It’s great to back to Elantra and I’m happy to start a new series.
Severn is a fascinating character, the silent type you can surely rely on. His affection for Kaylin/Elianne is an important part of the series and we get to know him as MC in this new series. I loved this character, an old soul full of mysteries, a strong willed man likable and interesting.
I found this book highly entertaining and gripping. There’s a lot of character development and an further development of the already impressive world building.
The plot is a mix of fantasy and mystery and the two genres work well together as we get to know about the Wolves and how they work.
I loved the Tha’alani and their shared mind. I think they are great characters and I liked their lore and way of living.
I was also happy to get to know about the Wolves, their member and how they work.r
As this is the first book in a series it’s not necessary to have read the Chronicles of Elantra even if it could help to better understand the world and the magic system.
It was an excellent read and I can’t wait to read the next installment.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to MIRA for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

When I first requested this book, I was expecting something different. Something violent and gritty. Instead I got something political and touching.

Humanity and other races are ruled by a dragon emperor. One of his forces is a group called The Wolves. They have to deal with sticky political deaths. Severn is a potential recruit who ends up having to investigate the newest case regarding several Tha’alani deaths twenty years ago.

This is an introduction to a new world. And, as I want to read more about this world, it's a good introduction. Severn is very empathetic and has a mysterious past that I'm sure will be revealed in other books. Tha’alani are an interesting species that can read minds and share memories with each other. Severn's care for them makes for sweet moments.

This review is based on an advanced copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

This new series beginning in the world of Elantra makes Severn Handred the main character. It also takes place about seven years before the first book in the Chronicles of Elantra. Besides giving more information about Severn, it also shows us mysteries yet to be discovered about him.

Severn has come from the Fiefs in order to keep track of Elianne without her knowing that he is looking after her. She would be extremely unhappy if she knew of his surveillance. While watching her, he is discovered by Elluvian who is the only Barrani Wolf who thinks he would make a fine candidate for the Wolves.

There are three branches of civilian law enforcement in Elantra: the Swords deal mainly with crowd control and riots, the Hawks are the investigators, and the Wolves are the ones who carry out the Emperor's justice as his executioners.

Severn is paired with Elluvian in an investigation into the deaths of some Tha'alani who are mind readers and generally feared by the other populations in Elantra. Seeing a Barrani connection leads Elluvian and Severn into the very political Barrani court which is where some of Severn's secrets are revealed. Why does a street rat from the Fiefs have such a comprehensive knowledge of the Barrani language? Why is he familiar with some of the tests for magic?

Severn also comes to know quite a lot about the Tha'alani during this investigation and comes to know Ybelline who will become the Tha'alani Caste Lord. She also becomes involved in the investigation that Severn is conducting because the current deaths are echoes of deaths that came about twenty years before.

I enjoyed learning more about the Tha'alani's group memory and how some members could keep things out of it or even erase memories. This ability has a lot to do with the plot of this story.

This is not easy fantasy. There are lots of varied races both human and immortal who each have their own complicated politics and reasons for the things they do. Severn has to try to uncover long buried secrets that someone is demonstrably willing to kill to keep.

Fans of the Chronicles of Elantra won't want to miss the excellent start to a related series.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of THE EMPEROR’S WOLVES (Book 1 of The Wolves of Elantra) by Michelle Sagara in exchange for an honest review. This is a spin-off of the Chronicles of Elantra series focused on the adventures of Severn Handred before he reconnected with Kaylin. In the City of Elantra, the Dragon Emperor’s whim is law. In order to protect the populace from his wrath, the Dragon Emperor established three branches of law enforcement to handle the daily aggravation of dealing with criminals. The primary purpose of the Swords is to guard government buildings and to stand between danger and the citizens. The primary purpose of the Hawks is to investigate wrongdoings and to apprehend criminals for prosecution. Then, there are the Wolves who are charged to apprehend or kill the criminals who are clever enough, connected enough, or wealthy enough to escape arrest by the Hawks. When a member of the Wolves notices Severn going otherwise undetected while stalking someone accompanying another person the wolf happens to be stalking, the wolf’s interest is piqued. When the wolf confronts and challenges Severn, Severn impresses him. Soon, the wolf is bringing Severn into the office to interview for a vacancy. In this book, Severn is asked to assist in resolving a cold case; in doing so, he’ll have his first interactions with the Tha’alani (a telepathic race with tentacle-type antennae) and the emperor (the scariest dragon). Severn will also be noticed by important members of the Barrani (basically powerful, immortal, neutral-evil, Tolkien-type elves).

The Chronicles of Elantra is one of my favorite series. I’ve read the books easily a dozen times. Readers of that series are familiar to references to Severn’s mysterious past. The Wolves of Elantra (a prequel series) contains hints of what is yet to come in Severn’s future adventures. I recommend this book and these series to fans of both urban and high fantasy.

#TheEmperorsWolves #NetGalley

All about Severn and his start with the Wolves!

I’ve always wondered how Severn Handred started with the Wolves in the Halls of Law and The Emperor's Wolves is about his first investigation even before he finished his probation for the Wolves.

If you are a fan of the Chronicles of Elantra this book is a hint at what is going to happen, and it answers some of the questions that I have but it leaves many questions unanswered. Severn was raised in the fiefs and where did he learn to read and write Elantran and Barani?

You need to read Cast in Shadow (Chronicles of Elantra Book #1) before reading The Emperor's Wolves for more enjoyment of the book. Now I want more books about The Wolves of Elantra.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Michelle Sagara is one of my favorite fantasy authors and I liked this book, but even though it's a prequel that could be read as a standalone I didn't feel like the opening chapters had the kind of exposition that pulled me into the world and the story the same way Cast in Shadow, the first book in the Cast series that this one is the prequel to, initially did. However, it's still an enjoyable fantasy adventure and I'm still a big fan of the author, and I will be reading the sequel!

I loved this book so much more than I expected! Sometimes, in a prequel, the characters and their development are not fully fleshed out because the reader already knows them. Instead, this could have been the first book written. The story is complete in and of itself and I really hope that there could be another in the time before the start of the actual first book. I loved seeing some of my favorite characters as younger versions of themselves. Highly recommended, even if you haven't read anything else in the series.

Book: The Emperor’s Wolves
Author: Michelle Sagara
Rating: 2 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Mira Books, for providing me with an ARC.

I honestly think that this was just a book that wasn’t for me. It was poorly written or anything, but I honestly just didn’t care about what was happening. I felt like I was supposed to enjoy this book a lot more than I did, but I just didn’t. I do get why so many people enjoy this book and love the series, but it just wasn’t for me.

I think a big reason was that I found the magic system kind of confusing. It is my understanding that this is a spin off to another series, which I haven’t read before and didn’t realize it was whenever I agreed to read this title. With that being said, I don’t know how well the magic system is fleshed out in the original books, but here it just didn’t seem to come together. I get the idea and all, but I think this is just a magic system that isn’t for me.

The characters were just okay for me as well. They did the job, but I just really didn’t form any kind of connection with them. I do see why people like them and enjoy them, but, again, it’s just another case of this book not being for me.

The writing was engaging and Michelle did a good job of building up the actual world-minus the magic system. She has a pretty simple writing style when it comes to fantasy, which will make this book great for readers who are new to fantasy. I could tell that she put a lot of thought into each word and detail. Had this came across in the magic system, I think the book could have been better.

This is not a bad book by any means, but it just wasn’t for me. However, I would be honest if I said that I fully enjoyed it. I just couldn’t make a connection with it, but that doesn’t mean that someone else won’t.

This book comes out on October 13, 2020.