Review: Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-il Kim
- Story Eater
- 11 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Release date:
28 October 2025
Rating:
5/5
Synopsis:
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.
Review
**Heads up—this is a review for the second book in a trilogy. If you haven't read the first book, Blood of the Old Kings (review here), proceed with caution. Spoilers for the first book are definitely ahead. Also, I highly recommend these books. Run, don't walk, and read the first book stat.
Tor really hit it out of the park with this one—I love all the things about this series, and I love that a fantasy giant like Tor (and Orbit in the UK) picked it up and put it out in the English-speaking world. The Bleeding Empire series (or the Mersia Trilogy), with the first two books, takes a solid spot on my favorite fantasy shelf. Faint hints of historical events tickled the back of my brain, and my mind constantly wondered and guessed at possibilities for plot points and character arcs, which only happens for me when I feel I'm reading an excellent book. Lovers of epic fantasy with complex plots, non-linear timelines, multiple POV's, and fully-immersive writing should definitely give this series a try.
Blood for the Undying Throne (or Wizard of Mersia) takes place two years after the end of Blood of the Old Kings (or Star of Mersia). Readers get two new points of view, along with a familiar face from the first book, to take them deeper into the Empire. Our journey starts with Arienne, whom readers have already met, on a mission from King Loran to search out a weapon that decimated the land of Mersia. On her own, Arienne travels a wasteland and shows impressive character development without typical narrative techniques to show such growth. Emere's and Yuma's POV's bring even more to the picture, having little to no connection with one another except for a big reveal at the end, which left me mulling all the details for quite a while after finishing. The development for each character left little to nothing to be desired, and what little there may have been was so minuscule I can't even put my finger on what it even was.
Typical fantasies with large casts and vast settings usually follow the group-up-and-meet protocol before the merry band goes adventuring, but these lines seem different. Each character's thread in the tapestry follows a bit of a different style and really offered so much variety to the novel. One weaving shows a forensic mystery, one a romantic epic, and one a political intrigue. I didn't get fatigued with one story type that seemed to drone on ad nauseam, which is why I love translated books. Reading outside of the familiar habits/patterns/lore I'm used to reignites my love for speculative literature. The patterns of current SFF releases tend to play on a loop, and reading indie and/or translated books really breaks that monotony for me. Stories like Blood for the Undying Throne breathe new life into my imagination.
One of the best things about Kim's writing is the subtlety. Plot points are hinted at, character fates are revealed, and major points of convergence come together in tightly-woven but not overtly dumbed-down ways. In other words, this felt like a properly complex fantasy that requires full attention or some important nuance will slip through the cracks. I did not close the story feeling like I lost a couple or fifty IQ points. I mulled and processed, thought about rereading, and even went back and reviewed some key points and highlights from the first book and my notes. I dug around in this story for hidden gems and treasures. I studied it. I also looked up the author references in the acknowledgments of the first book and put those books on hold at my local library because if someone who writes this well thinks those books are good, I'm definitely reading them, too.
Please for the love of books pick this series up and read it. Just open the first one and give it a looksee. Get it from the library if spending money on something unknown rankles. Just try it out and see. I can't wait for Shadow of Mersia—or whichever form the new title name will be.
My profuse thanks to Cassidy Sattler at Tor for the beautiful print galley and NetGalley for the DRC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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