Morgan Cole

I received a free review copy of Empire of Jackals from Book Sirens in exchange for a fair and honest review - my sincerest thanks to both the author and the publisher. :)

Upon receiving this ARC I obtained the first so I could give this one a fair shake. I rated the first at 3 stars and was cautiously optimistic about this title hoping that with the rags to glory plot line out of the way this title would open up more in exploring the world itself, the various mythological creatures show more mentioned, and so on.

Sadly this is a step backwards for me. Cole had some serious strengths in the first book. The character development, the mixing of Greek and Eastern mythologies, the talent for writing heart pounding battle scenes, and presenting military strategy in an accurate way.

This book was much more on the political intrigue side, the kingdom is at peace but the dear Emperor shuffles off the mortal coil leaving his succession in disarray and a convenient setting for this book for our heroine to occupy her time with. So already we've lost on the major strengths in the first book.

The main character's development was still good it was nice to see things from Annuweth's point of view. To my chagrin the newer characters introduced all felt a bit hand wringing in their mannerisms.

Speaking of mannerisms an old loathing has yet again made it back into this book. In the first book I searched and counted 40 counts of someone biting or chewing their own lip. Right off the bat a few pages into this book someone does it again. I thought "Oh no here we go again." So I searched lips yet again and while less thankfully biting/chewing one's own lips comes up no less than 22 times. This is not counting all the pursing, curling etc. Cole relies just WAY too much on this mannerism in the writing. It's annoying and having just exited a book where I was already done with it and finding it at the beginning of this book just soured my tastes immediately.

I do not see myself continuing this series. It's a shame Cole has some real strengths and some major weaknesses in the writing. I wish Cole would have stuck to more of the strengths this outing and had an editor that would have realized the lazy pattern of lip biting and tell the author "Stop it." show less

Kind of a harder book to review, there were many things I loved and enjoyed in the book and quite a few things that were grating or annoying.

Cole does a great job with the characters in this book the development, the growth, the personalities and faults. Our heroine is no perfect cookie cutter hero. She has her faults, her mistakes, and her bursts of emotions like any human has. Same goes for the other main characters which I appreciated.

It's obvious to me as a tabletop wargamer/board show more gamer the board/strategy games presented in the book were not an afterthought by Cole they were well and logically thought to the point I would hazard a guess that Cole has experience playing war/board games.

The fighting and strategies were all very sound; being excellently described. The strategies that were formed and explained were plausible and while not without risk were not also portrayed as just as the perfect God mode insight that the characters couldn't have possessed in the world.

I enjoyed the mix of Greek and Eastern mythologies and titles in the world building. The nods here and there along with our characters having faults and being prone to rash displays of emotion and acting without thinking again I felt was a nod to the Greek stories of ancient times.

The story itself was serviceable and even with those faults of our characters never really in doubt sadly. Some twists and turns along the way but nothing that made me just go "WHOA!".

The actual physical world described was rather plain and boring nothing really stood out and just seemed like general fantasy fare.

The biggest annoyance was the fact that no less forty times is the act of a character biting or chewing their own lip mentioned. Cole relied way too much on this physical attribute for my tastes.

All that being said I'm cautiously optimistic about the 2nd title which I received as an ARC. I'm hoping that with what Cole has learned and gleaned from the first book, the origin story of rags to glory out of the way will open up the plot potential to some real twists and tension of not knowing how things will go. show less

My thanks to the Author publishers and BookSirens for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is a clever descriptive imaginative book, atmospheric engaging well written, and I as I often find of this genre character driven. To some extent it is a coming of age tale, as Marilia and her twin come to terms with vast changes in their young lives. Entertaining from the start the story builds with some terrific action scenes, particularly the duel which show more had me totally gripped to the point where I could not read it quick enough, and so tense I almost forgot to breathe.
Just one slight complaint not solely about this book but about this genre in general, there are always so many characters and often they are oddly named, a challenge of memory for a sixth two year old reader, but then I suspect I am not exactly the target audience.
Completely recommended. show less

My thanks to the Author publishers and BookSirens for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is the second book in this epic saga of Marilia and her twin brother, and whilst there are references to the first book it can easily be read as a standalone story. Just like the first this a clever descriptive imaginative book, well written but somewhat slower to start than the first hence only four stars. However it is always enjoyable and features some show more terrific action scenes.
As a sixth two year old reader, i suspect I am not exactly the target audience for this book but once again it kept me entertained and i eagerly look forward to the conclusion of this trilogy.
Recommended. show less