The Providence of Fire: Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book II (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, 2) Paperback – December 8, 2015

This review is full of spoilers. If it were milk, it'd be incredibly rotten. You've been warned.If you're on the rocks about buying this book just do it. Skip the review.I loved The Emperor's Blades. Let's get that out of the way. It was incredibly gritty, real and fun. Kick ass soldiers AND they ride a giant bird? I'm in. I literally threw that book at all of my family and friends. If it didn't stick, judgments were made. It was real.Needless to say I was excited when Amazon finally let me open my digital copy of Providence of Fire. After spoiling nearly 100+ pages by reading the Hardcover preview, missing pages and all, I was quick to re-read what I missed and plow through the rest of it. If my luck held I'd be chucking this book at my relatives and friends alike once again. Turns out it would be much more than chuck-worthy.While reading I thought the story line was adeptly paced and none of the plot or its devices overly trope-ish for the genre (Besides, I like my fantasy tropes). The characters did not feel contrived (that’s for you, Ginny) or clunky. The very small amount of sub 4 star reviews cite frustrations with the characters doing 'stupid things'. To which I reply: It's Book 2, people. In Book 1, we get a very awesome story filled with mostly training and plot setup. However the characters are still on their proverbial 'leash' for 90% of the book. They haven't made many real choices for themselves, yet. So, if Brian had decided to make these characters infallible in Book 2 it just wouldn't have made any sense. Valyn's first ride out with his team is filled with exactly what you would expect. There is strife, uncertainty, and that familiar feeling of wanting to bounce your group project partner's head off his outline.We learn a lot more about how the Unhewn Throne’s world works in Providence of Fire. This includes a wide range of info dumps on the religions, races and backstory figures. Brian could have skipped over a lot of what he chose to elaborate on, and the story is much better off for it. What’s that? The ‘Gods’ are real? They walk the earth? They’re aiming the plot? Awesome. Book 1 was more focused on making us care about Valyn, Kaden and Adare. Book 2 seemed focused on explaining why we should continue to do so.Adare becomes much more interesting than she was in the previous installment. In the debut, it was almost unfair to have a normal girl giving me the mandatory plot updates from the city while Kaden and Valyn were busy training and being awesome. Here, she ditches the comforts of the court for the hardships of the road, and is introduced to a foul mouthed leach of legend and her broken brother. Finally paired with characters and equipped with plot responsibilities that were interesting and integral, I started looking forward to the chapters featuring Adare. Brian chronicles her growth from young, impressionable politican, to strong(er), sure-minded leader of nations (albeit in training).Kaden and Valyn continue being awesome. The Blank God and it’s subsequent (kind of) magic system is incredibly fresh and fun to read. The draw upon Buddhism and meditation isn’t forced and it’s a very fun flip on the religion. I almost enjoyed reading Kaden’s chapters more than Valyn’s. Almost.In Book 2 Valyn continues being Valyn. If you read Book 1 you know what this means. No need to elaborate. He is still my favorite POV character and probably will continue to be so through the end of the trilogy. He commands the character set that made this series as interesting as it is. Without Valyn there is no Kettral. Without Kettral this series would have been completely different.On to my only gripes with PoF. I stress that these are minor. It’s like saying I wished my Ferrari was a slightly darker shade of candy apple.The Emperor’s Blades in regards to Valyn was almost entirely about his time on the Islands training with the Kettral. Here we got introduced to one of my favorite group of miscreants I’ve ever read about. Of the five, I identified most with Laith. The group’s flier, on one hand, is an incredibly sarcastic, trucker-mouthed, ‘act first, then figure it out later’ kind of guy. He serves as a kind of odd comedic/tension reliever between Valyn’s seriousness, Gwenna’s temper, and Annick/Talal’s unwillingness to speak more than a sentence. On the other hand he is incredibly passionate, loyal and at times vulnerable. His scenes with his bird are some of my favorite.Now I’ve talked to Brian about this on twitter and he has reassured me that Wing missions will play a role in Book 3, but I literally yelled “NOOO!” out loud when I read the chapter where ‘Ra is spanked in the rear like a faithful steed and forced to ride off into the sunset and out of the story. A short ways into the story and the wing is ALREADY grounded. Sorry Big Bird; we have a plot to get to. If I had a time machine, one of my various stops would include finding Brian and convincing him into turning the Unhewn Throne trilogy into a five book series instead. I really wanted to read about Valyn struggling to pull the wing together during various missions. All of these amazing characters are created almost specifically to clash with one another, only to get kicked in the balls by the plot very early. This was one of the only developments in the story that did not make sense to me as I started to read Book 2. In Book 1 we get a very cool scene where the Flea is lending some advice to Valyn and he incredulously asks the Flea, “You still do barrel drops?”, to which he replies, “Everyday I think.. ya, everyday.” Here I’m thinking, ‘Cool. I’m going to get some sweet mission chapters with training montages involving Gwenna blowing things up without being asked, Annick putting an arrow in the eyeball of every baddy while making everyone slightly uncomfortable, but most importantly: Laith flying way too fast.’ Granted we’re going to get a lot of what I mentioned in Book 3, but unless Brian plans on Deus Ex-Machinima’ing Laith back to life, Mr. Staveley killed off my favorite character. What was the point of mentioning barrel drops and new bird rigging for said drops to accommodate Laith’s riding speed when the bird is gone almost immediately and Laith is seemingly offed by the end? Again, these are minor issues, but damnit I was made to love this facet of the group and I don’t think I’m getting it back.In sum this book and the series overall has the making of a 5 star rating. But what makes this series so great on top of the wonderful story is that the author Brian Staveley is a great guy. Have a question about the book? Find him on twitter and he’ll get back to you. His interaction with his fans and the understanding that these things are important are what set him aside from other authors. I highly suggest you read his work. And antagonize him on the internet.Thank you Desirae for the hard copy!

