Emperor of Ruin is the finale to Django Wexler’s Burningblade & Silvereye trilogy, bringing the siblings Maya and Gyre separated at a young age and thrust on opposite sides of a conflict together. An ancient power – a Chosen – long-thought to be dead, got a little better and is seeking to impose their will on the world. That imposing of will includes creating monsters and years of hatred brewed up during his multi-centuries long exile. Ashok has fully returned and he has proclaimed himself as Chosen and Emperor. He claims benevolence, but Maya and Gyre know that is all a façade.
Two siblings divided by magic and revolution must finally join forces and rally the people to take down the Twilight Order once and for all in the final book of this brilliantly imagined epic fantasy trilogy.
The last surviving Chosen, Ashok has finally risen up and taken control of The Twilight Order. He promises equality and prosperity, but Gyre and Maya know the truth. Only death follows in Ashok’s wake. To take him down, Gyre will have to unite old allies—from all across The Splinter Kingdoms and the depths of Deepfire. And Maya will have to seek out a legendary weapon hidden in the mountains that could turn the tide in their battle for freedom.
You’d think that the finale of such an emotionally-charged series would be breathless and relentless. Well, Emperor of Ruin certainly has that breakneck pace, but there is enough room for deep breaths and reflective scenes between some of the chaotic scenes. Additionally, Django Wexler has honed his craft so well that he’s able to build in backstory that fleshes out past events, gives additional weight to our antagonist Ashok, and provides some welcome resonance with the “current” storyline. He does this without making these past scenes feel like a retcon. Through some magical bonding, Ashok and Maya have a link that allows her to see what lead to the Chosen’s exile and demise approximately 400 years prior to the start of this trilogy. Wexler gives emotional substance to the characters featured in those flashbacks that carries through the entire novel while playing back to events that transpired in the first two novels in this trilogy.
Wexler’s world-building feels so natural that it feels like a character in and of itself. The depths of the world’s history hinted in the first two installments is revealed, to an extent, here in Emperor of Ruin. There are still mysteries and wonderful hints at an even deeper past than the 400 years seen in the Maya/Ashok flashbacks. Another series, one I hold in extremely high regard that pulled a similar trick was C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire Trilogy, which I would say is a masterpiece of the genre. Like the storytelling in Coldfire, just when readers think they have some kind of handle on the underlying past of the world that informs the plot in the present, a curtain is pulled back to reveal the defining moments that led to what is happening in the “now.” Friedman revealed the deep past in the second volume of the trilogy (When True Night Falls), while Wexler pulled his revelatory act in the third volume. Both deployments of this “Past Bomb” were equally effective and had a “cool factor” to them. Also, like the Coldfire Trilogy, Wexler seamlessly blends elements of Fantasy and Science Fiction into a unified milieu.
Another element I appreciated even more in this finale was the dialogue and character interactions. The dialogue felt alive and helped to convey a more realistic feel to this otherwise fantastical series and milieu. Whether it was between Maya and Gyre, Gyre and his “transformed” friend Kit, the conversations and character interactions felt very natural, like people who have a long history together. This banter, the humor and snark of it, helped to counter some of the darkness that was pervading the overall nature of the plot.
As this novel brings the Burningblade & Silvereye trilogy to a conclusion, it has a lot of weight on its proverbial shoulders. Can it deliver on what came before, is the novel a finale that makes or breaks the series as a whole? It most certainly delivered, and I loved how Wexler didn’t just let the foundation he built for the world in the first two books settle, he built upon the world and made it even more intriguing. What I appreciated most when I closed the book is that everything felt justified. Sure, some events transpired rather quickly, and plot elements fell into place conveniently, but for what the characters experienced leading up to the dynamic climax of Emperor of Ruin, the ending felt very much earned.
I need to call out the “Series Recap” Django Wexler provided at the front of the book. This should be a standard practice for any kind of series and is always helpful for fans who read the series books as they publish, especially when a year or more spans the publication dates of each book.
I have to give this whole series a very strong recommendation, Django Wexler has proven himself to be a great storyteller who brings some interesting components together when he builds his worlds, stories, and characters.
Recommended
© 2023 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback | 480 pages
Orbit Books | February 2023
Author Website: https://djangowexler.com/ | Twitter: @DjangoWexler
