Dark Currents (The Emperor's Edge Book 2)
4/5
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About this ebook
It’s been three months since former enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon and the notorious assassin Sicarius thwarted kidnappers and saved the emperor’s life. The problem? Nobody knows they were responsible for this good deed. Worse, they’re being blamed for the entire scheme. With enforcers and bounty hunters stalking them, and the emperor nursing a personal hatred for Sicarius, it’s going to be hard to earn exoneration.
When Amaranthe’s team discovers mutilated bodies in the city aqueducts and a mysterious illness incapacitates thousands of citizens, she and Sicarius see an opportunity to solve the mystery and prove their loyalty. But they’ll have to defeat vengeful shamans, man-eating predators, and deadly mechanical constructs, all while dodging imperial soldiers who would rather kill them than accept their help.
Nobody said exoneration would be easy.
A heroic fantasy novel in an age of steam. 105,000 words.
Lindsay Buroker
Lindsay Buroker war Rettungsschwimmerin, Soldatin bei der U.S. Army und hat als IT-Administratorin gearbeitet. Sie hat eine Menge Geschichten zu erzählen. Seit 2011 tut sie das hauptberuflich und veröffentlicht ihre Steampunk-Fantasy-Romane im Self-Publishing. Die erfolgreiche Indie-Autorin und begeisterte Bloggerin lebt in Arizona und hat inzwischen zahlreiche Romanserien und Kurzgeschichten geschrieben. Der erste Band der Emperor’s-Edge-Serie „Die Klinge des Kaisers“ ist jetzt ins Deutsche übersetzt.
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Titles in the series (11)
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Reviews for Dark Currents (The Emperor's Edge Book 2)
121 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amaranthe's goal: her ragged crew becoming the "Emperor's Edge" and doing good deeds to gain the emperor's eye (and hopefully pardons) isn't off to a very good start. But saving the city's water supply might just do it... if they don't all die in the attempt.Love the dialogue, the pacing, and the characters Buroker's created. This outing it's Books' turn to take a more central role, but Amaranthe and Sicarius still carry the day.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Currents delivers in much the same way that Emperor's Edge did, which means that the story is action packed with tons of funny dialogue, a mystery or two, and a smart character driven plot. What I liked most was the exponential character growth. I won't give away any spoilers here, but I enjoyed watching this oddball assortment of characters come together for a common goal and actually get the job done...sort of. Lindsay Buroker keeps the tension high, so that you remain on the edge of your seat and coming back for more. I'll be reading the next book in this series and I can't wait to dig in.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I cannot say that I was a fan of this particular plot, and I find the magical system to be a little blurry. However, in keeping with the tone of book one, this was just a fun, quick read and because of that, I enjoyed it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An imaginative combination of Steampunk and Swords/Sorcery how can you go wrong
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am at the point that when I see Ms. Buroker's name on a book; I buy it. For someone as cheap as I am that says quite a lot. I know I will get a very good book. The book will have an excellent plot, well developed characters and action.This book is the second book in the Emperor's Edge series. As with the first book, this book is very good, very worth reading. I won't discuss the plot but many of the main characters in the first book are back again. The plot moves fast after some establishing of characters. The action takes off.As usual in any review I write, I mention the spelling, grammar and formatting of the Kindle book. Not to be Percy Pecksniff, but because Kindle books with poor spelling, atrocious grammar and pitifully bad formatting are a chore to read. What kind of pleasure can you get from a book like that? Very little, to my mind. At any rate this is not a problem for Ms. Buroker an hr publisher. They do an excellent job of editing and proofreading. I can recommend her books without reservation.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book was okay, but could use some more proofreading. I didn’t like the mystery as much as book 1. Though Amaranthe rhetorically asks herself why she didn’t recruit women, I actually want an answer. I’d also enjoy this story more if gay people were allowed to exist outside of jokes told by cis straight people.
There seems to be some character oversights. Amaranthe tells Books she asked Sicarius to teach her lock picking, but she already knew how to in Book 1 when she escaped dissection, before they teamed up. She also criticized Sicarius for not telling her shamans could mind read even though he did in Book 1 when she asked him about Hunters. The first thing Amaranthe has Books do after learning he has a bounty is send him shopping. Also, after the mines, they went home in the Enforcer vehicle, so how did they get their money back from their lorry which they abandoned to the Enforcers? For all Amaranthe’s internal conflict about killing people, she really didn’t dwell on her first kill all that much.
The vocab list this time: Extemporizing instead of improvise, putative instead of apparent, saturnine instead of gloomy, imbibing instead of drinking, inimical instead of unfriendly, cogitate instead of think, pusillanimous instead of cowardly, insouciant instead of indifferent, susurrus instead of whispering, garrulous instead of talkative, carousing instead of drinking (alcohol). - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amaranthe, Sicarius, and the rest of the team have done great things to help the empire and, specifically, the Emperor Sespian. The only problems are no one knows they've done those things, and everyone's blaming them for the things they fixed! So when a mysterious illness strikes they seize upon this as their chance to once again save the day and gain the emperor's favor.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As with the first book in this series, "The Emperor's Edge," this book was a lot of fun and a great adventure. The narration really brings the characters to life and the author has done a wonderful job of making us care about them. I enjoy the world that Buroker has created and the conflicts, both inner and outer, that her characters must face. At the very high end of independently-published books--this is indie publishing done right. Highly recommended to fantasy fans!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Although the plot is somewhat muddled and Amaranthe has a number of cheesy lines, Dark Currents is a fun follow-up to The Emperor’s Edge. In the first book, the secondary POV character is Emperor Sespian, but this time around we get snippets of the story told from Books’ perspective. I enjoyed getting to know Books, and his character arc is emotionally satisfying. But what I love most about this story is the relationship development between Amaranthe and Sicarius. Their scenes together are engrossing and often hilarious. Overall, Dark Currents isn’t quite as good as the first book, but it's entertaining nonetheless. I look forward to reading book three, Deadly Games.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Book II of the Emperor's Edge series and just as good as, if not better than, the first. This is Books’ book; he is the unlikely hero, applying his brain in the absence of brawn, to overcome combative robots and put the evil device at the bottom of the dam out of commission. And in it we find bodies in the underground aqueduct system; epidemic poisoning of the city dwellers in Stump; a mysterious fob that operates a recording machine in the vault beneath the casino. All of which are more than enough to send Amaranthe Lokdon’s troupe of misfit mercenaries fighting for good into battle and investigation mode again.Buroker shows her complete mastery of characterization and ability to write 5-part dialogue in distinct voices.Will the Emperor’s Edge gain favor in the eyes of the emperor and will all be forgiven, especially the bounties on their heads? Will the Emperor’s Edge vanquish Forge and its seemingly endless plotting against Sicarius’ son? What will Amaranthe do about her rising awareness that she’s in love with an assassin?Stay tuned for book III in the continuing saga of fun, wit, and action. . .