The Providence of Fire is everything I wanted from a sequel and more. This definitely took pretty much all the slight problems I had with the first book and rectified it. Although this book did suffer from a roughly slow start, once we got about a 1/3 of the way through it took off at a break neck speed.I have to say the best thing about this series, hands down, is the world building. Brian Staveley has created such a complex, yet intriguing world all at the same time. This book especially dived so deep into the mythology of the world, it was amazing. From learning more about the Csestriim, to the leaches, to the gods, everything was engrossing. He didn't just throw all of this information at you either. It was sprinkled throughout the entire story and you were informed when you needed to be.The characters are the next best thing. First I just wanted to say that Adare had her time to shine in this novel. She went from having only like 5 chapters in the last book to actually being a true part to the three main characters of the story next to her brothers. Each story arc that involved one of the siblings was impeccable. The development was top notch and since this book isn't very action driven, the character development really helped this story be amazing. These three siblings went on such a journey and they all ended up very different people by the end of this novel.Lastly the story itself starts off fairly slow, it is pretty much a beginning that tries to get each character to their starting destination. Once all that happens the plot really kicks in. I found it hard to put this book down when I was reading it. Brian Staveley also knows how to write some intense final moments. Those last a hundred pages or so were stressful.I am really excited to see how this is all wrapped up. I believe Staveley has already laid a solid foundation and it should be quite interesting to see where are characters end up in the end!

Good read.

Une des meilleures séries que j'ai lues.Impossible de poser mon livre, on est capturé par l'histoire , lié aux personnages, c'est excellent !

This is the second book in the Unhewn Throne trilogy. The first book introduced us to the three children of the murdered Emperor. I really enjoyed their trials and the search for the mystery behind the murder of the Emperor and others. While Kaden and Valyn were the focus of the first book, Adare gets a fair share in the second and her story line is interesting. Valyn continues where he left off and his path is action packed although Kaden’s story wasn’t quite as enjoyable as the first book imo.I really feel the author has done a great job with the surrounding cast in this book and the older and newer characters are interesting. While the first book did not involve a lot of mythical or traditional fantasy powers or magic, this does increase in book two. I don’t have a problem with that. I read this book fast and it had me hooked after a slightly slow start. When you are thinking about the characters at night, you know it’s a winner. Still much to learn and figure out.Overall this has been a great series so far and I can’t wait for the finale next year.4.5/5

Great read and awesome trilogy. Recommend it to everybody.The characters are a bit shallow at times but more then enough for "just" a trilogy. Prefer to have action then miscellaneous facts about a character. I can somehow see everyone's point/reasoning and am always tense for the clash between them. Also the take on the "supernatural" is interesting and leaves me thinking and venturing in such a world.Just dive in and enjoy.

