Engines of Empire

• Author: R.S. Ford
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: January 18, 2022
• Publisher: Orbit
• Series: The Age of Uprising #1

Thank you to Orbit and Angela Man for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: violence, blood, gore, mention of death of a parent, bullying, xenophobia, domestic violence, murder, harm to an animal, grief, mention of animal abuse

From an unmissable voice in epic fantasy comes a sweeping tale of clashing guilds, magic-fueled machines, and revolutions.

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 dispatched to the distant frontier to earn his stripes in the military. It is here that he faces a threat he could never have seen coming: the mumblings 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 pyrestone 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.

I don’t know how this series passed me by, but I was so glad to get offered a chance to read it from the start. That feeling only intensified once I got further into the book. While it isn’t the usual kind of book I gravitate towards, there was something about this one that grabbed my attention and whispered to get it. 

I have to be honest here, because it took me a while to get into this book. There’s a lot of new information to absorb—a new world, a new magic system, and a bunch of POV characters. But once I got accustomed to everything, I started really getting pulled into the story and not wanting to put it down. And when I had to put it down, I’d think about it until I could pick it up again.

There are five POV characters, but we don’t get the fifth until a bit further into the story, and each of the characters are really interesting. They’re all so different, not just in their personalities, but their goals, beliefs, and behavior patterns as well. And it was intriguing to get to know each of them. 

Conall is the responsible eldest child, but he has some unresolved issues with his mother. As heir to one of the largest Guilds, his mother wants him to learn responsibility and sends him to military service. He hates it, but he’s committed to his duty. I loved his chapters not so much because I liked Conall, in fact, his character is kind of bland to me. He’s really strict about adhering to his moral code, and doing what he thinks is right, but I loved his second-in-command, Sted. She’s hard drinking, a passionate lesbian, a loyal friend, and not exactly great at being subtle.

Tyreta is the outgoing wild child, with a talent to channel the energy in pyrestone, and her mother wants her to learn a different aspect of how the Guild works, so she is sent to the mines to learn about pyrestone harvesting. She goes out on an adventure and finds way more than she bargained for, discovering the dark side of the empire.

And Fulren is more than happy to sit in his laboratory working on his gadgets and devices, but when he’s pulled aside to act as tour guide for a visiting emissary, he gets pulled into a web of deceit so wide he can’t even fathom it. And there’s nothing he can do but go along with his forced exile. It leads him to unexpected places and allies, changing how he views his life and the world around him.

Lady Rosomon is the mother of the three people listed above, and while she clearly cares about her children, she’s got her eyes on the prize—power. She’s been training each of her children to take over a different aspect of the Guild, so that they’d ideally work together to make the Guild stronger and better. But when murmurs of a revolution derail some of their plans, and chaos pops up everywhere it possibly can, they’re going to have to pull down deep to make it through this, because the empire is relying on them. 

There were so many things about this that made it a really great read. I could talk about the complex and multilayered relationships between all of the characters, and how they grow throughout the story. I could talk about how the pace is steady throughout most of the book, although it is a little faster towards the end. I could talk about the really cool magic system and how they’re different based on the country or empire in which the characters are. But what I especially loved about this book was how I could never figure out what was going to happen next. There were so many twists and turns that I was constantly surprised by the many plot twists (check the gasp factor below if you don’t believe me). This is a hell of a story, and I can’t wait to get started on the next one.

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit.

Gasp Factor: 31