Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim and Translated by Anton Hur

Loran has lost everything to the Empire, and so with nothing to lose, she climbs the fire dragons mountain, hoping that he will come to the people of Arland's aid. He agrees, but he has a condition. Loran must become King of Arland and desperate to save her people and avenge her husband and daughter she agrees.

Arienne is a sorcerer and like all sorcerers in the Empire she is sent to The Academy at a young age where she is a failure of a student as she sees no point in learning since the only reason she lives is so her corpse can eventually become one of the hundreds of corpses the power the Empire. Recently, though, a voice has whispered to her that there is a way to escape this fate she just has to be willing to risk her life now. 

Cain ended up in the Capital after his parents were executed for treason in Arland. As a twelve year old boy who didn't know the language, he had to beg, borrow, and steal to stay alive. That is until he meets Fienna. She helps him find a job and teaches him to read and write Imperial. As far as Cain is considered, Fienna is his hero. And now she's dead, murdered because she got mixed up in an attempt to overthrow the Empire, and Cain is willing to risk everything to avenge her even work for The Empire. 

I hadn't heard a lot about this one when I picked it up last week, but between the cover and the whole necromancy AND mechs thing, I couldn't pass it up. And I'll be completely honest when you say necromancy and mechs are in the same book it's not hard for your mind to jump to this. this is going to be a very anime inspired story. It was not. It was a really straightforward fantasy adventure, and I loved it. You've got an imprisoned dragon that gifts the Chosen One a magic flaming sword, a sorcerer with some pretty unique magic (this is so going to be talked about later), and a streetwise immigrant who will become a hero. You can't get much more classic than this, and I loved every word of it!

The characters are great because they are all very much reluctant heroes. They all start their quests with really only their own problems in mind, but each of them realize both internally and through outside forces that maybe they are thinking a little too small. And as they all battle their own self doubts each of them ultimately rises to the challenge. I will say there was at one point when Cain makes a decision that I didn't necessarily agree with towards the end, however, once I finished the book it was genuinely the only option, so if you get that point and you're like "WTF my dude?" trust me, he had too. Arienne was my favorite of the three, though. She's definitely the most self-assured of the three from the beginning, and I can not wait to see what she does in the next book. 

World building is amazing as well, this isn't a huge world, but there are a surprising number of different cultures that inhabit it, and they are all really well fleshed out. But what makes this stand out is the magic systems. Omg they are so great, especially Arienne's. She can just make stuff happen by *imagining* it, and that's just like five year old me's greatest desire. She just like builds this room in her mind that she can escape into whenever she wants, and omg, how freaking cool is that!? Loran's sword is the Fire Dragon's fang, of course, but the dragon basically merges with her mind, and that results in some really amazing (trying not to spoil here) modifications to Loran. Yes, we'll go with modifications. I also think that Cain has got to have some sort of magic. He lives through way too much that would have killed anyone else, to not have some sort of magic. I could totally be wrong, but I don't think so. 

I highly recommend it if you are looking for just a really fun classic fantasy that brings some unique and exciting magic with it!