Book #41: Emperor's Spear

Another book down, 41 books read so far this year! I finally got my bum back in gear, having slacked a bit on physical reading in the last week or so! Bev said to me on Wednesday, that she hadn't seen me reading in a while. I was only 1 chapter into this book, Thursday was a solid reading day, and saw me munch through 250 pages of the book, before finishing it today. I well and truly lost myself in the book, only putting it down last night because Taskmaster was on!

Book number 4 in the Imperial Assassin series, Emperor's Spear sees us cross paths with Silus and Atius once again. Set a while after the events of the previous book, Silus has taken a self imposed sabbatical and has moved himself to the island where Tituria has been exiled. However his services are once again required from Oclatinius, as Atius has gone missing whilst on a mission in Germany. What follows is a daring mission, followed by a brutal action, betrayal, battle and heartbreak for Silus.

Again, I'm not going to say a huge amount about the plot in this book, it's very well written and really does get the heart racing at points. The battle is well written from both Atius' and Silus' viewpoints, with both having very different roles. Whilst the buildup to the rescue is very clever. At first, I wasn't too keen on it, with it flicking between Atius' and Silus' stories. I'm not fussed about that usually, but when it goes from January to March constantly, telling the two stories concurrently, it got confusing at first. However, in reality, it was very clever and I enjoyed the tension of both stories, not knowing if Atius was going to survive, and also seeing Silus' journey to rescue him.

There was one major new character introduced in the book, and I really enjoyed getting to know him, as he acted as Silus' guide into enemy territory. It was heartbreaking to see the Roman betrayal on a new ally, and the massacre that followed, ruining a friendship that had, until that point been wonderful. The outcome was devastating, as once again Silus experienced another heartbreak in his life, losing yet another friend.

The book touches on the mental state of Atius as well, having endured almost two months of torture and malnourishment whilst captive. I'm sure he has come away from it with PTSD, as he pushes his best friend away for a time, wanting to protect him from the secrets which he has been entrusted with, to stop Silus doing something stupid. Silus nearly does do something stupid, however his conscience stops him from throwing away his life.

Once again, a wonderfully written book by Alex Gough, who is becoming a favourite author of mine. I'm looking forward to reading his other series, Carbo of Rome which has found its way into my 'to read' pile!

Today has been a big day for authors announcing pre-orders for new books, two new books have been pre-ordered for September and November. Stay tuned for when they are released for my reviews. I may have a bigger to-read pile then, but some books will get fast tracked!

Emperor's Axe: 2.5cm

Total Read so far: 41 books, 123.5cm

Total left to read: 69.5cm