Fantastic book by Richard Swan..

This book was so good. I loved this one. And I have recommended it to a few friends already .

Fantastic

I felt like this book missed its mark.
I loved the first one, liked the second one, and this one was a meh. I felt like characters reacted in ways they wouldn’t to some things, and I wasn’t a fan of the way the story went. Still, written very well. Just disappointed with the outcome.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for this advanced copy

Statisfying ending. I love how the story ends. Can't wait to read more book from him.

Thank you net galley and Orbit books for the e-arc.

This was an amazing conclusion to the trilogy! The growth of the main character and the slight decline of Vonvalt was so well written. Helena growing and realizing her perception of the world and Vonvalt has been idealistic and naive was a great way to go with their relationship! I want to read more about this world!

This continued to meander among an indistinct and generic political/military conflict rather than lean into what it did so uniquely in bk 1 with the fantasy Judge Dredd. Huge disappointment.

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Thanks again!

I really enjoyed this series as a whole. I love the framed narrative and the ideas and themes of justice and I will enjoy a courtroom scene in any book ever. The trial at the end of this book may be the best thing Swan has written so far. I also think that Swan excels at the horror genre, and this book is packed full of cosmic horror juxtaposed with the mundane.

That being said, I appreciate the scope of this book, but I think I prefer the smaller scope of book 1. I've talked about 'power creep' on my channel before and it's just harder to connect when the world is at stake. Not to say it can't be done, but for some reason, the two elements of an empire in danger of lawlessness and the fate of the very world at stake on a cosmic level just didn't quite get there for me. I almost wish it had been one or the other. Also, though I will defend it to the teeth, the fact that Helena is the only POV necessarily removes us from some big events in this book because she's just not there. I love Helena and I love Vonvalt, and not nearly enough Radomir in this one!

Regardless, I enjoyed this book and I'm so looking forward to the flintlock sequel series coming out. The series is definitely worth a read and Swan gets major points for ambition.

Received an eARC but ended up listening to the story. This remains one of my favorite series of all time, but the addition of some horror themes brings this book down to a 4 from a 5 for me. Still recommend!

The Trials of Empire was a thrilling conclusion to a really fantastic series. I really enjoyed the way the story played out for the most part, and the stakes becoming an existential threat became really exciting and kept me glued to the page all day long to the point where I finished the book in a single sitting. The plot of this book was really great and I loved getting to interact with more of the cultures from around this world. One thing I will say, that shook me to my core, was learning that there are non human people in this world...??? I thought the previous mentions of the Country of the Wolf/Wolfmen in past books were always metaphorical, not literal canine people. So that was interesting. But I liked learning about them and the heretical druids, and northlanders.
All in all, this book is a great continuation of the series and is everything you expect it to be after reading the previous entries. It really does maintain that high quality and doesn't fumble the ending.
My only personal gripes with the conclusion, is I expected a corruption arc that didn't end how I anticipated, which I personally think would have made for a stronger ending and theme, especially since the way things ended with that character basically amount to the same narrative outcome as what I wanted to happen.
I really adored this book and it's an easy five star.

**Thank you for the ARC!! All opinions are completely my own.**

4.5-4.75 stars. Incredible conclusion to a fantastic series! I can't believe it's been a few years since I read Justice of Kings. I have followed this series alongside the masterful Richard Swan, enigmatic Vonvalt, and upstanding Helena, and I simply cannot believe our journey with these incredible characters has come to an end.

I will eagerly look forward to what comes next - spoiler alert, it's the Grave Empire (and Great Silence trilogy). Thank you for everything, Mr. Swan!

Wow, what a conclusion. This book packed a LOT. As with the previous books, there were politics, questions of morality, religion, justice, etc. But this book definitely took a bigger turn into horror. Which I enjoyed, but definitely different than the first two books. At times it almost felt like too many moving parts but I found that it ended in a satisfying manner. Some of the questioning and arguing between Konrad and Helena felt repetitive at times, but I also understood where it was headed. I found the action sequence as we follow Helena in some harrowing moments to be thrilling. Overall, the writing was great, but my brain was definitely tired from the politics and religion, mixed with action and horror. I’ll need to read something simpler after this!

This book will be reviewed and featured on my instagram account : @emily_reads_everything. In addition, my goodreads account will have a starred rating, as well as one here. My GR account is linked in the profile of my instagram.

Author Richard Swan concludes his fantastic Empire of the Wolf trilogy in this novel, and he both breaks your heart at all the loss and violence, but also gives you fantastic character interactions and growth.

The novel opens with the Sovan Empire in crisis, and the trio of Helena, Sir Konrad Vonvalt and Sir Radomir on the run. They're on the hunt for allies, for what Vonvalt hopes will be an army with which he can return to save Sova. Bartholomew Claver's power and influence grows by leaps and bounds, and everywhere they turn are enemies.

