The Empire of Ashes

Executive Summary: Another solid book. I thought this was a much better ending to this series than [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753] was to his previous series.Audiobook: Steve West once again does a great job. I wish they would have just used him for the whole series rather than switching after one book. He does a variety of voices that adds that little something extra to the audio to make it worth listening over reading in my opinion.Full ReviewI absolutely loved [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421573407s/13569581.jpg 19148922], which seems to be a fairly popular consensus among my friends on Goodreads. I also loved [b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1382486392s/18138189.jpg 25481154] which was much less of a consensus. However most seemed to agree that [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753] was not a great ending to what I thought was an otherwise amazing series.I was initially reluctant to pick this series up as a result. Getting a free review copy made me give it a chance and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't enjoy it as much as his first series but it was an improvement over [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753].I keep referring back to that book because it loomed large in my mind as I went into this book. The last two books were good, but could he stick the landing this time? To me the answer is yes. I didn't love this book like [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421573407s/13569581.jpg 19148922]/[b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1382486392s/18138189.jpg 25481154], but it wasn't a drop off in quality from the previous books in this series that I felt [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1417350958s/18405221.jpg 26039753] was.Once again my favorite story belongs to Lizanne, or as I like to call her “Jane Bond”. I loved the idea of a secret agent with magic powers and cool gadgets that let her harness her magic powers in fun ways. With regards to the others POVs, they were good enough. I was originally not a big fan of Clay, but his story got much better as the series went on. Hilemore felt completely disconnected at the start of the series but became relevant by the end of the first book. His POV felt a bit redundant/unnecessary at the start of this book, but was important again later on.I did find some parts of this book slow, but it was always entertaining. I'm a big fan of dragons, so that helped carry me through some of the slower parts.It sounds like Anthony Ryan will be returning to the world of his Raven's Shadow series next (which I'm cautiously optimistic about), but I'd happily read another book set in the Draconis Memoria world if he decides to make one down the road.

Pros: lots of action, some new revelations

Cons: very short epilogue

Clay is returning from the South with a new mission to help defeat the white dragon: find a sunken treasure in the Krystaline Lake, deep in dragon country. Lizanne has the tinkerer, but unlocking the Mad Artisan's secrets isn't easy, nor is finding safe haven for the growing number of refugees she encounters. Sirus, General of the White dragon's army of Spoiled, marches his troops across the world, pillaging and ‘recruiting' as they go under the watchful eye of the insane Catheline Dewsmine. But he's got a plan to betray his masters once the time is right...

If you like your books with lots of action and military campaigns (on land, sea, and sky) then this is the series for you. The action quickly ramps up and the majority of this book is one battle after another. It's impressive how the characters persevere despite the losses each side takes. It's also impressive how the author keeps each fight scene fresh, bringing in new tactics and weapons as well as varying the locations and situations.

You finally discover who the Mad Artisan is, and see some newly invented war machines. You also learn a little bit more about Kris, though I'd have enjoyed learning more about her people and how they tinkered with the dragons.

Normally I like short denouements to books, but while the epilogue does touch on what everyone's doing after the book ends, I would have liked more details of how they pick up the pieces. The ending is highly satisfying, but it's hard leaving characters I've come to love.

This is an excellent series with a highly unique magic system and some excellent worldbuilding and characters. I highly recommend it.

We reach the big battle, where all our characters need to get together and duke it out with the White and his army. Yay!

It took me years to finally get to this book. Somehow I didn't want to do it, I didn't know how the story was going to have everything resolved. Don't get me wrong, it did, though... I would be lying if I said this wasn't my least favourite book in the series.
The ideas are still great and still, something isn't as satisfying about this one as I would have wanted it to be, which is doubly annoying as this book is LONG. There would have been space. Then again, that space was spent on repetitive descriptions of random new guns and bombs the characters just invented. On military things, like what group went in what direction. Just too much filler.

I do still recommend this series, though. The thing I specifically really appreciate about it is the fact that even the characters with supposedly good intentions mess up. Human nature was portrayed perfectly. Sure, we have a revolution and in most books, especially nowadays would have portrayed the poor workers as the noble ones. Here? They were far from ideal. They were just as clueless and prone to mindless violence.
Another thing is, relationships between people fail sometimes by the fault of none of the parties. Not every romance ends with perfection and that doesn't mean one of the people cheated or lied or was a horrible person all along. Another very well-executed thing about the portrayal of characters.

Some elements didn't go anywhere. You were made to believe the shortage of product was a huge deal or that Tinkerer was very important, then suddenly the topic just fizzled out.

All in all, a solid series, with a slightly lackluster ending.