The Empire's Ruin

'Epic in every sense of the word' - Nicholas Eames

Pain is an undiscovered country

The Annurian Empire is disintegrating. The ranks of the fierce Kettral soldiers have been decimated from within. And the kenta gates, granting instantaneous travel across the vast lands of the empire, can no longer be used.

To save the empire, one of the surviving Kettral must voyage beyond the edge of the known world through a land that warps and poisons all living things to find the nesting ground of the giant war hawks. Meanwhile, a monk turned con-artist may hold the secret to the kenta gates.

But time is running out. Deep within the southern reaches of the empire, a malevolent force begins to stir.

What they discover will change them and the Annurian Empire forever. If they survive.

'Brilliant' - V. E. Schwab on Skullsworn

'Will keep you turning pages late at night' Pierce Brown on The Emperor's Blades

The Empire's Ruin is the first book in the epic Ashes of the Unhewn Throne trilogy by Brian Staveley.