ARC Review: Empire of Jackals by Morgan Cole

Title: Empire of Jackals

Author: Morgan Cole

Series: Chrysathamere Trilogy #2

Genre: Adult Fantasy/War

Publisher: 

Publication Date:4

Edition: Kindle Edition, 608 pages

Source: BookSirens

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble 

Synopsis:

The race for the throne of Navessea is on.

   The war with Tyrace is over. It was supposed to be a time of celebration. Of triumph. But for Marilia Sandara, hero of Chrysathamere Pass, the cost was too high. After watching her childhood friends slaughtered before her eyes, all she wants to do is sail back to Svartennos and try to forget the price she had to pay for her victory. But the peace isn’t long to last. First comes the news that the woman Marilia loves may soon be engaged to another. Then, when Emperor Vergana makes a shocking announcement—that he means to disinherit his true-born son, Rufyllys, in favor of his adopted child, Prince Ilruyn—the seeds are sown that will plunge Navessea back into war.

   This time, Marilia and her twin brother, Annuweth, find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that threatens to undo all they fought for. By the time the dust settles and the killing stops, only one of the children of Karthtag-Kal may be left standing.

   This book was very intense. Much like the first book. This one had a bit more of a faster-paced start. And we get POVs from Annuweth. He's kind of a twat, so gullible, and honestly kind of pathetic. We get to see things from his perspective during their time as children growing up in their adopted father's estate. And how he viewed things, the lessons, and the training. Marillia felt left out, Annuweth felt like he was under too much pressure. He struggled to learn how to read and didn't really connect to the strategy training, where all that came easily to Marillia. But he thought she was reading books only because he couldn't, and not because it could be something he enjoyed. I would feel bad for him, but he takes it out on his sister in petty ways.

   We still get chapters from Marillia's pov and we see her struggles and what she goes through. Honestly, I feel bad for her when things don't go her way or when she fails at something, even when something happens that she had nothing to do with. She never takes it out on others, just beats herself up even more. 

   There were other POVs we got with some of the side characters. I really liked seeing more of the world through the eyes of other characters. In the first book, everything is from Marillia's perspective and that leaves a bit of a narrow view of the world. She sees most things as very black and white for most of the book and most of the side characters lean a bit morally gray, on the darker side, but still morally gray.

   This book also had a lot of action, and war, but this book has more "downtime" of some people going through some shit, and other people discussing their war strategy. Which I think was needed, this book has a lot more war and battles than book one does, and those lulls in the battles help break some of the tension and leaves room for character development. 

   I am honestly a little nervous about how book three, the finale, is going to end but I am really excited to find out.