Skullsworn

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne

By: Brian Staveley

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden

Brian Staveley's new standalone returns to the critically acclaimed Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne universe, following a priestess-assassin for the God of Death

From the award-winning epic fantasy world of The Emperor's Blades...

Pyrre Lakatur is not, to her mind, an assassin, not a murderer - she is a priestess. At least, she will be once she passes her final trial.

The problem isn't the killing. The problem, rather, is love. For to complete her trial, Pyrre has ten days to kill the seven people enumerated in an ancient song, including "the one who made your mind and body sing with love / who will not come again."

Pyrre isn't sure she's ever been in love. And if she fails to find someone who can draw such passion from her, or fails to kill that someone, her order will give her to their god, the God of Death. Pyrre's not afraid to die, but she hates to fail, and so, as her trial is set to begin, she returns to the city of her birth in the hope of finding love... and ending it on the edge of her sword.

©2017 Brian Staveley (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Brilliant." (V. E. Schwab, New York Times bestselling author)

Death as mercy

I loved this book. I really identified with the Skullsworn beliefs and it was great to learn more about Pyrre who had been my fav character in the main trilogy.

Good Enough

I was really excited for this book and learning more about the fabled Skullsworn from the original trilogy. I read Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne twice, and went through the audiobook once. Overall was a huge fan of Stavely’s writing and worldbuilding.

That being said, this book was not those books. The plot felt much more draggy and pointless. Despite being a book about a death-god-acolyte, most of the book was existential crisis around love and death. Which was ok. Not my favorite, but ok.

My main issue (and it’s a small issue) is that the voice actress was so drastically different from the audiobook of the original trilogy. Having a soft British accent vs Vance’s almost Eastern European version made the character seem completely different.

Other than that, really enjoyed the ending. Wish it was a shorter book so we could have just gotten to the epic ending.

Also, Ella is a goddamn queen.

13 hours

This story in no way compares to the first two books. the story develops painfully slow. the self dialog at times was a serious bore. the main characters were well developed and at times enjoyable. This though was not enough to carry the story. I would not recommend this book.

An amazing story of an assassin

Great story, again Brian didn't fail to write a story that could keep me hooked. And giving a deeper understanding of one of his characters from his previous books.

Brilliant

This is one of the best books and narrators I have heard. The rest of the series is even better.