Servant of the Empire

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and engaging - Repetitive for a good reason
Review: (This review is for the Empire Series: Daughter, Servant, & Mistress)

When I first read Daughter of the Empire, I had just finished reading Darkness at Sethanon. I was looking for something more of the Kingdom, and was really just settling for something the Tsurani Empire. I was hooked very quickly and this became one of my favorite series.

Some earlier critiques have suggested that the is excessive repetition of themes and plot in the book, even to the extent that it became boring. I agree with this to some extent, but believe they have missed an important point.

Throughout the books, the idea is that this is a culture steeped in tradition. It is stagnant and rotting with self-inflicted wounds. Mara sees her only route to survival and the only hope for the survival of her people in the evolution of their culture. In addition to the political machinations of those who seel to capitalize on her weakness, she also has to deal with the powerful who resist her revolutionary ideas.

The repetition is intentional, the reader truly sees the problems of the continuous political battling and feels the frustration that is necessary for their joy at the resolution. I would say the Janny and Raymond have truly tapped into the psychology of the READER.

Mara is one of the most well-developed characters I have ever seen in this genre. I can say that I began responding as though I loved her. I felt her pain, wept for her nobility and sacrifice, cheered her successes and mourned her losses. When the stories were over, I actually missed her.

Rarely in this genre are strong female characters allowed to be -female. Usually, strong woman are shown to be strong in the way that they can act like men. Mara is different. She is strong in her femininity and tough as nails as a woman. The fact that so many men (readers that is) fell in love with her, tells me Wurts and Feist put the story together very well.

I am usually a tough sell for emotional involvement in stories, but certainly got caught here. Anybody who loves fantasy and does not read this is missing something. Any Raymond Feist fan who misses this is missing something important. Oh, I know some of the other side tales (Voyager publications: Honoured Enemy, Jimmy the Hand, Murder in Lamut) were not up to Feist (though I still enjoyed them), but the Empire series is at par with Feist or perhaps even better than some of his stories.

Read it for the incredibly strong female character that always remains a woman and never becomes a man to be strong.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: A truely wonderful story that totally sucked me in from the first word. How the authors managed to spin such a complex, exciting and interesting story is amazing to me. Mara is someone I would like to know and call a friend. Highly recommended to people who enjoy a bit of romance and adventure.

Rating:
Summary: Overdone and Unbelievable
Review: Coming from one of my favorite authors, this book was a disappointment. Though the concept of the Tsuranni culture is interesting, the writing seems overdone, with constant references to "protocol". The first book in the series was pretty good, but this one starts the downhill slide and I almost didn't finish the third one. Jany Wurts may give some insights to the female aspect of this book - which is admittedly much more developed than in most Fantasy novels, but in other respects the series can not begin to compare with Feist's classic Riftwar series. I'll still read anything written by him because that series was so amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Best volume in trilogy...you will read it again and again.
Review: Good triumphs over evil in this exotic world created by Feist and Wurts. Where most trilogies lag in the middle volume, this one excels. Servant of the Empire is captivating, romantic, and full of adventure. As Mara falls in love with her barbarian lover, we are challenged to look at our own prejudices and our concepts of love and honor.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent saga continues
Review: I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the first in the series, but I think it may have just been because Daughter of the Empire raised my expectations to a very high level.

I thought this book went a little overboard with Mara of the Acoma breaking traditions as she falls in love with Kevin, the slave from across the rift in Midkemia. Nevertheless, this is still a very good book and I see it as sort of a bridge between the other two fantastic volumes of this series.

If you liked the first book in the series, I'm sure you will enjoy this one as well, but if you don't like this as much, don't worry because the conclusion, Mistress of the Empire lives up to the standard set by Daughter of the Empire.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book in the Series!
Review: I found that this book was the best one in the series. I'm constantly taking it off the bookshelf and rereading parts of it. The book contains an intriguing encounter with Pug, which should've gone into more detail. Mara once again deludes the Minwanabi with her ability to reason. Kevin is a very intresting character and I found his part in the book a very good addition.

Rating:
Summary: Best book in Empire trilogy
Review: I found this book to be highly entertaining. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who read the Riftwar series by Feist.

However, this book, and the rest of the series, may bore readers who are not interested in the political and logistical side of warfare. If you like pure action, then this book is not for you. If you like political intrigue, as well as interesting descriptions of places, events, and people, then you will love this book.

Wurts is one of the best fantasy authors around today.

Rating:
Summary: One of a strong three book series
Review: If you are thinking about buying these books, I have two words of advice for you, "DO IT!" I went from liking fantasy, to loving it only after these three short books. They are worth their weight in Gold. Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist are a great combination!

