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Title: Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts ISBN: 0-553-56118-9 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.56 (27 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Gripping read, but . . .
Comment: This book brings to an end the saga of Mara of the Acoma, and her political rise through the Empire of Tsuranuanni. It begins with a tragedy that leads a grief-stricken Mara to realise that she has a new enemy, the awesomely powerful Assembly of Magicians. The story follows Mara through a new series of plots, near-death encounters, revelations, and personal struggles as she once more fights to protect her loved ones and family honour.
Mistress of the Empire is as well-written as its two prequels, and as the tension mounted towards the end, I couldn't put it down. Yet the book did leave a sour taste in the mouth, and that is because Mara ends up with everything. Yes, we know she's lost many people she loved. Yes, we know she's suffered greatly. But at the end of the book she has more power and wealth than ever, the literal protection of the gods, and the love of her life returned. Some balance on this score would have been preferable. In contrast to the other books, it didn't seem to me that Mara really learnt anything in this book, either - it's hard to believe that she's acting for anyone other than herself, no matter how moving her struggles can be. Her supposed concern for the underprivileged just doesn't seem to shine through in this book.
The Assembly of Magicians was an unsatisfactory enemy; its portrayal in other books seemed at variance with its portrayal here, and I did wonder how well the concept had been thought out. And it certainly gave up far too easily in the end. The priests, too, were problematic. They never seemed to care about the cruelty in the empire before, so why start now? There was too much plot contrivance of this sort, and it did undermine Mistress of the Empire. Other annoying contrivances that furthered specific plot ends were the poisoning, the divorce of Hokanu, and the death of Ayaki.
The book was also let down by its ending. The showdown before the emperor's throne was silly, with all its stops and starts, the constant raising of the stakes, and its contrived resolution. And as for the epilogue, that read like wish fulfilment on the part of the authors, rather than being consistent with what had gone before - sorry, I just don't believe that social change would have come that fast. Feist and Wurts have perhaps caught a disease that is unfortunately becoming more common amongst fantasy authors: total control of their imaginary world from creation to destruction, with nothing left unresolved and nothing left for anyone else to play with, even readers.
Yet it was nice to see in this book how much came about through the actions of characters other than Mara, particularly Arakasi and Lujan. The change in Arakasi (always my favourite character) was especially welcome and well done.
If you liked Daughter of the Empire and Servant of the Empire, you'll no doubt enjoy this, too. It's not as good as Servant of the Empire, but it's still a fun read. You might find it best not to think on it too deeply, though.
Rating: 5
Summary: Powerful and engaging - repetitive for a reason
Comment: (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 about 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: 4
Summary: Good book, but too good an ending.
Comment: "Mistress of the Empire" probably would have been a blast if it would have come as a stand-alone fantasy novel. But as the final book of a great trilogy it has to be compared with the preceding books, which were absolutely outstanding, and here "Mistress" simply performs badly. Of course, Janny Wurts' writing is still excellent. Of course the plot is still quite intruiging and Lady Mara's uncanny knack to turn the tides to her favor at the very last moment meets all requirements for suspense. And of course the main characters are convincing both in background and motivation, but... havent we seen all that before in "Daughter/Servant of the Empire"?
To be honest, over the course of "Mistress" I simply grew bored of how events developped because they always appear to follow one and the same scheme: One urgency follows the other, Mara gets pushed to 'dare the unprecedented', desaster threatens and yet in the end Mara gets everything she aimed for (due to her 'innovative' actions and the usual heroics of her following) plus some unexpected but welcomed boons less a good scale of sacrificial deaths by people close to her household and heart. Good grief, gimme a break - dreaming must be allowed because after all this is fantasy literature, but did Mara really need to end up seeing her legacy on the emperor's throne, to win the favor of the most powerful mage of both Kelewon and Midkemia (though I feel that co-author Feist simply couldnt resist to give his favorite protagonist Pug a weightier appearance), to gain the protection of the Gods rendering herself virtually invincible and to regain her lost love Kevin due to the cheapest case of deus-et-machina-like intervention by the author?
I really think 'No', because "Mistress" still holds enough depth to make it a really good fantasy novel. Arakasi's incursion into the assassin fortress is gripping as anything and his ensuing affair with a beautiful slave girl is heart-breaking. The world of the alien Cho-ja, Lord Jiro's and his spymaster's plotting, and the revelation of the real purposes of the machinations of the magicians' assembly and everything that results from that are pretty good stories and settings within themselves. But alas Janny Wurts overshadows everything with Mara's greatness (even though Wurts tries to justify all of Mara's actions by purely being motivated out of necessity, survival and her concern for the well-being of the empire, but, sorry, I just dont buy that any longer) and therefore the whole story simply looses much of the usual credibility that marked "Daughter" and "Servant". A little bit less Mara would have maybe been better for the conclusion of this else spectacular fantasy trilogy.
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Title: The King's Buccaneer by RAYMOND FEIST ISBN: 0553563734 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Prince of the Blood by Raymond Feist ISBN: 0553285246 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1990 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: A Darkness at Sethanon : Volume IV in the Riftwar Saga by RAYMOND FEIST ISBN: 0553263285 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Rise of a Merchant Prince by Raymond E. Feist ISBN: 0380720876 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 August, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Silverthorn by RAYMOND FEIST ISBN: 0553270540 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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