Engines of Empire

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for the copy in exchange for an honest review!

So, Engines of Empire.... super mixed feelings but overall an enjoyable start to a new series!. My biggest issue is that it felt like Ford was too afraid to let things breathe. I've read non-stop action books before but they usually feel a lot more confident, this felt like he was worried if he didn't throw a giant lizard or a betrayal or an explosion into every single chapter people would DNF. Some of the time, he would introduce a twist or an obstacle or kill a character and then the following chapter would bring entirely new circumstances so the previous thing was almost an irrelevant event meant to keep the plot “moving” at all times. Many aspects of the world are just introduced for a chapter or two and then never spoken about again- some of the early stuff I almost forgot was even introduced. A secondary aspect of this is that there were times where he let the reader know about a reveal or some juicy information immediately and I think the reading experience would have been better with a bit more delay to build the tension. The dialogue was never better than serviceable and was cliche at times. It felt like Ford took a lot of inspiration from ASOIAF for characters/plot but took all the wrong lessons from the back half of the show- he went for spectacle every time over substance. There's a character that is so clearly inspired by Jaime Lannister that it's almost funny.

But all that said, I was super entertained the whole time. I devoured the book quickly and set aside every other book to read it. The plots introduced were really cool and I greatly enjoyed learning more about the world, the multiple magic systems, the types of sentient creatures, and the technology in Torwyn, the main civilization we follow. The book follows four major POVs (with another POV joining later) and each of these four POVs are in the same family and go off on their separate adventures, like the Starks. I enjoyed every POV character which is a difficult feat, although my favorites were Fulren and Tyreta. The end of the book was a bit of a forced cliffhanger, but I enjoyed reading the climax immensely. I'm definitely going to read the second book. I just hope Ford can learn to trust his story.

I listened to this book primarily on audio and I have to say, the audiobook was fantastic! Each POV had a different narrator and all of them did a great job at performing the book, I was engaged the entire time. I think the narrator for Fulren was my favorite.

I'm gonna say 7.5/10