(Title: Relics of Ruin / Author: Erin M Evans / Publisher: Orbit / Publication Date: April 30, 2024 / Total Pages: 448)
Back Cover Blurb
The conspiracy at the heart of the empire has been revealed. The Archivists played a key role in solving a brutal murder and uncovering one of the empire's longest kept secrets. Now, what's left in its wake are a series of unearthed artifacts, one shaken city, and the shocking truth not dared spoken aloud. Just as the empire has begun to regain normalcy, another mystery unveils itself when a stolen ancient relic is found. Only no one knew that it was missing from its sacred vault in the first place. And now that the real one has been recovered, who replaced it with a fake? With Quill and Amadea at the heart of another mystery, they will need to quickly follow the clues that all lead back to this new relic. Because all the while, an old enemy is gathering strength beyond the Salt Wall and the Archivists might come to find there's nowhere left for them to go but over.
Review
This book is one of my most anticipated of 2024 as I absolutely adored its predecessor, the first book in Erin M Evans' Books of the Usurper series, Empire of Exiles. That book is a tough act to follow because it had everything that I am a sucker for in a fantasy read - a rich detailed history, incredibly well constructed world-building, vividly drawn characters who leap from the page, and a central mystery that keeps you transfixed as you journey to uncover the ultimate answer. So it was with a ton of excitement and eagerness that I threw myself back into this tremendous world and story.
As I got deeper into this sequel I immediately picked up on the fact that this one was going to be a bit of a slower-paced story and much more character-focused. I have no problem with this because Robin Hobb does this a lot in her series as well and she's one of my all-time favorite authors. Sometimes putting on the brakes a bit and focusing more on the characters' motivations, their struggles, and their individual backstories is an effective way to lend some more depth and increase the investment for the reader when things really start to get dicey and they get put into dangerous situations. And that's what we get in RELICS OF RUIN, a good deal more focus on how these people connect with each other and attempt to prepare to face what might be coming.
By no means do I intend to say that this story doesn't have its moments of action, because there are some brilliant instances where more mysteries need to be solved and dramatic scenes arise. There is also a brewing potential conflict emerging from one of the protectorates as separatist sentiment foments and leads us all to wonder if aside form the deadly threat posed by the changelings outside the Salt Wall, there may also be an equal threat inside the wall in the form of revolution. These tantalizing kernels that Evans deftly weaves into the plot are what made this an engrossing read for me.
I appreciated that I got some more answers with regard to the changeling threat, the world before the Salt Wall was constructed, as well as additional insight into the history that led everyone to this place in time. And I know that even more answers will be coming in the next book, which I will await with just as much anticipation as I did this one.
In the end RELICS OF RUIN was another captivating read in this series that left me wanting to keep peeling away the fantastic layers of this story. This isn't instant-gratification fantasy, it requires a certain amount of patience, time, and attention investment from the reader. These are exactly the kinds of stories that I enjoy best though because I don't feel as if I'm being told or spoon-fed a story as much as living it right along with the characters. I can't wait to find out where this is eventually headed but based on how this one wrapped up, I think its going to be one heck of a thrilling ending that cements the Books of the Usurper as a must-read fantasy series for every fantasy fan out there. I need more of this please!
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