This book had a lot going on. I will say, you can tell that the author is creative and has an active imagination as seen through the worldbuilding of this book. Unfortunately, nothing came together strongly enough to make for a compelling or cohesive read.

There was a lot of worldbuilding – pages and pages of exposition explaining so many things that didn’t play a role in the plot or characters. But then there were instances when something was just thrown in with little or no explanation and left me wondering what exactly was going on. Some examples: the world itself is our world but it has been taken control of by the Allied Forces which includes all countries except the US and Britain, the Allied Forces are essentially Nazi-like people hanging out in the Arctic holding the Great Hunt (Hunger Games), some folks (mostly Africans) have magic, etc.

There were also many, many plot holes that were just too difficult to ignore. A couple non-spoiler examples: Coa decides to participate in the Great Hunt because they’re threatening to kill her family using DNA tracking, but Coa only has an adoptive family so…. Coa is also stated as having what sounds like a club foot, but aside from it being mentioned several times, it doesn’t impede her or cause her any issues during a very active Great Hunt. Character motivations were nonexistent (one kept fluctuating between telling soldiers to killer her then frantically trying to survive for her family) and they were majorly lacking in depth/development.

The author tried to tackle heavy and painful topics (genocide specifically) with this book, but it just didn’t work. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this one at all. My thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The writing and idea behind this book is super intriguing, but the book's execution left a lot to be desired. There were so many components to this story and its massive world building, with so many characters and history interwoven early onto the book, but there was very little information/backstory. I ultimately chose to DNF at the 15% mark because I simply couldn't keep up with everything going on with this book without more explanation. Maybe I would have finished this book if I read it as a physical copy rather than listened to an audiobook, but I simply could not continue. However, I do like this author's writing style, so I will read further books from her. Hopefully her next series will be a better fit for me.

The Empire Wars by Akana Phenix had a lot of potential with its ambitious world-building and complex themes, but it ultimately fell short for me. The story is packed with dystopian elements and touches on important issues like fascism and genocide, but the execution feels underdeveloped. The world is confusing, with too many divisions and unexplained elements, making it hard to keep track of what's happening.

The characters didn't resonate with me either; they felt two-dimensional, and I struggled to connect with their motivations. The competition aspect of the plot, which should have been thrilling, felt chaotic and underwhelming. While the author clearly has passion, the story needed more refinement and depth to really shine.

Overall, The Empire Wars has an interesting premise, but it didn’t quite deliver on its promise. If you're a fan of YA dystopian fiction, you might find some aspects intriguing, but it didn’t capture my interest as much as I had hoped.

This is one of the easiest 5 stars I've given a book, recently. The story telling is absolutely riveting, the characters you grow attached to very quickly, and the relevance to the real world, right now is absolutely everything. This book had me on edge and waiting to see what happened next. The performance of the audio is fantastic and I hope there is more to come with this story and these characters. I would definitely recommend this one!

while i haven’t seen this being compared to the hunger games, i do think this is one of the few books that deserve a comparison to it. a lot of hunger games comparisons have a deadly competition without the social commentary, but this had both.

we get the perspectives of coa, a forced participant in the hunt, and princess ife, who comes from a conquered nation and is hoping to take the empire down from the inside following her marriage to a man who ranks high in the allied force.

seeing these two different, yet similar, points of view helped put the whole story into perspective. i highly recommend this book, and i can’t wait for the sequel!

Thank you to Blackstone for my ALC in exchange for my review!

Genocide and hunger games vibes.
The fmc is like katniss….with all her emotions : awe , precipitation and love.
Arena and fighting is so competitive.