Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke

Assume spoilers for City of Lies

Poison was only the beginning…. The deadly siege of Silasta woke the ancient spirits, and now the city-state must find its place in this new world of magic. But people and politics are always treacherous, and it will take all of Jovan and Kalina’s skills as proofer and spy to save their country when witches and assassins turn their sights to domination.

Utterly incredible. I had initially planned to pace myself with this book due to its size. But wow is it readable! The detail to the world and the characters is astounding. And I absolutely loved the blend of this epic fantasy-esque world with a mystery as the major plot focus.

The book is told from two characters’ perspectives, both in 1st person: Kalina and Jov. And they had such distinct voices. The mystery was the driving force of the plot, but the characters drove the novel for sure. I also loved the aspect of how anyone could’ve been.a suspect. Major or minor character, they were all fleshed out. For example, we don’t see much of Brother Lu, but we know he’s exceedingly conservative in his ways. Witchcraft? Don’t you dare utter those words in his presence. Yet, and it’s hard to describe, he doesn’t feel one note.

There were so many great scenes, from karodee near the beginning even up to the very end. The book is filled with moments that fill your imagination. Maybe surprisingly, the ones that really caught my attention were the Council meetings. You could feel the tension between Jov and the other people throughout those scenes. The absolute tiredness of Tain as it went on right in front of him. They don’t sound like “exciting” scenes, but dang do they do so much for character work and the culture each member wants to uphold.

But wow that ending. There’s a couple of parts where I did feel the pacing dipped a bit, but it was pretty brief and certainly not enough to lose my constant enjoyment.

Hollow Empire draws you in with its alluring characters, magical world, and tantalizing mystery. It’s everything you could ask for in a book, really.

(We received an e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.)

(Hollow Empire releases on December 1st. Check here for places to purchase the book. Check out Sara’s review of City of Lies.)