Book Review: The Walled City by L.L. Stephens

Genre(s): Epic Fantasy

Book Synopsis:

Even Time won’t stop him…

As the god-infected sorcerer Nammuor continues his conquest of the Triempery, the rightful heir to Essera’s throne, Handurin Stauberg Randolph, has raised a ragtag army of Khelds to resist. Handurin’s alliance with Dorilian Sordaneon seems shattered as Dorilian is forced to flee north–but Handurin isn’t counting Dorilian out.

Indeed, Dorilian is gathering his godborn powers in preparation for two inevitable confrontations: the evil Nammuor, and the Time-spanning entity of the Wall.

Review:

To quote my husband, “You authors…” which he usually accompanies with a shake of his head. I’m feeling that a bit right now, having reached the end of The Walled City, and suffering with the knowledge that I won’t know how all ends until next year.

In other words, this was another fantastic installment to the series that left me wanting more. Right now. I really don’t want to wait an entire year to know how this story ends, and yet, such is the publication timeline. So it goes without saying that The Rill Lord will be on my watchlist for preorders.

The Triempery series is a masterpiece of epic fantasy, with complex politics, god-machines, a villain that is both diabolical and cunning, and a plot so full of twists and turns that I couldn’t have predicted half of what has transpired so far. This is easily one of my favorite on-going fantasy series, and I don’t think it gets even half the attention it deserves. And since The Walled City is book five in the series, it’s difficult to say much more without dropping spoilers.

But there is one thing I need to mention here, because it’s going to be in the back of my mind for the next year. I’ve had a theory about one of the main characters since…somewhere in book two, I believe. There were so many hints dropped about that theory in this book, and the author is going to make me wait for the next one before I know for sure if I’m right. Which is why I started this review by quoting my husband. I loved this book, but not knowing… “You authors,” indeed.

(Seriously, though, if you’re a fan of epic fantasy and haven’t checked out the Triempery Revelations series, you’re missing out. It starts with Sordaneon, and only gets better from there.)

Author website: triempery.com