Garden of Empire: A sweeping fantasy epic full of magic

Note: Don’t read this review if you haven’t read the first book. It has many spoilers for book one.“You give me too much credit. As the sage Traveller-on-the-Narrow-Way writes, a sculptor is only as good as the jade in his hands. And there were five offers, not twelve.”This book is a complete package of beautiful prose, well written characters , well explained magic with good battle scenes and immersive world-building.Ever since I read The Hand of the Sun King, the first installment in this series, I was eagerly waiting for the next one, The Garden of Empire. So here we are.“Few things keep a young boy in line better than the presence of an elder sister.”Bonus point- you don’t need to refresh your memories of the previous novel by re-reading it. The Garden of Empire has a recap of it.The story begins from where it ends in the first book, the battle at Greyfrost Keep where Wen Alder kills Voice Usher and Hand Cinder, saves his mother from carrion creeper and tells Pinion to go away. While the first book was entirely written from the 1st person POV of the main character Wen Alder, his Nayeni name Foolish Cur, the second book has both the 1st and 3rd person POVs. As before, the 1st person POV character is Wen alder and there are three 3rd person POV characters- Ral Ans Urrera, Hand Pinion, son of Voice Golden-Finch and brother of Oriole who was a good friend to Wen and got killed in a campaign against rebels, and Koro Ha, Wen Alder’s tutor. One prelude and two interludes are told from Ral’s perspective and written in present tense. Yes, only three sorts of chapter. But they are very action packed. I enjoyed the reading from all of these POV characters, especially Kora Ha.“The elder brother’s first duty is to the father, then to the younger brother. By serving the former, he serves the latter. So, too, the magistrate serves those who rule on the emperor’s behalf.”Koro Ha is working as a tutor in a magistrate’s home. One day, someone from his homeland visits and gives him an offer that can change his entire life.Hand Pinion has left Greyfrost keep after witnessing the destruction done by Wen with his little army and gone to Burrow from where he begins assembling the army as he retreats farther from Wen Alder.There is not much to tell of Ral without giving any spoilers.“Resistance is not a thing without cost. But if enough of us accept that cost, perhaps the world can change—and for the better, for once.”The plot was amazing. It kept me engaging and there was not even a small moment throughout the book when I didn’t enjoy it. It had a huge twist in the story that I didn’t see coming. The themes of rebellion, war and its consequences, leadership, betrayals, family, friendship, duties, power are employed very well.“Fruit, sweet or sour, is a reflection upon the branch that bore it.The world-building was wonderful whether it was Baltir Waste, Girzan Steppe, the Black Maw, Nayen Island or a buried city. My only regret is that there isn’t any map of this series. It would have increased my reading experience much more. Even a hand-drawn map would have done so. However, I picked a piece of paper and started drawing it as the locations were explained, farther I got into. It will help in my second read of this series.“Better to celebrate life at some risk of death than to cower in fear.”Here is how I understand the magic system of this series.I would like you to consider a situation by which you will have a good understanding of the magic system. Imagine a programmer who encodes and develops many applications and pieces of software. When he slightly changes the coding of specific software, this software changes with it. It can be seen as a change in the colour of the software or in the shape of the search box, according to his coding. In the same way, the world of this series is like a software and it is made of pattern which are like codes. When someone has the ability to change the pattern like a programmer who has the ability to encode software or change the codes, he can look at and change the pattern easily.And so, when he changes this pattern, even very slightly, the normal people see its effect or consequence in their world. This change shows as a flame of fire produced out of nothing but thin air or a drop of water, according to his wishes. Obviously, only the person who can tamper with the pattern of the world, knows what really is transpiring. For an outsider or a normal person, this is seen as magic which is just a tampering with the pattern of the world. The learning of programming and the reading of the codes are not easy tasks. To look at the pattern of the world is not easy, too. In fact, it is very dangerous to tamper with the pattern of the world.A magic-wielder imagins himself as a shining glob of light as if suspended above the pattern of the world. From this globe he extends a fantom limb and can change the pattern with it. But this type of magic cannot be wielded by everyone. Only few can do that. Another type of magic can only be wielded when people have marks carved into or tattooed on their skins. These marks provide them with magic that can be utilised without having any knowledge of how to look at and tamper with the pattern of the world. A different set of marks produces a different kind of magic wielder such as windcaller, firecaller and battle sorcerer. These marks have their own limitations and these limitations are intended. Why and by who? For this I urge you to pick this book.But there is much more to read and understand about magic in this book.“Every choice reshapes the pattern of the world— a heavy enough burden when those choices stood only to reshape one’s own life and the paths one might traverse.“Considering the fact that it is a trilogy, I will be eagerly waiting for how the author concludes this story in the third and final book. There was so much going on in the final five chapters of The Garden of Empire that I think it should take two books more to wrap up the story arcs.

Hidden within Greathouse's fictional Empire is the idea of familial deference and proprietary, from son to father to an Emperor who is protecting the interests of his subjects. These are some of the founding principles of Chinese governance, and I love how he has woven this bureaucracy into his story through the fantastical concept of Voices, Hands and Fists of the Emperor.Love the descriptions of magic, beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read. Fantastic character development and I'm left wanting more.

A pitch-perfect sequel to an amazing book. Captivating, beautiful prose, full of magic and intrigue--this one has everything you came to expect from Greathouse after his great debut.