
Grave Empire
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Narrated by:
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Nathaniel Priestley
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Zoe Mills
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By:
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Richard Swan
About this listen
From critically acclaimed author Richard Swan, Grave Empire begins the epic tale of an empire on the verge of industrial revolution, where sorcery and arcane practices are outlawed—and where an ancient prophecy threatens the coming end of days.
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...
©2025 Richard Swan (P)2025 OrbitListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Guns of the Dawn is a pacey, gripping fantasy of war and magic from Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky. The first casualty of war is truth.... First, Denland's revolutionaries assassinated their king, launching a wave of bloodshed after generations of peace. Next they clashed with Lascanne, their royalist neighbour, pitching war machines against warlocks in a fiercely fought conflict.
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Stand alone book
- By M. McCormick on 01-27-18
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Lightfall: Book One of The Everlands
- The Everlands Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Ed Crocker
- Narrated by: Shakira Shute
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave. Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood.
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Wow
- By SinnaPomme on 01-21-25
By: Ed Crocker
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Sons of Darkness
- The Raag of Rta, Book 1
- By: Gourav Mohanty
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
- Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Bled dry by violent confrontations with the Magadhan Empire, the Mathuran Republic simmers on the brink of oblivion. Senator Krishna and his third wife Satyabhama have put their plans in motion, both within and beyond the Republic’s blood-soaked borders, to protect it from total annihilation. But they are soon to discover that neither gold nor alliances last forever – and that they are not the only players on the board.
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Nice book. flawed narration
- By Reader of a lost Art on 11-03-23
By: Gourav Mohanty
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Engines of Empire
- By: R. S. Ford
- Narrated by: Alison Campbell, Ciaran Saward, Phoebe McIntosh, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The nation of Torwyn is run on the power of industry, and industry is run by the Guilds. Chief among them are the Hawkspurs, whose responsibility it is to keep the gears of the empire turning. That’s exactly why matriarch Rosomon Hawkspur sends each of her heirs to the far reaches of the nation. Conall, the eldest son, is sent to the distant frontier to earn his stripes in the military. It is here that he faces a threat he could have never seen coming: the first rumblings of revolution.
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Soooooo bad
- By Amazon Customer on 02-13-24
By: R. S. Ford
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We Are the Dead
- The Last War Trilogy
- By: Mike Shackle
- Narrated by: Nicola Bryant
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Jia's people learned the hard way that there are no second chances. The Egril, their ancient enemy, struck with magic so devastating that Jia's armies were wiped out. Now terror reigns in the streets, and friend turns on friend just to live another day. Somehow Tinnstra - a deserter, a failure, nothing but a coward - survived. She wants no more than to hide from the chaos. But dragged into a desperate plot to retake Jia, surrounded by people willing to do anything to win the fight, this time Tinnstra will need to do more than hide.
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Criminally Underrated Gem in a world of Dark Fantasy
- By Nic on 04-24-23
By: Mike Shackle
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The Blood of Kings and Queens
- By: Marcus Lee
- Narrated by: Steven McDonald
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Garet ... once a rebel general, a blight reaper, a warrior, a hunter, and a love-struck man. Now eight years after the rebellion was won, he has lost everything. A bitter recluse, he counts out his remaining days in the mountains, far from the rule of the latest despotic king to sit on the throne and the blight that afflicts the realm. Yet destiny hasn't finished with Garet, and nor, it seems, is an old prophecy that hangs over his head, forgotten.
By: Marcus Lee
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Of Empires and Dust
- The Bound and The Broken, Book 4
- By: Ryan Cahill
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 52 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The gods are waking. The world is burning. The Bound and The Broken continues this coming fall. Are you ready?
By: Ryan Cahill
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The Ties That Bind Trilogy
- First Earth Saga
- By: Rob J. Hayes
- Narrated by: Jaret Ross
- Length: 43 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Thanquil Darkheart is a witch hunter for the Inquisition, on a holy crusade to rid the world of heresy. He’s also something else...expendable. When the God Emperor gives Thanquil an impossible task, he knows he has no choice but to venture deep into the Wilds to hunt down a fallen Inquisitor.
