It was pointed out to me recently that most fantasy novels are set in an analog to the medieval period, and beyond that almost all are set in the past. By contrast, this novel takes us to a world with magical elements that is nonetheless set maybe 500 years ahead of earth in terms of technology and the recent history of the planet. I find this a refreshing change which really brings the categories of sci-fi and fantasy together.

The magic system is fundamentally based on the idea of emotional and social bonds between people being manifested and taking on sort of objective traits. Our main character is able to manipulate these bonds, thereby changing the lives of the people for whom he does this. Particularly interesting here is that this magic does not particularly exist in a way which benefits the practitioner. They cannot magically improve their physical abilities or material surroundings. In fact, the magic they can do only impacts them insofar as they are connected to the subject of their magic, and they are unable to enact it on themselves. This reinforces the theme of the importance of human connection in this book.

I like the characters with whom we interact, although some of the connections between these characters are a bit contrived (particularly thinking of the relationship the protagonist’s best friend has with a member of the band of thieves with whom they later interact). I think the emotional themes of the book are quite strong, and am interested in the idea that while environmental protection is hugely important, it becomes an issue when protecting the planet comes at the expense of the lives and well-being of innocent individuals. The solutions humans come up with must consider the most vulnerable members of society.

I do think the resolution of the book was very cliché, and that the inclusion of queer identities, while I appreciate it in principle, was a bit heavy handed when some of these identities were brought up without much relevance to the story. The best incorporation of LGBT identities was the (presumably) nonbinary character who’s gender was never really discussed as something unusual or significant, merely a facet of their identity.

Overall this was a fun story with interesting themes, and I am excited to see more from this author.

Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton Audio and NetGalley for the chance to read this book! I have been dying to read this since I saw the beautiful Goldsboro edition on Instagram and it was mentioned that the MC was aroace. And then I was immediately devastated because I realized it didn’t have a US release date and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to read it. But then, a miracle! The audiobook pops up on NetGalley and I get approved for it! So obviously I had to listen right away and I was not disappointed!

While I thought the world building was such a cool part of this book (love the idea of different tethers and how the connect and strengthen or break) it was ultimately the incredibly flawed and incredibly human characters that I loved the most. Remy has a fantastic arc from grief stricken sibling to revolutionary symbol, I loved going on this journey with him as his one track mind for vengeance was slowly opened and he was exposed to the suffering of others and how there are no easy choices for those a system has doomed to fail. And of course I loved all of the other characters as well, especially Idrian who is obviously not the evil outlaw he has been portrayed to be but neither is he innocent of all his crimes. This is truly the best part of reading books with morally grey characters, they are ultimately much more complex than their golden boy counterparts.

Oh, and can I mention how much I loved that there was no romance? I needed a break from romantic pining and angst and this totally hit the spot! And queer platonic relationships are just as good and meaningful, give me all the found family please!

Now who do I speak to about getting this published in the US?!

The book was interesting, but in total, it dragged. It pulled a lot to get to the end. Characters weren’t fully fleshed. It hinted at being LGBTQIA, but it was hinted.

A deceptively complex tale of grief, revenge, bonds between people, choices, and healing, this one definitely took some time to grow on me, but once it did, I couldn't stop listening. I loved the growing found family that blossoms out of this and the way it highlights all the different sorts of important bonds between people and how impactful each one can be.

The tethers are one of the most interesting parts of the worldbuilding, and for as much as we get about them, I wish there had been more - if most people can't see their tethers, are a lot of bonds just taken on faith, or assumed, or just a nice side detail to their lives? I wish it had been a little more woven into what we got about the worldbuilding, especially with the politics and the rebuilding of the planet. The politics are also a little simplistic - there's a controlling of information, but we only see one Chancellor - how did he get to power? How long has he been in power? If people were only sent back to the Isles within the last 10 or 20 years, why would Idrian's legacy have become a children's game with an established rhyme? How far does the corruption go? It doesn't seem very deep, but then how is that sustainable through potential power changes?

