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Over a century ago, the changelings overran the known world, destroying the ten great empires. Their survivors fled west, finding refuge in the small nation of Semilla, erecting the great Salt Wall behind them to prevent the changelings from following. Behind the Wall, the refugees have built a new civilisation, but have brought some of their old problems with them. A generation ago, a devastating civil war shattered the fragile peace and the pains of that conflict have not been fully resolved.
The memories of that war are stirred when a cold-blooded murder takes place in front of a dozen witnesses, with the killer taking his own life. The killer's best friend, the scribe Quill, is adamant that his friend would not be able to hurt a fly, and his actions have to be the result of outside influence. His investigation, pressing against tides of scepticism, starts exposing secrets many wish had been left untouched...and hinting of a greater threat to all of Semilla.
It's been some time since I sat down and enjoyed a new epic fantasy series. The subgenre had felt oversaturated for a while. Empire of Exiles, the first novel in The Books of the Usurper, helps overcome that genre-ennui by bringing enough fresh ideas to the table whilst still retaining that core appeal of a group of characters coming together to face a threat in a well-realised secondary world.
It helps that the author, Erin Evans, is neither a newcomer nor a slouch. Her six-volume Brimstone Angels series was one of the brightest rays of sunshine to emerge from the otherwise highly troubled 4th Edition period of the Forgotten Realms shared world, and she brings that experience to bear here. Empire of Exiles lands with a bang (a brutal murder, with a clear culprit), immediately complicates things (the murderer has no motive or prior history to suggest why he would do such a thing) and then gradually builds up the story and the world around it in impressive complexity.
We have two primary POV characters. Sesquillio Haigu-lan Seupu-lai, or Quill, starts off feeling like the traditional "callow youth who grows into being a world-saving champion," but what he lacks in experience is made up for by his intelligence and his impressive tenacity. His refusal to believe in a simply illogical situation - his best friend of a decade suddenly turning into a killer for no reason - becomes infectious and causes other people to start doubting the sequence of events. His confidence is also generally well-earned, and it's nice to see a character like this who isn't immediately dismissed as a total lunatic and his arguments are engaged with seriously.
The second major POV is Amadea Gintanas, Archivist Superior at the Imperial Archives, who is in charge of the records and lore of Semilla. Amadea is the older, more no-nonsense, take-charge kind of character who cuts through BS and keeps the plot on track, but she is also harbouring trauma from the civil war twenty-plus years earlier, in which she played a very reluctant part. She is also in charge of a collection of novices and students who are gifted, able to wield magic.
Magic in this setting is original and interesting. Some people - specialists - have affinities for certain substances, like ink, bronze or glass, and can manipulate that substance: one character uses her ability to manipulate ink to "pull" sensitive information out of a letter and hide it under her skin whilst it's shown to someone else, and return it later on. They can also manipulate the constituent parts of those substances, so glass-sensitives also have power over sand. The problem is that they can also become addicted to their powers, and even overdose on them to their own destruction (or those around them). Such a risk is heightened during certain times of year, which vary by substance; this is known as coming into alignment. One of Amadea's jobs is keeping her students on the straight and narrow and out of harm's way when using their powers. It's an intriguing form of magic, only lightly explored in this first book.
There are also smaller POV roles. Richa Langyun, the investigator assigned to the murderers, is refreshingly standard for such a character: he is committed to finding out the truth, no matter how many important toes he steps on in the process, and is gruff but seems to have a heart of gold. Fortunately he doesn't start the story four days from retirement. Yinii Six-Owl ul-Benturan is a specialist in ink and one of Amadea's students, who also allies with Quill early in his investigation, and provides a valuable POV on the use of magic in the setting.
The book also strikes a good balance between dropping us into the action and getting on with business - the book is just 340 pages long but packs in more worldbuilding, character and thematic development, and plot than some volumes twice that size - and explaining what is going on. Exposition is brief, pertinent and usually only delivered where necessary, which is a good balance between the Eriksonian "what the hell is happening?" in media res approach and the alternative of stopping the action every few chapters for a TED Talk on magic, religion and history.
The world is fascinating, and it's interesting that we get two large maps, one of the entire explored world and one of Semilla, but almost the whole story happens in the city of Arlabecca by itself (and a lot of it in just one building, the Imperial Archives). The world map at first feels useless, but as the backstory is revealed and the true horror of what happened to the old civilisations becomes clear, the map shows the sheer odyssey some of the refugee columns had to endure to get to safety. It's a good use of a map to enhance the storytelling rather than just existing as a reference.
With a rich world, solid characters, interesting-but-not-overwrought magic system and an enjoyable mystery plot (expanding into something grander later on), this is a compelling novel. It does have a few weaknesses. One is that it feels like the author was trying hard not to let the book become too dark, so sometime the tone feels a little unsteady with some humour appearing where it doesn't feel apt. Some of the less-well-drawn students in the Archives feel a bit whimsical or comic relief even when it's not really logical to be so. Another issue is that the ten civilisations aren't entirely human, or some were hybrids of humans and other things, so some of the people in the book appear to be entirely human, some have ram's horns coming out of their head and the most alien have tons of octopus-like tentacles. This is mentioned early on and doesn't really come up again, to the point that two characters might be having a conversation with the reader entirely unaware that one of them is not fully human until they casually use their tentacles to pick something up, which can be a little jarring (there being a quick reference to confirm which species is which would have helped).
The maps by Francesa Baerald are also beautiful but designed to be seen in colour; the black-and-white reproductions in the physical books aren't very readable, so I had to download copies from her website to read them better.
