I cannot give a full review. This book was so hard to keep reading. There is no set up and no worldbuilding. You are just thrown into the story without any guidance which made it hard to follow and gave me no reason to truly engage with the characters or story.

English isn't my first language and normally that's no issue while reading fiction novels but I had some trouble with this book. I had to really concentrate to understand what's going on and hands down, I'm too tired lately to put much thought into reading. I gotta be honest, I didn't finish the book. The language was one problem the other was the introduction or better said the lack there of. So far there was no real world building and the characters are pretty much just names.
I will probably try reading it again at a later time, but for now I gave up on it.

In the Eternal Empire, the Department of War schemes for conquest, and whispers circulate about a destined prince. Two unassuming functionaries find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, facing the daunting task of halting a doomed invasion. With their wits and broken hearts as their only weapons, they embark on a perilous journey. The story cleverly intertwines engaging fantasy elements with a gripping narrative that keeps you hooked.

This felt like it dragged on. It was a book full of long drag on sentences. I also just could not connect with the characters.

I DNF’d this around 10% in because I just didn’t care about the characters and didn’t know what was going on. There was nothing to go off of and I didn’t get what was going on at all. There was little character introduction and I need that to feel attached to the characters so I care about them and the plot. Not the book for me.

This had an engaging story that worked with the genre and was enjoying the fantasy elements in this. The characters were everything that I was expecting and was glad everything worked together to tell the story. Joel Glover was able to keep the story going and have the reader engaged with the characters.