Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Series: The Great Silence #1
Published by Orbit on February 4, 2025
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy
Pages: 529
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
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Blood once turned the wheels of empire. Now it is money.
A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and the Empire of the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await.
But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, the Empire’s proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse.
Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days—the Great Silence.
It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and the Empire on the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save...
I have seen Richard Swan‘s name a lot lately, being praised for a different trilogy and since I am a huge fan of fantasy in almost all of its forms I was excited to pick up Grave Empire which is grimdark or fantasy/horror almost. This is the first book in The Great Silence Trilogy, set in the same world as The Empire of the Wolf, two hundred years after the events of that trilogy. I didn’t have any trouble following the story and do not think you need to read the first series to enjoy this one.
Our story is unfurled as we follow the lives an inner thoughts of three characters Renata, Peter and Von Oldenburg. Renata, an ambassador to the mermen, is considered a joke by her peers. Most of her training has been theory up to this point. That is about to change when she is tasked to go to them for their expertise in the arcane to see if they can assist in thwarting a prophecy called The Great Silence. Peter, an officer on caught in a war, is on the front and back lines. He doesn’t seem to have any contact with the known enemy he thought he’d be fighting. Instead, there is a different enemy, one that screams in the night and follows them like ghosts in the dark. Von Oldenburg is the villain we can see in this tale. He has studied death magics and is on a course of discovery that is truly horrifying.
Renata’s PoV focuses on her traveling through a war torn country with a delegation, trying to get to the mermen before her country loses access and lives. She was a character that was easy to like in her quest to do what she had trained for most of her career. The journey is fraught with danger and some harsh revelations about some of the people she has trusted. I especially enjoyed the lore and interactions with the mermen. The mermen are far from the enchanting creatures of Disney. They are a vicious, cold-blooded culture, as harsh as their aquatic domain, riding sharks with a chilling ferocity.
Peter’s journey as a soldier in a jungle atmosphere was so engaging. Trying to figure out what is going on at night when the screams come. Is he crazy, why are others acting like nothing is going on? I loved how he is not a born hero, he has questions, fears and is just trying to do his best to lead his men and not get everyone killed as they go up against something unknown in the dark. He is human is a place full of new horrors and acts accordingly.
Perversely, he was so frozen in place with fear that to an observer it looked as though he were standing his ground with great stoicism.
As I read Von Oldenburg’s PoV I became more and more convinced of how evil he could be. He seemed morally ambiguous in the beginning but, his journey takes us to the depths of how far he will go for his own ego and how dangerous he could be in this world.
“You are a fool if you think word has not spread already. There are demons in hell who envy your reputation.”
There are great characters in the story with complex feelings, motivations and depths. I enjoyed getting to know all of them as they exposed the origin of The Great Silence and what it means to the Empire. The horror aspects of the story fit in so well and floored me sometimes.
Like most first books in a new fantasy series, it starts off a little slow and build and builds until all of the tension of the final chapters is lived through. The conclusion leaves readers eagerly anticipating the next installment with a satisfying yet tantalizing end. I enjoyed the teasers at the end of the book as they opened up the mind to think about various possibilities before we get to the next book in the series.
This is great for epic and grimdark fantasy readers and maybe even those who enjoy horror but wanted to try out fantasy.
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I haven’t read this author before either. His characters and their journeys certainly sound interesting. I’ll have to keep this book in mind when I’m looking for my next fantasy read.
I’m totally going to read the other trilogy. I liked the writing and look forward to seeing what this world looked like 200 years prior to this story.
Gotta love the first book of a fantasy! Always a touch slow. 🙂
Yeah…you need some runway to get the reader up to speed in your world. Luckily there was some great scenery on the runway so it went by quickly
Love the cover of this one. It sounds good, I like the horror/fantasy aspect idea of it. Great review!