An Arlander woman named Loran seeks revenge against the Empire for the deaths of her husband and daughter.

Loran joins with Prince Emere and King Gwaharad, men who hope to restore the royal line of Kamori.

Cain meets Arienne and agrees to help her escape due to their shared Arlander heritage.

Cain follows Gladdis’s agent Safani; he finds the missing Power generator, which was transferred back to the capital by Gwaharad.

When Blood of the Old Kings was first published in South Korea, Kim was only able to release the first volume in a planned trilogy.

[2] Chris Kluwe of Lightspeed praised the way in which Kim is able to combine "a broad array of early-Asian mysticism and culture" and "heavy Roman Republic vibes" to create the society of the novel.

Kluwe praised the novel's themes, which include "rebellion and unrest" as well as "the burden of power and the costs of wielding it.

"[3] Publishers Weekly praised the way in which Kim avoided the "chosen one" narrative with his three protagonists, focusing on "actions rather than inheritance.

Brown noted that several plot elements, dubbed "take on the empire" fantasy, felt typical of the genre.

Brown stated "the bones of its plot and the character arcs I’ve seen before," but felt that the unique ending "twisted the familiar into something much more compelling, and it did a great job setting up the rest of the series.

"[1] Sean Dowie of Locus praised the propulsive action sequences and the "innovative, engaging" magic system.

Dowie felt that Cain was the weakest of the three major characters and wished for more complex characterization and worldbuilding, stating that "It’s not a heady book, and it shouldn’t be, but I would’ve loved a little more dimensionality.