Kameron Hurley

"When the dark star of the cataclysm ascends, one empire will rise... and many will perish." " " Every two thousand years, the dark star Oma appears in the night sky, bringing with it a tide of death and destruction. Tattered rifts open between worlds; great empires are born, and mighty rulers die. Whole nations succumb to madness. And those who survive must contend with friends and enemies newly imbued with bloody powers. The kingdom of Saiduan already lies in ruin, decimated by invaders from another world who share the faces of those they seek to destroy. Now the nation of Dhai is under siege by the same force. Their only hope for survival lies in the hands of an illegitimate ruler warring with his wife and former lover for control of the nation's allegiance. As the foreign Empire spreads across the world like a disease, one of their former allies takes up her own Empress's sword again to unseat them, and two enslaved scholars begin a treacherous journey home with what they hope is the key to the Empire's undoing. But when the enemy you must overcome shares your own face, who can be trusted?

Empire Ascendant

Loyalties are tested when worlds collide... Every two thousand years, the dark star Oma appears in the sky, bringing with it a tide of death and destruction. And those who survive must contend with friends and enemies newly imbued with violent powers. The kingdom of Saiduan already lies in ruin, decimated by invaders from another world who share the faces of those they seek to destroy. Now the nation of Dhai is under siege by the same force. Their only hope for survival lies in the hands of an illegitimate ruler and a scullery maid with a powerful – but unpredictable –magic. As the foreign Empire spreads across the world like a disease, one of their former allies takes up her Empress’s sword again to unseat them, and two enslaved scholars begin a treacherous journey home with a long-lost secret that they hope is the key to the Empire’s undoing. But when the enemy shares your own face, who can be trusted? In this devastating sequel to The Mirror Empire, Kameron Hurley transports us back to a land of blood mages and sentient plants, dark magic, and warfare on a scale that spans worlds.

Sade A

"War turns it's makers mad"
- Dhai Saying
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When i find a book that's making waves, i like to look out for the author's previous works, to test the waters. It's obviously not a fail safe plan as the author could have improved but generally it helps to "know" the author. 

That being said, Hurley's Worldbreaker saga series is criminally underrated. I think maybe because it's hard? for fantasy readers to step out the usual familiar tropes and embrace a book that basically throws all these tropes out the window in favour of something that is different from the norm. The strength of this book is that Hurley is not afraid to challenge the status quo of what you will find in most fantasy works.
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So you thought The Mirror Empire was peak crazy but then you start Empire Ascendant and you can really tell that Hurley is going no holds barred will make your head spin, fuck everything up in ways you never imagined. Listen, no one is safe and you really start asking yourself, are there really villains here?
Sure, someone is out there conquering but would you really be different if it was kill or be killed?
"I'm afraid of what we've had to become to survive this"
The plot of Empire Ascendant is basically a simple question wrapped in a bold plot, with far from insipid characters- What would you do to survive?
The good people don't always win

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No second book slump here people, The Empire Ascendant is a book that does not disappoint.
4.5 Stars

Sheila

I was so afraid that I wouldn't remember anything that had happened in the first book, but either I'm not as dumb as I think or the writing was done in such a way that it was easy to remember where each character had been left off after The Mirror Empire. ZEZILI IS STILL MY FAV I DON'T CARE!!!!!!! Some of the deaths were soooooooooooo satisfying too, always appreciate a quality character death. Also love how with Hurley there's never just one "omg shit has hit the FAN" moment, because entire books are just shit-spraying fans for everyone! It's only a question of who gets splattered LEAST. 8D

Empire Ascendant

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