The Second Empire (Monarchies of God) Book

Paul Kearney's high fantasy series The Monarchies of God reaches its fourth volume with The Second Empire. These tales of war, discovery and religious turmoil in a world that is not quite our own late Middle Ages or early Renaissance, but has strong resemblance to both, have been characterised by strong characters and biting emotional dilemmas. Here a general is forced to take a throne by marriage, uncertain whether his captured wife is living or dead; a captain sails for home, aware that he is bringing back secrets which might be best left on another continent; a magician parleys with ultimate evil knowing what the cost might be and a Pope tries to persuade men of good will that, for once, all religions really are the same. This is powerful stuff, intelligently written and with a real sense of the dark corridors and windy battlements of the palaces in which so much of it is set. Kearney does not only write good battles--he remembers the causes that battles are fought for. --Roz KaveneyRead More