Ryan Toxopeus’s Empire’s Foundation Series includes:
A Nobel’s Quest
1100 Before God’s War
Demon Invasion
A Wizard’s Gambit
Dawn: A Dwarven Creation Story
A Hero’s Birth
I’ve been a big fan of Ryan’s Empire’s Foundation series for a long time. And so I was super excited when the final book in the core trilogy came out this February. The series as a whole runs a most delightful path that totally sucks you in and keeps you trapped in Illuma for a delightful week or two.
A Nobel’s Quest is an exciting introduction to the world of Illuma and to our trio of intrepid…lumberjacks? I instantly fell in love with Thomas, and Sarentha reminds me greatly of a certain rascal that I grew up with. My only thought when I got to the end of
A Nobel’s Quest for the first time was, “Where’s the rest? I want more now!” You don’t have to wait, though. You can go straight onto
1100BGW!
1100 Before God’s War is a short story that tells of the founding of the Maug Empire. Even though it’s a couple millennia before the events of the core trilogy, it may actually be my favorite story. I love Amurtag and Margaff so much. Their love story is truly one of my favorites of all time. That probably makes me a weirdo.
If
1100BGW is my favorite Illuma story,
Demon Invasion is my least. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the story itself. It’s got conspiracies and intrigue and all of the things I love in a good political novel. No, my problem with
Demon Invasion is…demon names. Ryan and I have discussed this. As he points out, there’s usually only one or two demons at the most in a fantasy book, so they can have the craziest consonant heavy names as possible because there’s only a couple to keep up with. But a whole cast of demons? He ended up un-naming a bunch of them and reducing down to just a few named ones. And still! I reduced it even more to names like “Psychic Red Blob.” I loved the story. Just…you might want to nickname the demons like I did.
A Wizard’s Gambit is an excellent follow up to
A Nobel’s Quest. Our three heroes go on a quest to help the wizard Ramar find the history that all the Tamorran people cannot remember. What they learn sends them on a grand adventure to recapture New Home and beyond. This is one of those times that I know why an author is writing the plot the way they are, and it’s totally necessary, but I really hate that someone I love has to become an idiot/antagonist/insane person/etc.
A Hero’s Birth, the third Empire’s Foundation series, came out this January. I was so excited! Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to finish reading it yet. Soon, though, soon…
You can read my interview with Ryan
here.
