Someone once said that all fiction is either someone comes to town or someone leaves. Well, in R.S. Ford’s Engines of Empire, both happen. Rosomon Hawkspur travels to the empire capital in order to gather her three children to her in the opening chapters and then immediately sends them out into the wider world of the novel. Their journey allows the reader to discover the wonderful realms that Ford has created. Along the way, they each discover their own inner strength as they face down growing threats to the empire.
On a personal note, I want to say thank you to R.S. Ford and Orbit for sharing this book with me. I read this while my wife was on bed rest in the hospital awaiting the birth of our first child. Engines of Empire provided me a wonderful escape while we sat in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with our boy. Being in the NICU is a lot of boredom interspersed with moments of absolute terror or pure joy. This book kept me company for basically the month of December, and joining the Hawkspurs helped pass the time and ease some of the stress. So, thank you for allowing me to adventure along with the Hawkspurs.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
© PrimmLife.com 2022
TL;DR
Engines of Empire by R. S. Ford should be on top of any fantasy fans to be read pile. This engaging story of a family drawn apart forced to fight for their empire delivers on all its promises. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
“An excellent start to a new series: fast-paced and engaging, with a properly epic setting and a cast of characters I look forward to seeing more of.” –James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost
“Epic fantasy fans listen up: This is the good stuff. Highly recommended.” —Kirkus (starred review)
From an unmissable voice in epic fantasy comes a sweeping tale of clashing guilds, magic-fueled machines, and revolution.
The nation of Torwyn is run on the power of industry, and industry is run by the Guilds. Chief among them are the Hawkspurs, whose responsibility it is to keep the gears of the empire turning. That’s exactly why matriarch Rosomon Hawkspur sends each of her heirs to the far reaches of the nation.
Conall, the eldest son, is sent to the distant frontier to earn his stripes in the military. It is here that he faces a threat he could have never seen coming: the first rumblings of revolution.
Tyreta is a sorceress with the ability to channel the power of pyrestone, the magical resource that fuels the empire’s machines. She is sent to the mines to learn more about how pyrsetone is harvested – but instead, she finds the dark horrors of industry that the empire would prefer to keep hidden.
The youngest, Fulren, is a talented artificer and finds himself acting as a guide to a mysterious foreign emissary. Soon after, he is framed for a crime he never committed. A crime that could start a war.
As the Hawkspurs grapple with the many threats that face the nation within and without, they must finally prove themselves worthy–or their empire will fall apart.
“A heady blend of action, arcana, and intrigue.” —Gareth Hanrahan, author of The Gutter Prayer
Review: Engines of Empire by R.S. Ford
Rosomon Hawkspur, matriarch of the Hawkspur Guild, travels to the Anvil, seat of the Torwyn empire, where her children gather before their own departure into the corners of the empire. Rosomon is a widow and sister to the emperor; she’s got a shrewd political mind and is fiercely loyal to her family. She’s sending her children out into the world to learn, to grow up, to become the next generation of leaders. But forces within Torwyn work to change the course of the nation.
Conall is the eldest and presumptive heir to the guild. He’s a soldier; he’s a noble. Unfortunately for him, the latter label underscores the former. He takes a contingent of Hawkspur soldiers to the frontiers of the empire where soldiers fight against the inhuman Durrga. These creatures raid the pyrestone mining camps and devil the borders of the empire. They’re formidable, strong enemies. Upon arrival at the frontier, Conall receives a message from his mother informing him of trouble back at the capital. Conall must decide whether to return to the Anvil in order to protect his family and confirm everyone’s suspicion that he’s just a noble or remain with the troops and earn the right to call himself a soldier.
Tyreta is the daughter, the middle child, and a webwainer. Webwainers are magicians that ignite pyrestone, which are magical stones that power various artifices. Tyreta is willful and impulsive; she delights in defying her mother in small ways. In order to learn more about duty and the Hawkspur business, Tyreta is sent to the most important pyrestone mines on an island in the Sundered Isles. While there, she meets the native Kesh at great personal cost and faces the consequences of Torwyn’s industry.
Next, young Fulren is the baby of the family. He’s an artificer studying and conducting research with his uncle’s artificers in the Anvil. Rosomon’s plans for him were to continue his education towards becoming a master artificer, and Fulren’s personal plans were to learn the sword in order to challenge his father’s murderer. But plans for fictional characters rarely come to fruition, and Fulren is no exception. Framed for a murder he didn’t commit, Fulren is given to Torwyn’s oldest enemy in order to answer for slaying their diplomat. With no hope of proving his innocence, he travels back to Nyrakkis. There he finds a nation far different from the one he knows.
Engines of Empire is a close third person point of view novel. It follows the lives of the Hawkspurs as they seek to do their perceived duty. The worldbuilding is top notch, and I look forward to learning more about Torwyn, Nyrakkis, and the Drift. My ARC came in at 575 pages; so, this isn’t quite a door stopper Sanderson sized book, but there is a whole lot of story here to dig into.
