Kirkus Reviews | BookLife by Publishers Weekly | BookTrib
The Empires of Durajan, Book Two of the Durajan Series by A. H. Lewis, has received critical coverage from three publications ahead of its June 2026 release.
Kirkus Reviews awarded the novel its "Get It" verdict, describing it as a tale of complex worldbuilding that effectively explores what happens when voiceless peoples band together to make themselves heard. The review highlighted the novel's expanding cast, the continued threat of the Nakarran Creed, and Svirva's emergence as a fully realized warleader whose trajectory drives the book with the same momentum as the first.
BookLife by Publishers Weekly noted Lewis's emphasis on individual perspectives through his journal entry format, characterizing the entries as crafted with offhanded poetic power and comparing them to the testimonial style of a Ken Burns documentary. The review praised the clarity of the action sequences and identified Umaru, Kaelani, and Svirva as the most compelling presences in the ensemble.
BookTrib situated the novel within the larger arc of the series, observing that Lewis shifts the question from who rises and who falls to what endures when the world is still being argued into existence. The review concluded that the book leaves readers not with a single turning point, but with the sense of a world still taking shape — and the people within it doing the same.
The Empires of Durajan is available in hardcover beginning June 1, 2026. ISBN: 979-8-9988458-8-8. Available through IngramSpark Wholesale Distribution.