Thankfully, that's mostly just the background against the choices Remy and Idrian have to make - having already been the few sacrificed for the many, do you continue that cycle? When is that sacrifice justified? When is it not? What is that tipping point? And then the important question - will you recognize it when it comes? It's lovely to see both Remy and Idrian's mindsets shift and change throughout the course of the events and their knowing each other, the ways they challenge each other and trust grows. It's also a joy to see so many platonic and found family bonds and so many different flavors of them.

1. Audiobook Review:

I was lucky enough to have read Lord of the Empty Isles a couple of months ago, so I was very excited to listen to the audiobook and experience someone else's interpretation. I'm happy to report that Georgina Sadler's interpretation was amazing and did the story justice. It was a different take on the story with a different voice than the one I had in my head while reading. That's not a critique by any means. I want an adaptation, may it be audio or visual, to give me something new that I can't get on my own from reading. So, Lord of the Empty Isles is definitely a story one should experience twice, through text and audio.

2. Book Review:

First, I saw the cover and thought, "I need this book on my shelf." Then I read the blurb and decided that I needed this story in my head. Now, after I’ve read the last page, I simply can’t get it out of my head anymore.

Lord of the Empty Isles is a book that will dare you to put it down. Every page will guide you to the next, making you lose your sense of time and space as Jules Arbeaux fully immerses you in this incredible world she has created.

If I had to boil down the plot to one line, it would probably be, "A clash between grief, love, and hope." I immediately fell in love with the characters which, while keeping me invested in the narrative, was heartbreaking because I simply wanted nothing more than to see them hug it out. But the world isn’t that simple. It never is. And aside from the colorful cast of characters and the incredible world-building, I simply kept going because I kept wanting answers to two questions: How did it come to this? Where do we go from here?

Remy and Idrian were the heart of the story for me, and the network of emotional bonds they’ve formed with the characters around them was way more satisfying and heartwarming for me personally than most of the romance subplots I usually read.

Overall, Lord of the Empty Isles is an incredible, heartwarming story set in a vivid and unique world, filled with amazing characters that will stay with you long past the final words. It’s a magnificent debut, and I can’t wait to see more of Arbeaux's work in the future.

My best book of 2024 so far. Lord of the Empty Isles may be fantasy/science fiction, but its themes are achingly familiar. Grief. Regret. Revenge. Betrayal. Identity. Family. How do I forgive myself for failing someone I love? How do I find redemption? How do I heal? CAN I heal at all?

The characters are flawed and scarred and all the more lovable for it. They portray the inevitable imperfections inherent in every human relationship. You will swiftly fall for every member of Idrian's ragtag crew of outlaws and their quirky, cozy, chosen-family bantering and bickering and fretting. They feel like an affectionate nod to another certain rebellious thieving crew in a cosmere far, far away ;)

And our main character, Remy, who begins our tale with the self-righteous moral absolutism of the young. Throughout the story, the lad repeatedly gets his moral compass unceremoniously drop-kicked down the cosmic stairs. If you love character growth, look no further.

The audiobook narrator fearlessly, flawlessly tackles multiple different accents for the characters with clarity and continuity. Well done, Georgina Sadler!

DNF - I found the combination of third person/present tense just really didn't work for audiobook, especially with an understated narrator. The story didn't flow well and it was really hard to pay close enough attention to follow the story.

I Personally found it hard to get into this book. It was Dark, and delves deep into the stories of grief, pain and identity. The Magic system is new and Unique, however I found it quite confusing and couldn't quite grasp it.
I enjoyed the emphasis on platonic relationships and the fact that the MC is gendernonconforming and aroace which isn't seen very often in literature, or at least not that I've seen.
I'd be willing to give this another go, however as of right now I had to DNF it due to not being able to follow what was happening. This particular book, I feel like I would need in a different format which is entirely a me problem, since Audiobooks I tend to listen to while multitasking and that may be part of why I couldn't understand the story.

Overall, I think if you like LGBT, sci-fi and fantasy and magic, you should give it ago.

