Review: Of Empires and Dust by Ryan Cahill
Blurb:
I’ldryr viel asatar. I sanvîr viel baralun.
In fire we are forged. In blood we are tempered.
In the Aravell woodland, Calen Bryer grapples with the fallout from the Battle of Aravell. The path forward is littered with choices that will bleed him dry. But he is a Draleid, he is a guardian, and he will always stand when others call.
His sister, Ella, lies fragmented, her mind split between worlds, her fate unknown. But the blood of the wolf is strong.
Hundreds of miles away, in the western villages of Illyanara, Dahlen Virandr leads the defense of Salme and all its inhabitants gathered from across the region. The Uraks are unrelenting, and they know only blood and death. If this is to be his end, he will enter Achyron's Halls as a warrior who would not yield.
Below the mountains of Lodhar, Queen Kira waits in the dark while Hoffnar attempts to sieze control of the Freehold and lead the dwarves towards a new dawn of war.
In Valtara, Dayne Ateres hunts those who betrayed his family, while Alina prepares her army to besiege the legendary Achyron's Keep.
At the edges of the Burnt Lands, Rist Havel is offered a new path forward, one that few have ever trodden, one that could forge him into a mage of no equal.
With the news that Ilkya and Jormun have fallen, along with their soulkin, Eltoar finds himself face-to-face with Salara Ithan – a remnant of his past life that he had long thought dead.
With the Blood Moon in the sky, Kallinvar and the Knights of Achyron battle tirelessly against the Shadow, doing everything within their power to hold back the darkness.
Gods are waking.
The world is burning.
Ashes and dust are all that will remain
Review:
As I sit down to write this review, I feel as if I am almost treading upon holy ground. Of Empires and Dust by Ryan Cahill is special. At this point, this series means so much to me. It is SO good. It is hard for me to express myself in anything more than complete adoration for what Cahill has done so far with The Bound and the Broken. I honestly was concerned when I started this book that there was no way Cahill was going to be able to top Of War and Ruin because it was just that good. Of Empires and Dust elevates this series even higher in my soul, nailing it easily within my top three series of all time. Of Empires and Dust did everything that I was hoping for, exceeding all of my expectations.
This is going to be a spoiler filled review because at this point, we’re 4 books and 3 novellas deep and there’s no way to come close to doing this book justice without talking about spoilers.
So be warned, spoilers ahead.
Of Empires and Dust (OEAD) starts directly after the devastating battle at Aravell in Of War and Ruin. The world has been thrown into chaos; the Blood Moon has risen. OEAD takes place over the month of the Blood Moon, a count down of which day after the Blood Moon rising marks the beginning of each chapter. Amazingly, Cahill does a fantastic job of keeping a solid pace throughout this monstrously long book, not allowing for the confines of the month-long literary construct to introduce periods of slogging through the story. I felt this way with Of War and Ruin and I will reiterate it again with OEAD. Cahill does not waste a single page of this book. But how can that be when the book is 1000+ pages depending on how you read it? Close to 500,000 words. Because Cahill is telling us the story he freaking wants to be telling us. I respect Cahill so much for gifting us with the story that is resonating within his heart. What do I mean by that? I’m sure Cahill is getting at least some pressure to trim and cut the fat, get the word count down. Jump from battle scene to battle scene, quit dwelling in a character’s thoughts and get to the action. Keep the story streamlined. But instead, he takes his time with this story. We get to truly marinate with the characters and their thoughts, we experience the world building and spend time with major and minor characters. This is epic fantasy at its best and most epic. Will there be some people who say he could have cut this or that scene? Sure. But if he did, it wouldn’t be the same story with the same emotional impact. I LOVE his dedication to telling this story with so much detail and care.
One of Cahill’s strengths continues to be in his expert ability to switch up POVs with enough skill that I’ll be rooting for Calen and the rebellion in one chapter and the next chapter, without thinking of it, I’m cheering while Rist and Garramon slaughter members of the rebellion because how could they destroy that Lorian tower? And then I take a second to think about it, and I remember that the rebellion are the “good guys” and I’m not supposed to be supporting the Lorians, but I can’t handle Magnus or Neera getting hurt! It is just so well done. I think one of the best examples in this book is Eltoar. I mean, Eltoar is a bad dude who did terrible things. He is one of the main forces behind The Fall. He betrayed The Order but more importantly, he betrayed his brother and sister Draleid. He slaughtered countless dragons. Yet, throughout this story, as we get more Eltoar POVs, I became so entrenched in his story. He is one of my favorite characters. His relationship with Helios. His fractured, passionate relationship with Alvira and the heartbreak that killing her caused him. It would be so easy to make Eltoar an unforgiveable, unrelatable baddie that leaves fiery destruction in his path. But Cahill makes him a complex, flawed character that is so interesting to learn about. His tragic story is fascinating, and I cannot wait to read more about him.
“Every soul has a thousand lives not lived, born a thousand choices not made and a thousand paths not walked, Eltoar. We must not dwell on those other lives. They are ghosts, and if we let them, they will haunt us. Look forward. There are more choices to make, more paths to walk, more life to live.”
“Speak again, and I will bury you so deep your own mother would give up digging.”
In a book with blood dripping from every page, Cahill has managed to insert some of my new favorite descriptions of love (both quotes below). I mean good enough that I stopped both times and just shook my head, eyes misting as I marveled about the beauty and simplicity in these quotes.
