As someone who loved the Empire of the Wolf trilogy, I was very excited to get my hands on this. Set in the same world, but two hundred years later, Grave Empire gives us a snapshot into how the world and the Sovan Empire has evolved over time.
The book is very much the first in a trilogy. There is a lot of 'setting up', laying the groundwork for events that will surely follow in books two and three. Therefore, at times the pacing felt a little slow, however the world is richly described and almost every page is an attack on your senses, so I was intrigued enough to keep reading.
There are three main POV characters throughout, and an army of a supporting cast surrounding each one. Renata, an ambassador's assistant to the merman - a people that live deep underwater. She is finally called upon to take the long journey to meet the people she has spent her life studying, on a quest to discover the truth of the Great Silence.
Peter, a newly promoted captain in the army, sent to the far reaches of the world, where monsters lurk in every shadow. He doesn't want to be a soldier, certainly doesn't want to be in the far reaches of the world. What he will discover there is set to haunt him for a lifetime.
And finally, Count van Oldenburg, a senator besotted with the arcane. He too has heard of the Great Silence, but instead of trying to fight it, he wants to harness the power that comes with it. He is (intentionally I assume) dislikable, but we all love someone to hate in a book!
So three people from different backgrounds, different worlds in many ways, end up facing up to the same problem in different ways. It is not a casual read. I think Richard may have swallowed a thesaurus at some point whilst writing it! It is a book that requires your full attention, keeps you on your toes. Very different to the trilogy it succeeds, but in a way that keeps the Sovan Empire evolving and gives it a different feel to what has come before.
Roll on book two
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