Book Review: The Grave Empire

The Grave Empire
By Richard Swan
Review by Josh

Richard Swan has an exceptional skill at crafting worlds full of life, vigour, and intrigue, and The Grave Empire is no exception. The novel is set in the same world has his prior series, The Empire of the Wolf, but 200 years in the future. While reading the former keys you in on some Easter eggs, it’s not necessary. A new threat is facing the now expansive and gun powder-fuelled empire, known via prophecy and arcane research as ‘The Great Silence’. The afterlife has gone quiet, causing arcane havoc in the mortal realm. Why exactly this is happening and what it means for both the living and the dead is what Peter and Renata are, in their own ways, trying to find out. Peter, a reluctant military officer, is off in the new eastern frontier where ghostly screams disturb the night while Renata, a junior ambassador to the mermaid people, is part of the convoy set to discover what they can of this new threat. Full of nightmare-inducing horror and truly marvellous character work, Grave Empire is a delight for all to behold and as the first in a series, there’s plenty more to get excited about. For fans of the Empire of the Wolf series, The Bloodsworn Saga and The Covenant of Steel series.