Purge of Ashes by Joel Minty

Liis reviews Purge of Ashes, the first book of The Imbalance fantasy series by Joel Minty.

Liis was offered an eARC by Joel and she used the BookMatch to download her review copy in exchange for an honest review. Purge of Ashes re-publishes on 25th of August, 2026.

About the Book
The Sound of Madness
Book Blurb
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Review
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Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2026 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Freefall

Zealots of the Scalion Legion arrive in a maelstrom of fire and blood, their ambitions as mystifying as their body count is explicit.

They rush at Orenzo Madleej, once eager conscript now crestfallen mercenary, suffocating his wide-eyed notions about historied combat. They fall on Aronan Kloss, once worthy heir now embattled harbinger, uprooting his duelling responsibilities of national security and human decency. They howl above Asma Madrejingo, once a resolute head now a fragile heart, leaving her for dead amid those who promised shelter—and they come with a sole cabalistic objective: to hunt a single immortal betrayer harbored by Aronan’s powerful father.

Now obligated by contract to escort half a city of refugees to the distant capital, Orenzo and his division are Aronan’s only hope to protect his people from a massacre of crude magic and relentless iron. The road is long as a spear, trust as fleeting as reprieve, and the trials of confidence without as exacting as the worms of misgiving within—for as the harrowing march cripples morale and civil war bleeds out the toughest of the crown’s retainers, the capital seems less and less likely to provide sanctuary…

Yet sanctuary they will need, for among them walks one with smoldering temples in his wake: a god’s bastard purposed with fraying the bonds between man and providence.

What chance, asylum, against the birth of imbalance?

He was nobody’s savior, but a man had to do something with his life so it meant something and nobody deserved to be displaced from their home. Especially not to die on a neglected causeway routed for the capital. Oh, Phlanx would fight. Wouldn’t he just.

Epic fantasy is all about sprawling worlds, a vast cast of characters, heroism and high stakes for both countries and world as a whole. The character amount always comes with multiple threads by default, that then somehow come together by the end. Purge of Ashes, the opening novel in Joel Minty’s The Imbalance series, delivers on all of that with a confidence.

Minty’s prose is quite dense and descriptive. And whilst some readers enjoy a more snappy delivery, others absolutely love this kind of prose that drags you into the story and won’t let you escape. Every sentence feels deliberate because the author has deemed it important for the story he wants to tell. The cool thing about this story was that the world never felt like a backdrop. It felt developed and is delivered to the reader through character actions and story progression as opposed to major infodumps. As such, you are thrown straight in the deep end. The chaos starts from the get-go and the chaos remains until the end. I don’t mean chaos like oh, confusion, wth is going on, but more like the chaos that civil unrest and war brings with it.

What I found really worked for this story was how each chapter delivered the multiple POVs. The perspective shifts really felt like watching a movie, with scene cuts in right places. It created an excellent rhythm, constantly moving the story forward without allowing any single viewpoint to overstay its welcome. And in a sense, the structure also ensured that the conflict is present throughout, you won’t have to wait for the big payout at the end of a long, arduous slog.

From beginning to end, these characters endure what can only be described as the seven circles of hell. Yet it never feels gratuitous. Every loss, setback, and hardship leaves its mark, shaping who they become and making their development feel entirely believable within such an unforgiving world.

Purge of Ashes isn’t interested in easy victories or straightforward heroes. It’s ambitious, layered, and asks readers to trust the process as its many moving pieces gradually fall into place. If you enjoy epic fantasy that embraces complexity, rewards patience, and isn’t afraid to drag its characters through absolute hell, this is an easy recommendation.