The Empty Throne Books in Order

The Empty Throne is a two-book fantasy about occupation, rebellion, and the people pushed into a war they may not be able to control. Humanity has lived under the rule of the Eternals, also known as Those Above, for three thousand years. They are near-immortal, physically superior rulers who govern from the shining heights of a vast city called the Roost.

The Roost is built in tiers, and that structure matters. The Eternals live at the top, while the human population is divided below them into increasingly harsh rungs. The city makes the gap between ruler and ruled impossible to ignore. Its grand palaces, crowded streets, and lower slums are all parts of the same machine.

The first book, Those Above, follows four people positioned very differently inside that machine. Calla serves one of the Eternals and has spent her life close to power. Thistle is a young survivor from the lowest rung. Bas Alyates is a military commander remembered for doing what few thought possible, killing one of the Eternals. Eudokia is a political operator whose grief, ambition, and long planning are tied to the coming conflict.

They don't see the same world, even when they are fighting over its future.

Polansky uses those separate viewpoints to show how a rebellion grows. There are armies and battles, but also private bargains, propaganda, old resentments, and people making choices with incomplete information. The question is not only whether humanity can overthrow its rulers. It is also what kind of people will be left to build something afterward.

Those Below brings the pressure to a breaking point. Pyre, once known as Thistle, leads revolutionaries in the Roost's lower tiers, while Calla tries to keep violence from consuming the city she knows. Bas and Eudokia remain central as war and political calculation spread beyond the streets of the Roost. The series keeps its focus on the human cost of revolt rather than treating war as a clean path to freedom.

Expect a dark, military-leaning fantasy with political maneuvering and shifting loyalties. The books work best in order, beginning with Those Above, because the second novel builds directly on the characters, tensions, and consequences established in the first.