When I first heard that Grave Empire would return readers back into the world of Richard Swan’s first trilogy, I was super excited, when I discovered that it would be set in the future and would be a flintlock fantasy I was even more delighted. In Swan’s capable hands I knew this would be a tale of chilling mysteries, explosive action and epic adventure and I was not wrong. 

Much has changed in The Empire of the Wolf as the world now stands on the verge of an Industrial Revolution. Yet it is also a world still filled with perils, in the lands of the wolfmen in the Kyarai, war is moments away, in the northern region a mysterious plague rapidly spreads and in the New East screams in the night and savagely murdered bodies haunt the Sovan army. The Empire has outlawed the use of the arcane but when two monks bring rumours of a prophecy, The Great Silence, which could spell the End Days, answers from those who still have contact with the spirit realm must be sought. The Empire must seek out the wolfmen and the hostile and violent Stygion, the mer-men, to truly discover if the end of the world is at hand. 

Swan easily draws us into his novel with three compelling POV as we follow Peter, Renata and Von Oldenburg, each on separate missions. I immediately liked Peter, our young Sovan Leitenant who never really wanted to join the army but strove to make his father proud and the rest of his family respect him. Yet the deeper Peter delves into his task of uncovering the mystery in the New East where eerie sounds, horrific visions and nightmares become reality, the more he regrets ever joining the army. There’s a vulnerable and lonely aspect to Peter that made me sympathise with his plight but also his journey takes some dramatic turns and I couldn’t help but be hooked by what he discovers. The same can be said for Secretary Renata, who as an ambassador for the Stygion race instantly piqued my interest, I mean who wouldn’t want to know more about their species! Renata seems somewhat of an inexperienced ambassador having never met any of the mer-men, yet she adapts to her situation with professionalism and as her tasks evolve quite dramatically, so does she. 

“It was the silence that bothered him most. He felt like they should be snarling, that writhing mass of demented, rabid humans. They should have been screeching and crying and screaming and hooting and hollering, they should have been making every fearful and angry noise the human mouth and throat could produce.”

There are monsters of many kinds throughout this novel but one human monster came in the form of Von Oldenburg who was an absolute despicable, selfish, narcissistic, and purely evil ‘mad scientist’. He was a man who seeked to bring back the use of the arcane powers that Sova once wielded but to use it for his own ends, and those who perished by his experiments didn’t exactly keep him awake at night. Though I was horrified by his actions, I simultaneously couldn’t help but be fascinated by his discoveries. Von Oldenburg had a deep interest in the Pagans and Draedists and so we learn of their skills as he keeps his Draedist witch, Yelena, close by. Yelena is much more of a likeable character and although her reasons for staying with Oldenburg puzzled me, it was good to see her reprimand him for his callousness. 

Swan’s inclusion of supernatural elements and the afterlife have always been one of my favourite aspects of his writing. In Grave Empire with there being three separate mysteries connected to the spirit realm I was thoroughly engaged throughout. Swan once again presents us with a grimdark world and there were plenty of beings in this novel that were absolutely nightmare fuelled and veered the novel more towards the horror genre. The Knackerman was a particularly terrifying figure as were the zombie-like creatures in the north. However my favourite creatures and in fact my favourite scenes were in the underwater world of Ozeanland with the Stygion. I personally haven’t read many adult fantasy books featuring mer-men and so this made me feel rather excited to explore their civilisation, and honestly, Swan did not disappoint! I loved that they were not whimsical beings, they’re a species prone to anger and have plenty of ways to defend themselves. 

“Tis’ a good thing the Stygion lay beyond our grasping reach;

I am convinced such a war would be catastrophic for the forces of Sova. Who could hope to prevail against a race of creatures who grapple daily with the elemental forces of the ocean itself?”

AMBASSADOR ANETE JEKABSONE

As you may tell this time around we also see more of the Empire and I wholly enjoyed this expansion outside of Sova. Swan has always been excellent at painting a realistic picture of war-torn lands and here we see vividly just how countries are affected when a war breaks out. The press of refugees caught in the crossfire, children slaughtered, the confusion, panic, the sound of cannon blasts and musket fires, the stench of bloodshed. The conflict isn’t limited to land as a battle with the Stygion breaks out which proves to be just as destructive and violent. Swan illustrates that war in itself is the End Times even without the threat of the prophecy. 

Grave Empire is a truly remarkable page-turning, Flintlock fantasy horror. Swan’s created quite the addictive read that will leave readers anticipating what more could possibly come.

ARC provided by Nazia at Orbit Books. Thank you for the copy!  All quotes are taken from an early ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Grave Empire is out now! You can order your copy HERE