(The Bleeding Empire #2)
translated by Anton Hur
original publication (in Korean): ?
first English edition: 2025, Tor
384 pages
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Blood for the Undying Throne, the second in Sung-il Kim’s Bleeding Empire series, continues the story of provincial struggle against imperial domination. As in Blood of the Old Kings, Kim organizes his chapters around specific characters, but this time, those characters are Prince Emere of Kamori, Arienne (again), and Yuma, the Chief Herder of Danras, which was destroyed by the Star of Mersia over a century before.
The novel picks up with Prince Emere continuing to search for his destiny, this time in the Empire’s capital city. After fighting side by side with Loran in Arland, Emere has come to the capital to represent Kamori but very quickly finds himself the target of an assassin. Through a series of visions given to him by Cain (one of the main characters of Blood of the Old Kings), who has become a part of the Circuit of Destiny, Emere learns about a plot by the Office of Truth to stage a coup and take over the Empire. Emere, because of the part he is to play in the future, has become a target and twice escapes assassination.
Meanwhile, Arienne has journeyed to Danras (part of Mersia) to find out what happened to that country a century ago. Everyone knows that it was wiped out by a terrible weapon, but both Eldred (former ruler of Mersia) and Lysandros (former Grand Inquisitor of the Empire) lay the blame at one another’s feet. As Arienne moves around Danras, she encounters what seems like a mad Power Generator gathering up remnants. It attacks her, and in escaping it she finds herself in the catacombs and meets the ghost of Noam, an imperial soldier who was killed when the Star of Mersia was unleashed.
We finally learn what happened to Mersia through the chapters that focus on Yuma, Chief Herder of Danras and later lover of Chief Inquisitor Lysandros. Having decided, with most of the people of Danras, to throw off the several-hundred-year yoke of Eldred’s tyranny and terror, Yuma joins forces with the Empire’s Grand Inquisitor to defeat Eldred. Not fully realizing the consequences until after Eldred is vanquished, Yuma soon understands that without Eldred, Danras no longer needs a Host (a sorcerer who protected the people from Eldred as best he could) or a Chief Herder, since much will change once the Empire establishes itself in that country. Yuma gives birth to Tychon (whom we meet in the first book) after the battle, but the final showdown between Eldred and Lysandros spells destruction for the whole region.
We learn Yuma’s story partly through her chapters but also partly through Arienne’s experiences, especially as she expands her powers in order to build more structures in her mind to house the ghosts she meets. She brings Noam into her mind and sets him up in the room with Tychon so that the former can help care for the latter. Eventually, Arienne figures out how to reconstruct Danras in her memory, through the help of the ghosts she meets there, and keeps the country’s people and traditions in there as a way to maintain them as long as she lives.
Back in the capital, Emere must find a way to stop the Office of Truth from unleashing the Star of Mersia once more in its bid to take over the Empire. Help comes from King Loran herself, who has come to the capital to meet with the Ebrians, a group that has maintained its religion despite the Empire’s crackdown on gods and sorcerers. Emere has been trying his whole life to find out what fate holds for him, but this final showdown with the Empire gives him his answer.
Blood for the Undying Throne offers answers several questions raised in the first book, helping us understand what really happened in Mersia between Lysandros and Eldred, and how Eldred came to be locked in the basement of the Academy in the first place. We see how Arienne has grown more confident in her powers and we learn more about Emere’s past, including his relationship with the Ebrian Rakel and the continuing efforts of various provinces to resist the Empire. Destiny, memory, love, and friendship guide this story and give the reader the sense that, despite the evils of rulers like Eldred and the Empire itself, people who believe in freedom and integrity will ultimately prevail.
Overall, this second book in Kim’s fantasy series is entertaining and draws the reader in quickly, thanks especially to Anton Hur’s skillful translation. This reader looks forward to further books in the Bleeding Empire series.