A lovely, inclusive, emotional tale. This is a fairly easily digestible sci-fi for anyone who doesn't read the genre much. There is an interesting "magic system" based on emotional and fate tether bonds, which I found unique and enjoyed learning about.
Many of the characters are dealing with guilt and grief, and there is a lot to unpack throughout the book.
The focus on platonic relationships, especially between the aroace MC and friends both new and old was enjoyable.
There are some common themes at the base of the story, but the details added by the author made it into something different than I've read before.

The narrator did a great job at giving all of the different characters their own voice. I enjoyed listening and found the quality to be excellent!

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for the ALC!

A withering is a death curse. Remy's brother Cameron was killed by one five years ago. Idrian Delaciel is the one who cast it.
Since then, Remy has been planning to get revenge. Now that he finally has everything he needs, he casts a withering on Idrian. Something goes terribly wrong. The curse rebounds and now Remy is fatebound to the man he hates with every fiber of his being. He has to figure out a way to fix it or he will die too.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I requested the arc just because this book will be coming in a subscription box. I wanted to see if I liked it or if I wanted to skip it. I will definitely keep it! The magic was really interesting. I liked the characters, especially Idrian's crew. It has a found family aspect.

The only issue I had was the narrator. It sounded like she was reading a middle grade book even though these characters are not children. Also, Idrian had a southern accent even though nobody else in his family did. I just didn't get it. After listening for awhile I got used to the narrator, I just didn't get why the characters sounded so young. Personal preference I guess.

Arbeaux has written a compelling and engaging Sci-Fi debut. It was equal parts riveting and heart-breaking dealing with heavier topics of grief and pain while also exploring what the defining characteristics of friendship. I adored the found family trope and how well Arbeaux utilized it. It’s one of my favorite tropes especially when done well. Arbeaux also did well at crafting a unique magic system. The world building was also well developed and descriptive. The characters also went through sufficient development and were easy to become invested in. I feel like this would be a good intro Sci-Fi book for someone first looking to get into the genre as it has some of the classical trademarks written in an easy to understand manner. The one aspect I feel could’ve been better executed was the plot wrap up. There were a few holes, albeit minor, that I wish were more buttoned up. I also felt like everything was wrapped up a little too neatly for such an emotionally charged book. Georgina Sadler did an admirable job with the audiobook making it easy to follow and remain invested in the book. Sadler also did well at capturing the emotions of the characters which I really appreciated. I feel like this worked well as an audiobook in part because it was a lighter Sci-Fi read. This made it easier to keep track of the overall story which can sometimes be difficult for me with more intense Sci-Fi novels.

I appreciated and enjoyed this audiobook as a fictional story, but it also made me think about conflict. YA fantasy, which is dark in places but also for the most part lighter in tone than the rest of my review might suggest, and worth spending time listening to. There are a few moments of violence that means I wouldn’t recommend this for younger readers. This is a story which centres on the unknowable bonds between people. I liked the characters, the magic system, and for the fact that this isn’t a romance story. Set in a fictional dystopian setting, that mirrors in many ways many conflicts we see around us. Rulers who decide the haves and have nots, and the atrocities that are perpetrated on each side of the divide. As previously stated there is some violence, which in drawing the conflict to a close in the story is for the most part ignored without consequence, so one star off for that. Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Wow. What a story!

I don’t think I expect much when I started this and I have to say I am so pleasantly surprised by this book. It’s a powerful story of loss, revenge, adventure, and friendship, things you don’t often see in one book.

Remy was so relatable in his grief, the anger you feel, the pain that comes with thinking of a loved one who has passed. The suddenness of death always takes you by surprise one way or another, and Idrian is going to get a lesson on that if Remy has anything to do with it.

I didn’t really get the magic system, even to the end of the book. But I do like that you don’t necessarily need to understand it to enjoy the book and get a decent idea of what is going on and what the possible consequences are.

The Narrator was *chefs kiss* brilliant! I loved the variety of the accents, I’m sure that can be really hard to keep track of when recording a book with a large cast but the Narrator did a very good job of making each person feel like an individual. 5/5⭐️

Thank you to the Author Jules Arbeaux, and the Narrator Georgina Sadler for making this book possible for me to enjoy!

