Book Review - Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Empire of Night
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Age of Legends, book 2
Publisher: DoubleDay Canada
Pages: 432 pages
Dates read: April 4th to 8th, 2015

Goodreads synopsis:

Sisters Moria and Ashyn are the Keeper and Seeker of Edgewood. Or at least, they were.

Their village is gone. Their friends have betrayed them. And now, the emperor has sent them on a mission to rescue the children of Edgewood—accompanied by Prince Tyrus and a small band of imperial warriors. But the journey proves more perilous than they could have imagined. With treachery and unrest mounting in the empire, Moria and Ashyn will have to draw on all their influence and power to overcome deadly enemies—not all of them human—and even avert an all-out war

Rating: 4/5 stars

 Well, if I thought Sea of Shadows was amazing, I was blown away by Empire of Night. It's an amazing continuation to the series.

What I liked:

• Prince Tyrus. I have a thing for princes, I think, because everytime I read a book that has a prince in it, I automatically love that character more than anything. And that's exactly what happened with Tyrus. I also loved watching his relationship with Moria bloom. They're really great friends for each other. I hope to see this continue in Forest of Ruin.
• Action! There was just so much going on. Shadow stalkers, kidnappings, plots against people, people worrying for their lives, death, etc. Every page brought  something new and it was amazing. Kelley Armstrong managed to write and action-packed book and still keep the writing mostly seamless and understandable and coherent. Very well done. It was such a step up from Sea of Shadows.
• The empire. I loved seeing more of the empire's lands, and seeing how the cultures, religions, beliefs, etc... of Tatsu's empire differed. This world is so fleshed-out. We even see the different prejudices between caste/origin. It's been a while since I've read a book that had such a well-fleshed out world.
• Moria and Ashyn. I just love Moria. She's a fierce, hard-headed, badass character who leaps in without looking. I love that she's such a contrast to Ashyn, who prefers to be cautious, yet can still be a badass when needed. These ladies are just wonderful characters. All of Kelley Armstrong's lady characters are amazing and Ashyn and Moria are no exception to this rule.

What I didn't like as much:

• The only thing I didn't like is that Moria and Ashyn were once again separated. I would love to see them kick ass together, but so far it hasn't happened. In the 800+ pages in the series so far, they've been separated from each other for more than half of them. Hopefully this is rectified in the last book.

All in all, Empire of Night is a wonderful companion to Sea of Shadows, yet it has more action, more romance and more all-round awesomeness. If Sea of Shadows felt a bit too slow for you, but you still liked it, I highly suggest picking up this second installment.