“A bagful of gold is the diplomat’s best weapon. If you cannot buy your enemy with its contents, you can crack his skull with it.”

The Great Silence has been revealed, the mind-rot plague spreads, and Sova is desperately scrambling to find a way to keep the Eye of Sea firmly closed, for should the Vorr and other creatures from the Holy dimension break free, humanity will end. In an attempt to save the world Sova’s task force sends Renata Rainer to Casimir to help form a peace agreement and hopefully an alliance, whilst Peter Kleist must once again face the horrors of the catmen and return to the forest where he was captured to seek arcane answers and retrieve a weapon which could hold the power to defeat their enemies. In the midst of this is von Oldenburg who never ceases to cause chaos and leads what he sees as a holy revolution that would bring down the Nema creed and see the nations lead by a terrible force. 

Steel Gods by Richard Swan is the phenomenal sequel to Grave Empire. Once again prepare to be plunged into a fantasy horror full of supernatural terrors, exciting naval warfare, and characters facing their worst nightmares. 

As we return to Renata, who is still reeling from all that had been uncovered surrounding the threat of The Great Silence, we learn that she now plays a pivotal role as Ambassador to not only the Stygion (mer-men) but also in the wider political affairs of Sova. This responsibility hangs heavy as she is still in the midst of grief and understandably the weight of the fate of the world hangs heavy over her. Yet in this sequel Richard Swan pushes his characters even further, he’s an absolute monster to them! As Renata faces even more horrific ordeals, her resilience is tested and toward the end her story arc became unputdownable. As did Peter Kleist’s narrative because his own horrific ordeals only worsened. Though it was not all doom and gloom for him and I loved that Peter and the Draedist Olwin shared an interesting relationship between them. Two people from two different worlds and cultures coming together in a time when all seemed hopeless. Their pleasure in each other’s companionship and their comfort in one another helped to bring some warmth and light to an otherwise grim world. Then as Peter visited the catmen, his discoveries with the Kato and Tree-man made for some fascinating chapters that had me glued to the pages. 

“You were the reason Sova was able to claim these lands. A thought is but thought without hand to give life. Conquest is thought. Soldier is hand, jes?”

I had a few new favourite characters this time around, Lyzander and Azura Ozolinsh. As they both deal with the events taking place in Sova, they become trapped in a mad frenzied battle which really had tensions running high and I could hardly predict what would happen to them both. Ozolinsh now being a paraplegic was thoughtfully depicted showing her facing limitations and many health problems but also showing her strength to endure and survive. Swan also gives us a few new characters, Captain Jason Laine and Kaito Kuroda, and though it took some time to see how their arcs fitted into the overall story, it all came together fantastically at the end. Then there was our ultimate madman, von Oldenburg who I didn’t think could become any more unhinged but I was very wrong! This is a character who was always one step ahead, a manipulative violent psychopath who believed the Vorr to be gods and his crusade had zero limits. Basically, he’s a fantastic villain to despise. 

The political aspects of this book are done excellently too, without becoming dry and losing my interest. Swan kept me engaged by presenting further prickly tensions between Sova and Casimir, right at the point where Renata was trying to unite them. Furthermore the Victorianists and the Conformist churches are also at a disarray in Sova. The enemy forces use this discord to their advantage by keeping all eyes away from what is actually happening in the arcane dimension, and then political figures use it to their advantage to gain more power and higher positions. Swan builds the stakes up phenomenally and shows the game of war from all sides. This actually reminded me of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time and Rand’s own struggle to unite the lands, so I was excited to see the intricacies of that here too. Then, just as we had been anticipating, as we reached the end of the novel there were some fantastic naval battle scenes. Soldiers, sailors and the Kasar all against enemy thralls using only muskets, bayonets, and cannons. Then underwater the mer-men waged their battle to protect the Eye of the Sea and in turn witnessed an epic and catastrophic battle between two ancient creatures. 

Steel Gods ends in the best way possible, it’s thrilling, jaw dropping and left me desperately wanting more. Swan gives us a sequel of epic proportions, it’s a must-read! 

ARC provided by Nazia at Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review—thank you for the copy!

Grave Empire and Steel Gods are both out now – you can order your copy on Bookshop.org