Blood for the Undying Throne

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By Sung-il Kim & Anton Hur

Publisher Description

Blood for the Undying Throne, the sequel to Blood of the Old Kings, from award-winning Korean author Sung-il Kim and translated by the world-renowned Anton Hur, is an epic fantasy adventure where the corpses of sorcerers power an empire and ordinary people rise up to tear it down.

Nothing can stop the Empire’s insatiable conquest.
Not gods, not dragons, not armies.
But heroes still rise.

The Empire continues to enforce its so-called peace with massive war machines that destroy anything that opposes their might. Though the conquered are wholly at the mercy of the Empire, desperate odds such as these can be fertile soil for heroic resistance.

Last seen rallying under Loran’s banner, Emere is now a powerless politician in the Imperial Capital. But when an assassination attempt is made on his life, he discovers that he may just be at the center of sinister plots brewing in the highest levels of the Empire.

Arienne has crossed the continent on a mission to learn more about the Star of Mersia, the infamous yet mysterious weapon that decimated the country of Mersia in a single day. But when she arrives at the supposedly lifeless land, Arienne is shocked to find much more than ruins.

One hundred and seventy years ago, before the Empire laid waste to its plains and its people, Mersia suffers under the whims of the ruthless Grim King Eldred. When Yuma, the chief cattle herder, meets an emissary from the Empire, she dares to hope that this foreign nation might have the power to overthrow the Grim King and end his reign of terror. But Yuma will learn, only once it’s too late, that aligning with the Empire will have consequences that reverberate through the ages.

Sacrifices must be made in the fight against tyranny, but some sacrifices may be too great.

"A must-read series for epic fantasy lovers."—Library Journal, STARRED review

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Blood for the Undying Throne Reviews

3.5

Nils

Created 1 day ago

“The magic system in this just wows me! Full review to come.”

Ben Ledbetter

Created 8 days ago

“I enjoyed this book. I was honestly leaning towards giving it 3.5 stars due to the ending but the way it was written and the characters pushed it up for me. I loved all 3 characters the book is read from. Getting to see the past with Yuma was a neat addition with Arienne's story. My biggest problem is Kindle saying it's book 2 of 2 because I feel like there was a lot left out at the end with Emere's side. I understand there was a resolve for the Circuit, but I feel like the world itself was just kinda left with Emere trusting in Loran. I feel like there could be a lot more to it, but hey I just read 'em not write 'em. I think this is a solid read and look forward to more by Sung-Il Kim!”

Likeable Original Addictive Gripping/exciting Loose ends Dark

Diana

Created 12 days ago

Robin Bridge four

Created 30 days ago

“I’m pretty new to translated stories and Korean authors but I tried out Blood of the Old Kings last year and enjoyed the overall story, so I was excited to pick up another installment in the The Bleeding Empire series. Blood for the Undying Throne picks up not long after the events of the first book and follows some of the characters we saw before while adding in a few new PoVs to get a fuller picture of the past and how one of the greatest cities was destroyed by the empire. Our story is told via three different PoVs. Emere and Arienne were two characters the reader saw in the first book but the addition of Yuma’s voice from the past was the most interesting part to me. Emere played a slightly more minor role in the first book. He was following his brother the King in the rebellion before Loren came and changed his life. Trying to follow a destiny he believes is his, he has spent years trying to be more than an outcast prince. He helped to saved the city from the Circuit of Destiny in the prior story but where should he go from there. He has been tagged now by the Circuit to either become King if he can make the right decision when the time comes. But the Circuit is tricky and seems to be disjointing in its desires so Emere is torn on what the correct course should be. “The . . . work, that I do,” continued Septima, “allows me to become acquainted with a great variety of persons. The ones who are reckless with their own lives usually have no purpose in life, so they don’t care if they live or die. But there are also those who are reckless because their purpose is too clear. So clear, they don’t care if they die pursuing it. Arienne once held the Grim King of the past, Eldred, in her mind and fought him in the prior book. She ran away from the Empire so they could not use her body in death as a battery for the system. Arienne now wants to find out the true story of Mersia and how the entire city was destroyed by the Empire so long ago. I liked her journey and the discoveries she made, not only of the child battery she holds in her mind, but of the fates of all the people who were once free of the Empire and now act at the warning to any who might oppose Empiric Rule. Yuma is the PoV that held my interest the most though. Hers is the tale of how The Grim King ruled his lands, how an emissary from the Empire came and how Yuma fell in love and risked trading rule under the Grim King to rule by the Empire. She shared the secrets of her land and in so doing changed the coarse of her people. It was heartbreaking as the reader knows what will become of her land and people but the build up to those events was executed in such a way that you felt more connected to it and discovered the true horror of it. I liked the exploration of different past events, the make up of the components of the Circuit of Destiny and why it is possibly so divided in the futures it predicts or the impacts it is trying to make. There are some histories that are fleshed out more and characters that are explored. I liked Blood of the Old Kings a little better in that it had a clear path and goal to what is trying to be accomplished and then there was the battle at the end. In Blood for the Undying Throne it is more of a journey of understanding. Yes there are battles throughout but not a definitive ending, just understanding that will better help the reading in future books. Also Loren was a key character for me in the first story and while we do see her and what she is currently up to, we don’t get PoVs from her and I missed that. Overall, this is a good continuation of the series but was not as engaging or clear for me as the prior story. I still look forward to seeing more translations of the series to see where the fight against the Empire goes and how the Circuit of Destiny filled with former sorcerers as batteries impacts the characters and their destinies. This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.”

Change and grow Strong villain Nonlinear narrative Well-structured Evocative imagery Setting fits the story

Thxlbx

Created about 2 months ago

About Sung-il Kim

SUNG-IL KIM was born in Seoul in 1974. Despite his lifelong dream of writing fiction, he only got around to it in his forties. He writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, or some blend of those. In South Korea, he is known for Blood of the Old Kings, I Will Go to Earth to See You, Wolf Hunt, and “The Knight of La Mancha,” the last two of which earned him a Grand Prize and an Excellence Award at the Korean SF Awards in 2024 and 2018, respectively. He spends most of his time in his downtown Seoul apartment with his wife and two cats.

Other books by Sung-il Kim

Blood of the Old Kings

Sung-il Kim & Anton Hur

$11.99

Anton Hur

Anton Hur was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the author of No One Told Me Not To and the novel Toward Eternity. His translations include Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award.