Empire of Exiles (Books of the Usurper, #1) by Erin M. Evans

 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery
Content: Implied child abuse

 

Twenty-seven years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared.

The empire moved on.

Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he’s on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He’s always found his apprenticeship to be dull work. But these aren’t just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup.

Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion.

Since Quill is the only reliable witness to the murder, and no one in power believes his story, he must join with a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective to find the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire – or destroying it for good.

 

I've tried and tried to get into this book, but I just can't. That's a shame too, because this is a mashup of two genres that I love, fantasy and mystery. Right off the bat, I didn't care for the writing style. This is an incredibly slow book, and I found it dull and boring. I kind of liked the main character, Quill, but didn't care enough about the characters to keep trudging through the slow and sometimes confusing story. I don't think the setup for the story was very good. There's a lot of info dumping while not enough explanation about the magic system and other political things that are going on. At least for a large part of the book. I'm giving up on this one, at least for now. 

 

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.