The trio find no love for the Wolf Empire in the north amongst the pagans, and head south. There they find a Doctor Moreau-inspired race of wolfmen, who, while also having no love for the Empire, are at least willing to listen to what Konrad proposes. It helps they have a powerful hatred of Templars.

At the same time, Helena's terrifying visions are growing worse. And much as she can see the rightness in opposing Claver, Helena is growing increasingly worried at the lengths to which Vonvalt is willing to go, seeming comfortable with the terrible choices they must make and the resulting violence. It’s ironic that the harder Vonvalt works to save the dying Wolf Empire, the faster he loses himself. Helena despairs watching his growing fallibility, defensiveness, and seeming callousness towards those harmed along the way.

She, on the other hand, continues to act as our moral centre to this incredibly dark last book in the trilogy. Though she understands the need to stop Claver, Helena keeps challenging Vonvalt for his decisions. Her growth over the three books has been phenomenal, and such a pleasure. She begins, in book one, as a naïve young clerk to the famed Justice Sir Konrad Vonvalt, and idolizes him. In book two, while still respectful, she's beginning to see the man, instead of the icon of rectitude, and asks him not to do certain, awful things in the service of the Emperor. By book three, Helena is confronting her mentor repeatedly, telling him that he is obsessed, that his choices are suspect, if not outright bad, and will take him down a terrible, black road.

It's an astonishing progression and creates much tension and sometimes acrimony in their relationship. All this plays out against numerous battles, where one can feel the bodies smashing into one another, the metal ringing, the black powder explosions, and the blood and other bodily fluid covering everyone, including a terrified and sickened Helena.

The final conflict plays out both in the streets of Sova, but also in the frightening afterlife that Helena has been able to go to repeatedly since book two. While there are victories along the way, we knew from the beginning of book one that the Wolf Empire was doomed, and we were going to see it come apart, which Swan does get us to by this book's end. But for all gruelling, hard efforts we see Helena and company make, we also get a quiet ending for this fantastic story. Story threads are wrapped up in a way that left me sad and satisfied, with Helena literally riding out to her future, tougher and wiser than when she first appeared. This trilogy was often brutal, often shocking, but its ending is the essence of hope.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

The Trials of Empire was a very hard book for me to review. I am a big fan of the writing and the characters grow enormously as the plot escalates up to this final book so there was a lot to like and love about this series. Unfortunately, I think this book suffers from the same issues that plagued the Covenant of Steel by Anthony Ryan. Fantastic first two books, bit of a let down in the last and could not stick the landing.

Why do I say this about the Trials of Empire? Well, there are many strands in this book that do not quite fit together. We have the ongoing disintegration of the morality of Justice Konrad and him slowly descending into a villain, but the author does not actually commit to this idea and has him come back to himself (somewhat) unconvincingly because of Helena. Which brings me to the next point: they have this intense love/infatuation with each other that Konrad said in the last book he was going to damn the costs and pursue but literally went nowhere in this book. Then we have several journeys that the characters went on which made very little sense. We have to cross the sea to enlist the help of the Wolfmen! Uh why? Especially since only a small number actually came back with them.... Lastly, the ending was quite anti-climactic but I do not want to spoil it for anyone who has not read it yet.

This is not to say that the book was all bad. In fact, it had lots of fascinating ideas/musings about morality, justice, tyranny, philosophy of state etc so it was definitely very thought provoking and the dialogue involving these ideas was so well written that it did not feel at all forced. There is also an event which makes you wonder if Swan was referring to how to handle leaders who break foundational rules in society and how to dismantle a messianic figure. Very relevant to modern times.

To sum up, first two books were excellent, last one was alright.

[3.5/5 stars] Not quite as slam-dunk as the second book, but still a satisfying ending to a great trilogy.

I don’t often regard middle books in a series as the best, but I’ll continue to talk endlessly about how much I loved Tyranny of Faith. And it’s not that the story peaked in that book, as this final installment still had a fantastic momentum, culmination of events, and a great ending. It’s that it had less of those slow, deep character connections. It was also more bleak, not leaving much room for that great humor that tipped the second book from good to phenomenal. There were glimmers of those elements, but they were few and far between.

I liked the exploration of character and morality – a common theme in this series. This really good examination of sticking to the letter of the law vs the spirit. Is it just to break the law when it’s for a greater purpose? And who determines that purpose as righteous? I love how it looked at both sides of that argument and illustrated how it can be used for both good and evil (and a lot of in-between). A nice food for thought that added substance to an already entertaining story.

The main character, Vonvalt (who isn’t actually the POV character, but I still consider him the star of the show) was incredibly unlikable, and not written in a way where you can tell the author is making an unlikable character more appealing to the reader in a “but you’d like him if you could just get to know him” way by showing redeeming qualities. I loved it. As a result, he was one of the most interesting characters I’ve read about in ages. And seeing him through Helena’s eyes made it work even better, as it didn’t provide the reader any means to judge him by but off his actions. It’s such a creative series in that regard, with style and voice, and one of the reasons I’m looking forward to reading more from the author in the future.