Thank you for these books!
-Mike
Utah

Rating:
Summary: A true reading treat
Review: In "Daughter of the Empire" the first book of the series, Mara of the Acoma defeated her most immediate and dangerous enemy and saved her family name from obliteration. However, the defeat of Jingu of the Minwanabi doesn't end Mara's problems. Jingu's son Desio and his nephew Tasaio have merely taken up the family cause. And Tasaio was the cunning architect of the plans that killed Mara's father and brother. A long range thinker and a proponent of the idea of a well laid plan, Tasaio is a formidable enemy.

In the meantime, Mara buys Kevin of Zun and takes him into her home as a slave. As prisoners of war from the land of Midkemia across the rift, Kevin and his "barbarian" countrymen make terrible slaves. They don't believe in the Kelewanese concept of caste or of their treatment of slaves. They are rebellious, prone to escape and refuse to bow down to their masters. Mara is fascinated by the handsome slave and his strange ideas of freedom. Soon Mara and Kevin become lovers and Mara begins to learn more about the way of life in Midkemia. Kevin quickly becomes a valuable part of Mara's household and in her fight against her enemies. Mara has always been an unpredictable thinker and incorporating Kevin's off-worlder ideas into the fabric of her moves in the Great Game of Council further confounds her enemies.

Once again Mara manages to outwit her enemies using unconventional thinking, a lot of luck, and an Emperor who doesn't plan to be just a figurehead any longer.

The second book of Wurts' and Feist's Empire series is equal parts political fantasy and romance novel. Mara is once again deeply involved in the maneuverings and manipulations that at once gain her stature among her peers and strengthen her House against those who would see her destroyed. The inclusion of Kevin gives Mara a true love interest (her abusive husband from the previous book doesn't qualify) and gives her an outsider's view of her culture's enigmatic and often destructive way of life. It also ushers in the change of Mara from uncanny survivor to social reformer.

I liked the first book in the series but I liked this one better. The characters deepen, we see more of the countryside and meet more of the Tsurani people including the Emperor and the mysterious Black Robes. The introduction of the outlander Kevin to the story helps to drive the plot and also serves as a logical place for exposition. Kevin can stand in for the reader and ask the questions "Why" and make the wry observations that about the Tsurani way of life. He serves brilliantly as the Outsider-who shakes-up-the-establishment and is the focal point of the members of Mara's household beginning to question their culture's stance on many issues including honor, death and slavery.

Great book. I Highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: A true reading treat
Review: In "Daughter of the Empire" the first book of the series, Mara of the Acoma defeated her most immediate and dangerous enemy and saved her family name from obliteration. However, the defeat of Jingu of the Minwanabi doesn't end Mara's problems. Jingu's son Desio and his nephew Tasaio have merely taken up the family cause. And Tasaio was the cunning architect of the plans that killed Mara's father and brother. A long range thinker and a proponent of the idea of a well laid plan, Tasaio is a formidable enemy.

In the meantime, Mara buys Kevin of Zun and takes him into her home as a slave. As prisoners of war from the land of Midkemia across the rift, Kevin and his "barbarian" countrymen make terrible slaves. They don't believe in the Kelewanese concept of caste or of their treatment of slaves. They are rebellious, prone to escape and refuse to bow down to their masters. Mara is fascinated by the handsome slave and his strange ideas of freedom. Soon Mara and Kevin become lovers and Mara begins to learn more about the way of life in Midkemia. Kevin quickly becomes a valuable part of Mara's household and in her fight against her enemies. Mara has always been an unpredictable thinker and incorporating Kevin's off-worlder ideas into the fabric of her moves in the Great Game of Council further confounds her enemies.

Once again Mara manages to outwit her enemies using unconventional thinking, a lot of luck, and an Emperor who doesn't plan to be just a figurehead any longer.

The second book of Wurts' and Feist's Empire series is equal parts political fantasy and romance novel. Mara is once again deeply involved in the maneuverings and manipulations that at once gain her stature among her peers and strengthen her House against those who would see her destroyed. The inclusion of Kevin gives Mara a true love interest (her abusive husband from the previous book doesn't qualify) and gives her an outsider's view of her culture's enigmatic and often destructive way of life. It also ushers in the change of Mara from uncanny survivor to social reformer.

I liked the first book in the series but I liked this one better. The characters deepen, we see more of the countryside and meet more of the Tsurani people including the Emperor and the mysterious Black Robes. The introduction of the outlander Kevin to the story helps to drive the plot and also serves as a logical place for exposition. Kevin can stand in for the reader and ask the questions "Why" and make the wry observations that about the Tsurani way of life. He serves brilliantly as the Outsider-who shakes-up-the-establishment and is the focal point of the members of Mara's household beginning to question their culture's stance on many issues including honor, death and slavery.

Great book. I Highly recommend.