World Building
The world of Engines of Empire is expansive. Ford gave himself a lot of ground to cover in this opening book. The empire of Torwyn is ruled by an emperor who is the head of a Guild, similar to Hawkspur. He seems to be first among equals, really. The Guilds are the ruling class in Torwyn because they made the empire rich; though some would say decadent. The Guilds control the pyrestone trade that power the artifices, allowing economic prosperity. But not everyone in Torwyn is happy about Guild control, and plots run underneath the surface to make Torwyn great again.
Nyrakkis, Torwyn’s enemy state, sent a diplomat to begin the process of peace talks. While in Torwyn, the diplomat is murdered, and Fulren is given to Nyrakkis for their judgment. He accompanies the diplomat’s entourage in the Nyrakkian (Nyrakkin?) airship. There, he learns of Nyrakkis’s death obsessed culture. People literally give their lives in order to keep the airship afloat. The culture of Nyrakkis is reminiscent of necromancers; it’s distinct from Torwyn in numerous ways. Queen Meresankh of Nyrakkis can commune with the dead and may be immortal herself. The magic of Nyrakkis is much, much different than that of Torwyn. They don’t rely on pyrestone the way that Torwyn does. But Nyrakkis has dark magic that drains life, that communes with demons, and that seems destructive in comparison with Torwyn magic.
Between Torwyn and Nyrakkis lies the Drift, a magical wasteland. The Drift was the result of an archmage challenging the power of the Draconate Ministry, Torwyn’s church. The magical battle laid waste to both humans and land. Nyrakkis was born, and the Ministry began the long descent from ruling to being merely a cultural institution. The Drift, of course, has more to it than readers know, and I hope we learn more in future books.
In the Sundered Isles, civilization meets tribal culture. Resentment for the occupation of native land runs deep through the tribes, and Tyreta gets to see the results firsthand. She also learns that just because the tribes live differently than Torwyn’s folk, it doesn’t mean they are backwards. The Kesh are much more in tune with the land of the Isles. They learn Tyreta’s language much faster than she theirs. There is a lot to unpack here. I think Ford does a good job with the Kesh. They’re not idealized natives; they come across as distinct in their own culture.
The Hawkspurs
I loved the Hawkspurs. They are distinct from each other while still keeping the threads that link them as family. In the beginning, Fulren was my favorite character. As an engineer, I’m always drawn to engineering characters, and Fulren’s artificing fit that category. But we don’t go deep into Fulren’s artificing; his adventure is bigger than that. His skills inform his story but is not his story, and I appreciated this. It was quite well done. About halfway through, Tyreta became my favorite character. I didn’t like her much at the beginning of the story, but she’s forced to grow up fast. She does so in a way that requires her to become a leader of her people, not the Kesh. While she’s undergoing these changes, she learns to respect the Kesh in a way that I’m not sure start of book Tyreta would. By the end Rosomon’s story became my favorite. She starts the book a strong woman looking out for her family and her Guild. Her political abilities are on display from the start, and it’s clear she’s quite skillful. As the book advances, she soon has to deal with the loss of her son, Fulren, as she watches him depart on the Nyrakkis airship to his certain doom. Rosomon is understandably depressed and seeks to pull her other children back to her. When that fails, though, she gets to work discovering who set up Fulren. Her political abilities aid her detective work as she discovers who betrayed her, her son, and her empire. By the end of the book, her strength really shines through in her actions. As the book progresses, we see more and more of the depth of her character, the strength of her will, and the dedication she has to her family.
My favorite character changed throughout the book, but really it could have been any of the four main point of view characters. Each has moments where they and their story shine brighter than the others. The Hawkspurs are a family that is worth getting to know.
More, Please
My one complaint about this story is that, other than the Anvil, we don’t spend very much time at any one locale. We don’t get to see and experience enough of the scenery, culture, and lives of the location. I would have loved more time with the Kesh, more time on the frontier with Conall and the mining towns, more time in Nyrakkis. But the story moves so fast, we don’t get to sit in any of the locales. With each setting being very interesting in its own right, I’d love to have learned more.
Because of this, I felt the pacing was a bit too fast. I would have preferred a chapter here or there that let me pause and catch up. Or maybe just dwell for a bit in one spot.
Both of these, however, are small complaints. Mostly, I’m just interested in Ford’s world, and I would love to spend more time there. I’m definitely ready for the follow up book right now. Seriously, give it to me now.
Writing
There are a lot of aspects to good writing. Most people think it’s just elegant prose, but an underappreciated aspect is how the writer chooses to deliver information. Ford does this really well throughout Engines of Empire. Background information relevant to one character informs later chapters for a different character. For example, Fulren’s discussion of the Drift also contains information about the Draconate Ministry. The reader learns that the Guilds didn’t always rule Torwyn. Since the focus is on the Drift, this bit of information is absorbed but doesn’t become important until later where Rosomon meets with her nephew, who happens to lead the current Draconate ministry. Ford threads pertinent information seamlessly throughout each chapter, and close reading pays off.
Conclusion
R.S. Ford’s Engines of Empire knocked my socks off. This wonderful book had everything I like in fantasy: fantastic world building, complex yet engaging characters, and political intrigue. This book should be on top of any fantasy fan’s to be read pile.
Engines of Empire by R.S. Ford is available from Orbit on January 18th, 2022.
© PrimmLife.com 2022