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Good but…
- By Brian W. on 05-01-25
By: Rob J. Hayes
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The Bone Ships
- By: RJ Barker
- Narrated by: Jude Owusu
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Two nations at war. One prize beyond compare. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted. Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favor. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.
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Bold and unique with a compelling story.
- By Kevin Potter on 11-12-19
By: RJ Barker
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Priest of Bones
- War for the Rose Throne, Book 1
- By: Peter McLean
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The war is over, and army priest Tomas Piety heads home with Sergeant Bloody Anne at his side. But things have changed while he was away: His crime empire has been stolen, and the people of Ellinburg - his people - have run out of food, hope, and places to hide. Tomas sets out to reclaim what was his with help from Anne, his brother, Jochan, and his new gang: the Pious Men. But when he finds himself dragged into a web of political intrigue once again, everything gets more complicated.
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Fantasy version of Peaky Blinders
- By Kindle Customer on 10-22-18
By: Peter McLean
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The Ninth Rain
- The Winnowing Flame Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Jen Williams
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Jen Williams, acclaimed author of The Copper Cat trilogy, featuring The Copper Promise, The Iron Ghost and The Silver Tide, returns with the first in a blistering new trilogy. The great city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now its streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for sitting around waiting to die while the realm of his storied ancestors falls to pieces - talk about a guilt trip. Better to be amongst the living, where there are taverns full of women and wine.
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Couldn’t put it down!
- By Renae on 09-09-22
By: Jen Williams
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Mushroom Blues
- The Hofmann Report, Book 1
- By: Adrian M. Gibson
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Two years after a devastating defeat in the decade-long Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are occupied by invading Coprinian forces. Its fungal citizens are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty and an influx of war refugees. Even worse, the corrupt occupiers exploit their power, hounding the native population. As a winter storm looms over the metropolis, NKPD homicide detective Henrietta Hofmann begrudgingly partners up with mushroom-headed patrol officer Koji Nameko to investigate the mysterious murders of fungal and half-breed children.
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Well done, nuanced characters
- By Amazon Customer on 04-20-25
By: Adrian M. Gibson
Another excellent start to a new series
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Sooo good!
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Slow and steady
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Brilliant!
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The plot and world and the reader’s ability to distinguish characters and their feelings
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Interesting story
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This book absolutely ruled
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The book opens with Peter riding in a coach to a fort at the edge of the world. This reminded me of the first chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in which Jonathan rides a coach through Transylvania to reach castle Dracula. Like Jonathan’s ride, Peter’s ride is long and full of dread. Also, at least part of Peter’s story is told in letters, the epistolary inspiration from Dracula is unabashed. The land is strange, the air thick with fear. The men who drive the coach seem to know more than they say. The trip is not just a ride—it is a step into the unknown. He hopes for a life of ease, but finds only death and cold fear. The land is strange, the air thick with doom. He writes to his dad, but his words grow dark. The men at the fort are weak and lost. The woods near them hum with pain.
Renata works for the crown. She must deal with the sea folk, but no one cares for her task. The ships that sail near them do not come back. The truth is deep and hard to find. She seeks peace, but war may be inevitable. The worldbuilding is exquisite here, Swan conjuring races, symbiosis between species, environs, habitats, that filled me with wonder.
Praise aside, the book was slow, probably intentionally so, for the first half and picks up pace in the second. The snail’s pace at the start serves to slowly build the dread, set up the mystery, lay out the various pieces - nations, races, religions and religious sects, their politicking, before the intentional convergence towards a quest and then the climax. The politicking here was not as interpersonal as Swan’s previous trilogy. The book presented big-picture political happenings and religious rifts in this world as a close backdrop of our characters’ lives playing out in the storylines of three main POVs. The pace intensifies in the last third where all the mystery and secrets are unraveled in a satisfying climax and ending. The end and the epilogue provide adequate anticipation for the next installment.
The book was grim and full of woe. The land vast and cold. Swan has spun a world that is full of awe and marvel. This slow-burn horror-mystery-quest was rich and deep, with words that pull you in.
Audio- in Renata’s POV there is a high pitched ‘s’ that is grating to the ear. Overall great audio.
4 🌟🌟🌟🌟 stars!
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