If you listed out all of the components in the first two books and told me to pick my least favorite one, it would’ve been the supernatural stuff. I generally like supernatural, but it felt kind of out of place in the first book and took the story away from the legal conflicts and interpersonal character work I was enjoying so much. Unfortunately, supernatural is what Trials of Empire focused on almost exclusively. It was integrated a lot more seamlessly the further I read, and overall I enjoyed it, but my lack of enthusiasm for the story to take that direction might be another reason why I didn’t enjoy this as much as I could have. Totally a preferential thing. Also, I could’ve used more time with the wolf men…

Overall, I’m happy to have read this series and, as mentioned, I can’t wait to see what the author will come out with next!

Recommendations: if you’re in for a well-balanced, totally engaging trilogy with interesting character work and moments of pure brilliance – give this a try!

Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller

The Trials of Empire is an epic conclusion to one of the best, newer fantasy series that I've read. The stakes in this final book are at an all-time high, and character relationships have become dynamic and layered in a way that keeps the story engaging from beginning to end. Richard Swan's exploration of morality is balanced incredibly well with the book's other themes of law, justice, and religion. I absolutely loved everything about this book.

This book was honestly a let down after how much I loved the first two. It was just boring. The ending was satisfying, but didn’t make up for the rest.

The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan is the conclusion to the Empire of the Wolf trilogy. It is a very good finale, and a fitting end to the series.

Sir Konrad Vonvolt and his friends are desperate to stop Bartholomew Claver from using the knowledge he has gained, and possibly the demon who is possessing him, from taking over the Empire, let alone the world. To this end, they spend a lot of time trying to convince various groups to put aside their differences, and sometimes extreme hatred, to stop Claver and to save the Empire, or at least what is left.

This was an entertaining book, with very well-drawn characters. It is narrated, as are the first two books in the series, by Konrad's young assistant Helena Sedanka. It is also told as a memoir of sorts, so while Helena's survival is never in doubt, there is a sense of finality and terror that comes through. Other supporting characters are fleshed out very well and add to the depth of the story. However, it is Konrad Vonvalt who is the star. He is generally a good man bent on serving justice, but he is willing to do whatever it takes for that justice to be served.

I enjoyed The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan, as I did the whole series. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy mixed with horror (a little too much horror for my tastes).

I received a preview copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The final installment in the Empire of the Wolf trilogy offers all the things to love in the the previous two books with a whole lot more intensity and brutality. The group of protagonists take on insurmountable odds to save the Empire of the Wolf to falling into the hands of Claver. The antagonist Claver and his demonic allies bring truly frightening horror elements and epic battles. Every novel in the trilogy has expanded the world and magic system in fascinating ways. This was a very satisfying finale to a series that has taken us on quite the journey. I highly recommend The Trials of Empire and the entire Empire of the Wolf trilogy to fans of epic fantasy.

Empire of the Wolf is easily one of my favorite fantasy series ever and Trials of Empire stuck the landing. An easy 5 stars.

This is a grim dark fantasy series with a German inspired medieval setting. The first of the trilogy, Justice of Kings, begins about a generation after the founding of the Empire of the Wolf and follows Sir Konrad Vonvalt, a Justice, who roams the empire and enacts the emperor’s Justice. He is essentially a medieval lawyer, but with magic. The story is told from the perspective of Helena, his clerk and protégée looking back on the events from many years in the future. They and a host of side character begin to investigate a murder, but in the process unearth a larger conspiracy.

The magic system is definitely one of the coolest out there. One of the best parts of this series is learning more about it as the world expands, but essentially the Justices have access to arcanum that teach them how to wield different powers which allow you to do things like command people with your voice and speak to the recently dead. But these powers are dangerous and somehow tied to the afterlife. It is creepy and horrific and so fun read.

I can’t say too much about the plot of this specific installment so as not to spoil the series, but one of the many things this trilogy does well is that each book builds on itself and becomes larger and larger in scope.

And we haven’t even gotten to my favorite part, the characters and their arcs and dynamic. I honestly can’t remember the last time I ended a book and was emotionally distraught because I would miss the characters so much.

This series asks the questions, how far do you go to do what is right? And, is it still right if you have to do bad things to get there? Watching the characters trying to figure this out is harrowing.

There is also a type of love between Helena and Vonvalt that I could not get enough of. This dynamic could have easily been creepy, but the author handled it beautifully in my opinion.

I love Helena and her dry wit and her philosophical contemplations. I love Vonvalt and his pretentiousness and sincerity. And I love all of the side characters and their quirks including Heinrich 🐶. This made it all the more devastating to watch them go through what they did.

I will miss them all dearly and I am begging Richard Swan to give us more.

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.