The second book of the Unhewn Throne trilogy is beyond amazing. I really enjoyed reading the Emperor's Blades. It was a deep, thrilling, engrossing debut. The characters were interesting, the ideas and concepts intriguing, the world creative and diverse. When the Providence of Fire was released I decided to read it straight away especially that I have only recently read the Emperor's blades and its was all still fresh in my mind.*****The Emperor's Blades Spoilers*******When we left off with the Emperor's blades, the two brothers Valyn and Kaden were united. Its wasn't the kind of union you would imagine for two brothers who have been separated for eight years. Valyn had flown to the bone mountains to save his brother, who was being pursued by a whole army of Aedolians, the same guards that were supposed to protect him. Things got even more complicated with the presence of an other kettral wing trying to kill them. Kaden had finally managed to reach the variante, and by so he was able to save his brother and himself from an emotion absorbing leach. The brothers realised the conspiracy to annihilate their Malkeenian line was much more complicated than they thought and goes to a supposedly extinct species know as the Csestriim. Finally lovely Adare, their older sister, had discovered that the Kenarang Il Tornja, the man who had fooled her into thinking he was in love with her, was her father's murderer.In the Providence of Fire, Kaden decides to go in search of information on the Csestriim, and sends Valyn back to Annur to investigate and find out their father's killer. Unfortunately things don't go as planned for both them. They both get themselves imprisoned by different foes. Adare on the other hand, not knowing the fate of her two brothers, decides to take matters into her own hands. She flees the palace and raises her own army to kill Il Tornja, only things get even more complicated and she ends up working with him instead. Valyn finally catches up with his sister and finds out that IL Tornja was his fathers killer and decides to kill him. Meanwhile when Kaden finally escapes his captivity and goes back to Annur, he finds that his sister and Il Tornja have taken over his throne, and he decides to fight back Shin style.To cut a long story short, the book is full of twists, complications and surprises. The three siblings are faced with impossible situations with no easy solutions. They make decisions based on good intentions that unfortunately result in the unfolding of even more unfortunate situations. Luckily, like in real life, everything happens for a good reason- a motto I strongly believe in- and the consequences lead to the revelation of more critical issues. I really salute the author for such a creative and interesting piece of work. The plot is just amazing, the way unexpected events subtly fall together into well stacked pieces of a bigger puzzle is amazing. The character development is beyond reproach. Valyn is just great, he has grown so much through this book as a wing leader and as a brother. The most obviously surprising character was Adare, with her transformation form a stay-at-home princess to much more than that. However, it was Kaden's character that surprised me the most. It's hard to believe, for me at least, that someone with his background could grow into an emperor. Indeed, I loved Kaden's character a lot, he managed to turn his own weaknesses, his Shin's upbringing and his lack of emotion and fighting skills, into advantages, using them as starting points, not to save his throne but to save the human race from the Csestriim threat. I also loved the development of other characters. Getting a peak at Gwenna's mind was just swell. As I always expected, the hard shell does hide a soft core. She is stubborn, angry, loud, but behind it all is the soft heart of a farm girl, willing to die to save people she doesn't even know and surprisingly she has good leadership skills.The world building and the unraveling of the mystery of the Csestriim and the gods in the books were well thought through and intriguing and the book takes you into a roller coaster of events and a wild mix of emotions. The characters battle between bravery, loyalty, friendship, leadership, patriotism, vengeance, rage, love, fraternity, curiosity, camaraderie, faith, confidence, trust, hope, fear and the complete lack of any emotion whatsoever in the case of the Csestriim more so than the monks, the later not for lack of trying.I gave this book a 5 out of 5 and it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. If I had one critique for the book, it would be the ending. Although this is more personal than rational. The ending fits very well with the story and makes sense. Still, it disappointed and saddened me and also worried me - It is safe to say I am no Csestriim - because I can't think of what could happen next, certainly nothing good. Can't wait for the next book.