OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Erin M. Evans is the author of seven Forgotten Realms novels for Wizards of the Coast, including the 2011 Scribe Award winner Brimstone Angels. In addition, she is the former editor of the Eberron novel line and has written fiction for the RPGs Shadow of the Demon Lord, Monarchies of Mau, and Aetaltis, as well as dialogue for the MMO TERA. Erin graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in anthropology and currently lives in the Seattle area with her husband and sons.

 

FORMAT/INFO: Relics of Ruin will be released on April 30th, 2024 by Orbit Books. It is 480 pages long and is told in third person from multiple POVs including Quill and Amadea. It is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook format.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Uncovering a chilling conspiracy at the edges of the empire was incredibly unnerving for Amadea and the other archivists, but the silence that followed might be even worse. Imperial agents have found no further sign of incursion, and the archivists themselves have been sworn to secrecy by the empress herself about the events that happened near the wall. That order is made more difficult when the skeleton of a holy saint is discovered missing, replaced by the bones of an unknown person. Suddenly the Imperial Archives are in the middle of a heated political conflict, as ducal representatives question if the empire is still capable of leading and protecting its people. And while the archivists try to dig to the bottom of the mystery, one of their own confronts the fact that her own magical affinity may be growing too powerful for her to control.

Relics of Ruin is a fantastic sequel to Empire of Exiles, poking into new facets of the world while returning to old friends. Here's the easy version of this review: if you liked the first book, you should thoroughly enjoy the sequel. It was lovely to be back in the Imperial Archives, with its idiosyncratic archivists and stalwart Amadea trying to hold everything together. There's more conspiracy, more fallout from the events of book one, more people with hidden backstory. But even while I was enjoying everything that was "more," I did bump slightly against the feeling of "same."

Let's start with the good stuff: I really enjoyed exploring new corners of the world the author has created. I wrote in my last review that it felt like we'd barely scraped the surface of getting to know this world, and Relics of Ruin proves my point. We get to see more of the political structure in this outing, as the disappearance of the saint's body stirs up no end of political turmoil that politicians are eager to capitalize on. Meanwhile, Tunuk, who had previously been a secondary character, becomes a full POV character, allowing us to see more of the Alojan people and their culture. And lastly, we finally get to learn more about Richa's backstory, which had been previously hinted at but never fully explored.

I also really appreciated the way the third person POVs really captured the internal thoughts of characters who are struggling with various aspects of mental health. Amadea may appear to have things under control on the outside, but inside she is barely hanging on as one person after another burdens her with a weighty task or secret that she can't share with anyone else. Her grounding trick of noticing textures and colors around her is a signifier of how much she is trying to not completely spin out. Meanwhile Tunuk seems to suffer from a form of depression, always internally voicing thoughts that bitterly contemplate people's ulterior motives or dismiss the idea that anyone could simply want to just be his friend.

And then of course, there's Yinni, a character who is coming to grips with the fact that she may have more power than she's able to control. But her desire to seek help is countered by the fear that in doing so, all autonomy will be taken away from her, that she'll become a ward of the state with no say in any part of her life. All these very real concerns of our various characters really flesh them out and make for some great heartbreaking conflict as characters make assumptions about the motives of others; the readers know why certain characters are behaving the way they are, but nobody else in the room does.

I did have a few small issues with the book. One is that it's very easy to feel like the plotting of this book is in some ways repetitive. We have an archivist who has a friend implicated in a murder, and they are driven to investigate to prove their friend's innocence, much as Quill did in the first book. It makes for some familiar beats that I wish the author had steered away from.

The other issue is that I had been hoping this book would start to explore more of what's going on on the other side of the wall that divides the empire from the ruins of their homeland. (Why that matters should be familiar to readers of Empire of Exiles.) We popped open that question at the end of book one, but the focus on Relics of Ruin remains squarely on the drama playing out in the current empire, with brief interludes to events that happened twenty years in the past. Those interludes raise a whole host of questions without actually answering them, serving to set up stakes for book three without giving me any of the answers I so desperately crave. My only hope is that the ending point of book two means I will FINALLY get those answers in the third and final book.

CONCLUSION: Overall, Relics of Ruin was a welcome return to a world I have grown very fond of. While some of my questions remain unanswered (for now), it was another twisty mystery that delved into the complicated politics and history of the empire, as echoes of a past coup still cause strife in the present day. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the sequel and eagerly look forward to the finale and perhaps finally seeing what is really happening on the other side of that wall.