Wednesday, June 8, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Vows of Empire by Emily Skrutskie

 



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on June 14, 2022 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Vows of Empire is the finale to Emily Skrtuskie's Bloodright Trilogy, her M/M Space Opera Romance series that began with Bonds of Brass.  The series is very much inspired by Star Wars (and may have begun originally as Poe/Finn fanfiction) and well I've had mixed feelings about it: on one hand, I liked the first book, even if I had some reservations on how the book didn't really tackle some of its deeper themes of Empire and Rule in favor of trying to keep things fun and Star Wars-y.  The second book however kind of disappointed me as it again didn't go into the serious issues, failed to confront its protagonist's privilege, and focused instead entirely on his romantic feelings....and the book felt very much like a direct take on a Star Wars Expanded Universe plotline.  It wasn't bad, and it was entertaining for sure, but well I was hoping for more given the setup, and the author wasn't interested in taking the series there.  So I came to this book, the finale, with much lower expectations for what to expect.  

This was a correct approach honestly - Vows of Empire does try to take on some of the themes the earlier books missed of privilege, Empire, leadership by birthright and more, but rarely does so in more than a superficial way.  Instead it's more focused on a heist-esque (ala Oceans 11) style of space opera, with its protagonists clearly having some scheme that hasn't been revealed to the reader for most of the book, and the reader forced to guess how much of what's happening is part of that scheme and how much is things genuinely going wrong.  And well, it's actually pretty enjoyable at that to be fair, and the book is short enough that it never outstays its welcome.  The result is a solid ending to a trilogy that wasn't what I hoped it could be, but at least had its moments.  
-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
For the first time in a long time, Gal and Ettian are separated physically, on opposite sides of the galaxy.  Ettian still retains uneven control of the rebelling Archon Empire, still struggling to maintain its foothold in its war to free itself from the cruel Umber Empire; while Gal is back under his mother's thumb in the capital of the Umber Empire...a mother whose cruel ambitions remain for her son, ones she hopes will temper him in her image and put him on the throne at the expense of Ettian's people.  

But their separation - caused by Gal's "escape" from Ettian's forces - is not completely real, as Gal is devoted to finding a way to fight back against his mother to stop the war and save Ettian....and the chance of the two of them ever getting back together.  

The problem?  Gal's mother's cruelty, especially in light of Gal's prior image of being in love with Ettian, isn't likely to give him that chance.  And Ettian has similar problems, with his own forces still understandably worried about their Emperor's relationship with their enemy....and an allied nation only willing to come onboard if it can be convinced Ettian isn't going to let his personal feelings overwhelm his duty.  

To save their chances, and to end the war and possibly save the people they care about, Gal, Ettian and their mutual friend, Wen, will have to enact a desperate plot to change the way the galaxy sees them and people like them....but such a complicated plot can easily go wrong, and once it starts falling apart, they may each be forced into desperate and deadly actions to try and save each other.....
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Each of the first two books presented one of our two main romantic partners - Gal and Ettian - as the sole protagonist, with the book written entirely from their perspective.  So Bonds of Brass featured Ettian as the two characters escaped for their lives, discovered who first Gal was, and then Ettian revealed himself after the adventure, taking over the Rebellion to save Gal; while Oaths of Legacy featured Gal befuddled by Ettian's way of people first over power and realizing throughout the book that he couldn't leave Ettian behind and truly was in love, even taking actions to help the Umbers to keep Ettian safe....before circumstances forced him to be kidnapped back to his own people.  Both books were essentially devoted to the romance first - for better or for worse - where each book featured the protagonist realizing how deeply he was in love with the other and how far he'd have to go to protect the other. 

But with that done, Book 3 splits its initial parts by alternating between both Gal and Ettian's perspective (before going somewhere different with the perspectives in the final act), as both characters attempt to make things work in impossible situations - Ettian trying to lead an Empire he doesn't feel worthy of, with a general trying to usurp his authority, needing allies from an allied nation who doesn't trust his commitment and for good reason; Gal trying to defy his evil mother, free the general he's promised to save, and find some way to stop the war.  And well, with both characters' feelings towards the other pretty well realized, there really isn't much development there to do in this book - the main issues the pair's romance has is physical separation and the fact that forces on both sides will take action against the pair to remove them from power if they realize that their love is basically something they prize above all.  

And so this book turns into something else this time around: essentially it turns into a heist novel, where the two characters get together at the end of the first act, clearly come up with a plot to try and change the universe and get happiness for each other, but do so in a way that the particulars of the plot are hidden to the reader....so the rest of the book is the reader trying to guess how much certain events are part of the heroes' plans (with the point of view chapters being a bit better at straddling the line between leaving things out for the reader and still containing hints that make it clear that there is something not being told than the first book was) and how much is things actually going wrong.  It works pretty well, even if some "twists" are so obviously fake-outs that the reader will laugh, and the result is pretty fun.  It helps that once again Wen is great, as is a counterpart of hers on Gal's side who really comes into his own here, and they make this enjoyable while Ettian is kind of a stick in the mud here (although Gal is pretty fun as he manipulates various pompous generals and aristocrats) 

Again, this doesn't really delve too heavily in the serious themes this series might have once - there's a big focus on how birthright as a system of basis for governing (monarchies and the like) lead to problems and bad governance, but this theme is really only tackled on a shallow level - and issues of Empire and whatnot are again hardly touched.  Like if you think too hard about how it all ends, it doesn't really make much sense?  But as a fun capper to just what turns out to be a Space Opera Romance with some Action and other fun, Vows of Empire is pretty solid.  The result is a trilogy that is honestly pretty skippable despite some early promise, but one that's got some value in just being enjoyable at times.  

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