“No matter how long the day was or how quiet he’d been, my dad would always smile when he saw my mam…When he sees her, it’s like everything melts away, and all the words he hadn’t said throughout the day come pouring out from his mouth. He laughs and smiles and becomes almost a different person. It’s like he only becomes himself around her. And I think that’s love, because if that’s not love I’m really not sure what is. And that’s what you do to me. So I think I love you, but that’s all dependent on the definition of the word. So if my dad loves my mam, then I love you.”
“One Heart. It is a word for when you realize you have found a soul whose heart is cracked in all the right ways that fit yours. They fill the gaps in you and you in them. They are the light that stops the world from going dark. Simply by being, they make you whole.”
But Cahill doesn’t just describe a killer battle scene and write swoon-worthy soliloquies of love, he made me laugh. I don’t know what it was, but Dann’s eternal conflict with the weka bird was perfection. I’m someone who often cringes when people talk about humorous books. Book humor often falls flat for me. I don’t know why but it’s tough for me to get behind book humor. But this was just top notch. Honestly, every time Dann appeared on the pages, I was hoping the weka was lurking just off stage with one of his socks in his mouth so we could have a moment of comedic reprieve with Dann’s struggle against the kleptomaniacal bird.
It is well known at this point that Cahill has mastered the action scene, the brutal war montage that forces you into the front lines and doesn’t let up as the blood and gore smatters over your shirt and face. But a true epic fantasy master juxtaposes those moments of brutality with moments of heroism and inspiration and heartrending grief. Cahill has the emotional range that allows him to move from bloody horror to tender moments that prick the heart.
“Wars were not won, they were ended.”
“Anataier aldryr ar orimyn. Give them fire and fury.”
It is so rare for a book to make me cry. OEAD made me cry multiple times. Therin’s reunion with his daughter Faelen. The heartache of the father who has failed his daughter while trying to do what he felt was best. Lyrin’s death and the weight that slung around Haem’s neck. The masterful depiction of brotherly pain and anger and grief when Calen confronts Dann after Calen’s absence led to the death of Dann’s mother. And of course, one of the concluding chapters in this masterpiece, Haem’s sacrifice for Calen as Calen pleaded with Varyn to not accept his big brother’s sacrifice to save him. These scenes are so freaking hard to write with the emotional impact they deserve, but Cahill swings for the bleachers and delivers beautifully on these important scenes. All I can think is that he has done these characters proud; their sacrifices and heartbreak are known and felt by the reader.
I can still feel my throat close up and tears prick the corners of my mind as I reread this quote from Calen: “He carried me all my life. I can carry him a little further.” Cahill has made me care about and love these characters. Their sacrifices feel so meaningful and real.
I mentioned earlier that Cahill’s ability to inject inspirational, powerful speeches into The Bound and the Broken is unparalleled. Below are a few of my favorite quotes that I had to include because no review of mine would be complete without salivating over these masterpieces of literary motivation.
“Rise so that others rise with you.”
“He would watch the world burn if it meant the empire lay in the ashes. He cares about tearing down what stands, and you care about what will be left when it’s done…. This army isn’t marching to die in your name, Calen. It’s marching because someone finally showed them they can stand and fight, because someone finally showed them that there is something greater to fight for.”
“There’s no point in living if we don’t fight for what we love. We’re meant to be Draleid. We’re meant to be guardians, not survivors.”
“This war is greater than all of us. It is a war of gods, and demons, and darkness, and if we do not, each of us, stand and fight for what we love, there will be nothing left. I promise you one thing – I will fight until my last breath, until I have given all the blood I have to give. And if we fail – if the sky falls, I will stand beneath it and hold it up for as long as I can.”
And before I move on from quotes that I absolutely love but can’t find a way to weave into this review, I have to include my new book-loving anthem:
“He loved books. And no, love was not an exaggeration. Books were a thing of insurmountable beauty and power. Be they immense repositories of knowledge, transcendent works of philosophical quandaries, or transportational tales, they were a thing to be cherished and adored. But there were some that were a waste of the precious paper on which they were printed. Some that would have been better off as trees. And a common factor amongst those particular books, he found, was a lack of passion and a lack of purpose. Sometimes one, often both.”
Of Empires and Dust is the penultimate novel in The Bound and the Broken and it has solidified this series as one of my favorite fantasy epics I have ever read. Ryan Cahill has created a series that is special. It has ignited a love and passion for Epheria that will last throughout my life. The Bound and the Broken is THE fantasy hill that I will die on. The world is sprawling and complex with lore that Cahill has continued to expertly unweave as we delve deeper and deeper into this masterpiece. I’ve been saying it for over a year now, and I will continue to shout it from the rooftops, The Bound and the Broken is going to be a generational series with Draleids a household name for dragonriders for years to come. We are at the very beginning, the precipice, of the success that this series is destined for. Varyn told Calen in the final chapters of this book that his and Valerys’ potential was unlimited; similarly, I truly believe that the potential of this series to inspire a new generation of epic fantasy readers and lovers of dragons and gritty, heroic sacrifice is unlimited. If you haven’t started this series, please, please pick it up. Dive into the mesmerizing world of The Bound and the Broken.
“Draleid N’aldryr.”
