I spent most of February suffering the flu and in the haze and confusion and brief moments I could open my eyes I turned to Grave Empire. My first Swan novel and absolutely not my last, I'm currently waiting for the physical copy to arrive show I can show it to people and proudly announce that I've read it. Grave Empire is everything I it said on tin "- a dark flintlock fantasy filled with epic adventure, arcane powers and creeping dread".

Swan takes care with the worldbuilding and explanations and so despite not reading the Empire of The Wolf Trilogy, I do not feel I was disadvantaged in anyway when reading Grave Empire first, as this book is set two hundred years after the events of the EotW Trilogy. I enjoyed this so much, my favourite character was Renata hands down. I also enjoyed the underwater world, it felt like being a kid again and watching Atlantis for the first time, Swan evoked the same wonder and curiosity in me now as Disney did then. But I also felt for poor Peter, the guy was going through it but also I would to if I was him.

Overall, I really loved this book, it was the only joy I had in this flu ridden two week hell hole I was in. I can't wait to read the next instalment and I'm very grateful to Orbit for the opportunity to read this.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit and Richard Swan for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.