The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, including lots of f bombs and the 'c' word. It was too much for me. Some mild scenes of torture, but it could have gotten worse in the parts I didn't read.


The conspiracy to destroy the ruling family of the Annurian Empire is far from over.

Having learned the identity of her father's assassin, Adare flees the Dawn Palace in search of allies to challenge the coup against her family. Few trust her, but when she is believed to be touched by Intarra, patron goddess of the empire, the people rally to help her retake the capital city. As armies prepare to clash, the threat of invasion from barbarian hordes compels the rival forces to unite against their common enemy.

Unknown to Adare, her brother Valyn, renegade member of the empire's most elite fighting force, has allied with the invading nomads. The terrible choices each of them has made may make war between them inevitable.

Between Valyn and Adare is their brother Kaden, rightful heir to the Unhewn Throne, who has infiltrated the Annurian capital with the help of two strange companions. The knowledge they possess of the secret history that shapes these events could save Annur or destroy it.

DNF

This being a somewhat dark fantasy series, I was wary going into the first book, but ended up liking it more than I thought I would. There were a couple of things that happened in that book that made me want to read this second book in the series, but unfortunately, the beginning of this book didn't pull me in. It also went in a different direction than I was expecting with a couple of the characters . Eventually, I was having to force myself to pick this up. It actually put me in a bit of a reading slump for a couple of weeks. Needless to say I abandoned it. I know a lot of people love this book, and this series, but I just don't think it's for me.