Also huge Thank You to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for my free audio book copy of “Lord Of The Empty Isles”.

I received this advance review copy for free and I am leaving an honest review voluntarily.

I truly enjoyed reading Lord of the Empty Isles. It’s a sci-fi-fantasy set in a post eco-apocalyptic world. Remy Canta’s brother died of a death curse set in motion by Remy’s childhood idol—the Robin Hood-esque Idrian Delaciel. In his grief, he sets the same curse on Idrian, but it rebounds.

Remy finds a way to slow down the curse by joining Idrian’s crew. During his time among them, he learns about the corruption and violence they’ve been fighting. All of that’s to say nothing of the beautiful queerplatonic found family relationships among the crew <3

But what will happen to the fatebound pair, Remy and Idrian? Can Remy change his mind, and would it make any difference if he did?

I received an audio ARC from Hodder & Stoughton/Hodderscape via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton Audio and NetGalley, for providing me with this audiobook arc, in exchange for my honest review.

Sci-fi is my favorite genre so I’m grateful and I was really excited I got the chance to read this one early!!

The narration by Georgina Sadler was well done overall. I just liked some character’s voices better than others but it is a well narrated audiobook.

This is a fast paced, high stakes story, that was easy to listen to (the author’s use of language is pretty plain) and I easily got to almost 40% in an afternoon. But unfortunately I DNF’ed at that point because as it sounded very interesting at the start, it was never really engaging and I felt like I didn’t care about any of the characters and didn’t feel what I should have felt when really bad things happened to innocent people. So reading on wouldn’t have been very enjoyable for me. I think for readers who are okay with superficial, fast paced dystopian adventures, this might be an enjoyable book.

The story is about 19 year old Remy who lives with his friend T. (Tiranee? (audiobook struggles, sorry)). They are both orphans. T. is a weaver, which means she can see tethers between people but not touch them. Remy is a witherer, which means he can’t see them, but he can cut them.

When Remy finally finds a way to use his power on the man who killed his brother, he finds out that he is fate bound to that man (Idrian) when it’s too late. He has sentenced both of them to death.

Remy tells T. what happened and they soon find themselves in a race against the clock to find Idrian. When they do, they find out that Remy isn’t the only one fate bound to Idrian and about to die.

They end up joining Idrian and his crew of criminals, to hopefully find a way to save Remy’s life. I think the reader is supposed to start liking Idrian or at least see and accept there’s a better side of him too but he’s just such an awful guy and kills people so easily, so I just couldn’t. T. is the only character I somewhat liked, Remy was very immature and him wearing woman’s clothing, heels and all, all the time apparently caught me off guard. I mean there was a slight (easily misinterpreted) hint to it at the beginning of the story but we basically learn of it in the middle of an action scene, well into the story.

I’ve mentioned before that Sci fi is usually not my favourite genre, so it takes a huge leap for me to enjoy a sci fi story so much. I really loved the almost believable premise of this one - that seems to be the trick for me, if I can see the potential of fact in the fiction it hits and I’m engaged.

The story is really strong. It’s powerful and emotional especially surrounding the topic of grief but I thought the author done a beautiful job and handled jt with great care. Nice to see lgbtq+ characters taking the lead in such a way too. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrators voice. As a final note I should add that this novel very much read as a YA to my ear, I don’t think it’s advertised as such, but I imagine it’d be a hit with a younger audience.

With special thanks to Hodder and Stoughton Audio for providing me an ELC to review.

Delightful book! Dark at times, but all the better for the story of grief, pain, and identity it's telling.
The magic system is new and unique (confusing in the beginning, though), and the characters leap off the page! My favorite part was the emphasis on platonic relationships (MC is gender nonconforming/aroace), which we so rarely see explored to this degree.
My only complaint is that some characters felt a little too immature for their age at times, but overall it didn't take away too much from my enjoyment.

The narrator did a great job bringing everyone to life, thoroughly enjoyed the experience of listening to this on audio!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.