But these issues are mostly ignorable. Empire of Exiles (****) is a solidly enjoyable opening to this series, with an interesting world that seems ripe for further exploration. A sequel, Relics of Ruin, is available now and a third book is on its way.
The memories of that war are stirred when a cold-blooded murder takes place in front of a dozen witnesses, with the killer taking his own life. The killer's best friend, the scribe Quill, is adamant that his friend would not be able to hurt a fly, and his actions have to be the result of outside influence. His investigation, pressing against tides of scepticism, starts exposing secrets many wish had been left untouched...and hinting of a greater threat to all of Semilla.
It's been some time since I sat down and enjoyed a new epic fantasy series. The subgenre had felt oversaturated for a while. Empire of Exiles, the first novel in The Books of the Usurper, helps overcome that genre-ennui by bringing enough fresh ideas to the table whilst still retaining that core appeal of a group of characters coming together to face a threat in a well-realised secondary world.
It helps that the author, Erin Evans, is neither a newcomer nor a slouch. Her six-volume Brimstone Angels series was one of the brightest rays of sunshine to emerge from the otherwise highly troubled 4th Edition period of the Forgotten Realms shared world, and she brings that experience to bear here. Empire of Exiles lands with a bang (a brutal murder, with a clear culprit), immediately complicates things (the murderer has no motive or prior history to suggest why he would do such a thing) and then gradually builds up the story and the world around it in impressive complexity.
We have two primary POV characters. Sesquillio Haigu-lan Seupu-lai, or Quill, starts off feeling like the traditional "callow youth who grows into being a world-saving champion," but what he lacks in experience is made up for by his intelligence and his impressive tenacity. His refusal to believe in a simply illogical situation - his best friend of a decade suddenly turning into a killer for no reason - becomes infectious and causes other people to start doubting the sequence of events. His confidence is also generally well-earned, and it's nice to see a character like this who isn't immediately dismissed as a total lunatic and his arguments are engaged with seriously.
The second major POV is Amadea Gintanas, Archivist Superior at the Imperial Archives, who is in charge of the records and lore of Semilla. Amadea is the older, more no-nonsense, take-charge kind of character who cuts through BS and keeps the plot on track, but she is also harbouring trauma from the civil war twenty-plus years earlier, in which she played a very reluctant part. She is also in charge of a collection of novices and students who are gifted, able to wield magic.
Magic in this setting is original and interesting. Some people - specialists - have affinities for certain substances, like ink, bronze or glass, and can manipulate that substance: one character uses her ability to manipulate ink to "pull" sensitive information out of a letter and hide it under her skin whilst it's shown to someone else, and return it later on. They can also manipulate the constituent parts of those substances, so glass-sensitives also have power over sand. The problem is that they can also become addicted to their powers, and even overdose on them to their own destruction (or those around them). Such a risk is heightened during certain times of year, which vary by substance; this is known as coming into alignment. One of Amadea's jobs is keeping her students on the straight and narrow and out of harm's way when using their powers. It's an intriguing form of magic, only lightly explored in this first book.
There are also smaller POV roles. Richa Langyun, the investigator assigned to the murderers, is refreshingly standard for such a character: he is committed to finding out the truth, no matter how many important toes he steps on in the process, and is gruff but seems to have a heart of gold. Fortunately he doesn't start the story four days from retirement. Yinii Six-Owl ul-Benturan is a specialist in ink and one of Amadea's students, who also allies with Quill early in his investigation, and provides a valuable POV on the use of magic in the setting.
The book also strikes a good balance between dropping us into the action and getting on with business - the book is just 340 pages long but packs in more worldbuilding, character and thematic development, and plot than some volumes twice that size - and explaining what is going on. Exposition is brief, pertinent and usually only delivered where necessary, which is a good balance between the Eriksonian "what the hell is happening?" in media res approach and the alternative of stopping the action every few chapters for a TED Talk on magic, religion and history.
The world is fascinating, and it's interesting that we get two large maps, one of the entire explored world and one of Semilla, but almost the whole story happens in the city of Arlabecca by itself (and a lot of it in just one building, the Imperial Archives). The world map at first feels useless, but as the backstory is revealed and the true horror of what happened to the old civilisations becomes clear, the map shows the sheer odyssey some of the refugee columns had to endure to get to safety. It's a good use of a map to enhance the storytelling rather than just existing as a reference.
With a rich world, solid characters, interesting-but-not-overwrought magic system and an enjoyable mystery plot (expanding into something grander later on), this is a compelling novel. It does have a few weaknesses. One is that it feels like the author was trying hard not to let the book become too dark, so sometime the tone feels a little unsteady with some humour appearing where it doesn't feel apt. Some of the less-well-drawn students in the Archives feel a bit whimsical or comic relief even when it's not really logical to be so. Another issue is that the ten civilisations aren't entirely human, or some were hybrids of humans and other things, so some of the people in the book appear to be entirely human, some have ram's horns coming out of their head and the most alien have tons of octopus-like tentacles. This is mentioned early on and doesn't really come up again, to the point that two characters might be having a conversation with the reader entirely unaware that one of them is not fully human until they casually use their tentacles to pick something up, which can be a little jarring (there being a quick reference to confirm which species is which would have helped).
The maps by Francesa Baerald are also beautiful but designed to be seen in colour; the black-and-white reproductions in the physical books aren't very readable, so I had to download copies from her website to read them better.
But these issues are mostly ignorable. Empire of Exiles (****) is a solidly enjoyable opening to this series, with an interesting world that seems ripe for further exploration. A sequel, Relics of Ruin, is available now and a third book is on its way.
