!” – R.A. Salvatore, author or “The Legend of Drizzt” and the DemonWars novels
“The beginning of a truly epic tale. Deft worldbuilding and wonderful verbal fencing that is a delight to read. In these pages, you are in the hands of a master.” – Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms and internationally bestselling author
Twenty-seven years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared.
The empire moved on.
Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he’s on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He’s always found his apprenticeship to a lawman to be dull work. But these aren’t just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup.
Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion. With Quill being the main witness to the murder, and no one in power believing his story, he must join the Archivists — a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective — to solve the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire – or destroying it again.
“Empire of Exiles has it all: characters I love, intertwined compelling mysteries in the past and present, plot twists that keep coming, and a unique and fascinating world and magic system!” – Melissa Caruso, author of The Obsidian Tower
“Beautifully wrought and equally ensnaring, this book lived up to and then surpassed all my expectations.” – Cat Rambo, author of You Sexy Thing
Rating: 4 stars
To begin this review, I’ve been excited about this book since I heard about it at the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium 2022, and when I got an e-ARC from the publisher through NetGalley, I was excited and wanted to read it soon…but then life got busy and my reading slump kept me from reading a lot of what I wanted to. So, when I finally got around to picking this book up, the finished copy had been out in the world for months, and I had already purchased it. Now my finished copy is also signed, since I had the privilege of meeting author Erin M. Evans at Gen Con 2023.
I liked this book, but I wanted to love it. It took me longer than I would have liked to really get drawn into things. We begin the book with a before scene, from just after an attempted coup, and I found that section to be rather interesting and compelling…and then we jumped forward almost a few decades, and with new characters to follow, I had to readjust and while it was good, I didn’t feel that same drive and interest.
But I stuck with it, because I wanted to know what would happen, and I wanted to get more information about the uprising and attempted coup. And I’m really glad I stuck around, because the story really starts to build.
There’s a lot of time spent getting to know the characters and the world, and slowly weaving these threads of characters and intrigue together. If you keep going then the tapestry that is woven from all of these elements really becomes something quite fascinating. As more gets revealed, the pieces start to come together, and it makes you really want to keep going to learn more.
I’m also just a sucker for a seemingly motley crew of individuals with different skills and abilities coming together to solve a larger problem or a greater mystery. And I did really start to enjoy Quill and Amadea and Yinni and Richa.
I should also point out that I really found the magic system to be interesting, especially considering that it seemed to cause many of the characters to have to deal with panic spirals and panic attacks. Even more than that, a number of characters have to face PTSD and are dealing with grief, on top of these panic spirals, and I appreciated that none of these characters were portrayed as weak because of this. In fact, they were seen as strong because they had these struggles and faced them.
Anyway, I’m glad I read this book, and I definitely plan to pick up book two, which is set to be released in April 2024.
Here’s my signed copy of Empire of Exiles, plus a bookmark, a sticker, three character cards (Amadea, Yinni, and Quill), and then a bonus book I picked up by another author at that signing…the book is a graphic novel called Santa Claus: Private Eye and apparently the other 364 days a year Santa is actually a detective. It sounded interesting, so I’m hoping to read and review it soon.
Well, that is all from me for today. Now we just have the drive home from Gen Con, and even though we’ve had a lot of fun, it’ll be nice to be back home in our own bed and with our cats. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
