Empire of the Damned

Sometimes love does conquer all.

Rating: 2.5/5 – Confusing worldbuilding and mediocre characters barely saved by intriguing plot.

Disappointing.

Most of the same problems from Empire of the Damned persist in the sequel. The worldbuilding is a confusing mishmash of random european tropes, now expanded to include Scottish caricatures, who still somehow occasionally toss around French. Some words are French (merci, chevalier, frere) others are not. Characters sometimes say “no” and sometimes say “non”. Why? Nobody knows.

There’s little in the way of character growth, the book holds itself up entirely on its determination to be as grimdark as possible. Unfortunately this makes it pretty predictable, as “what’s the most obvious tragic thing that could occur in this scene” is a remarkably reliable method for guessing future plot events.

I’m still curious how the plot is going to be resolved in the end, but me level of investment is at “read a wikipedia summary” levels for future installments.

This would probably have been a great read for me in high school, but people seeking quality literature should look elsewhere.

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