Empress (Godspeaker Trilogy)
by Karen Miller
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Book Summary Information
Author: Karen MillerEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-01
ISBN: 0316008354
Number of pages: 752
Publisher: Orbit
Book Reviews of Empress (Godspeaker Trilogy)
Book Review: Expertly crafted, but not a fluffy book
Summary: 5 Stars
I typically do not review, because I can often approach books from an oddball angle compared to the typical reader, but I figured I would put my two cents in, because Karen Miller is a very good author, and I'm a bit mystified why they aren't releasing her books in hardcover yet. She should have her books out in hardcover!
Regarding the book proper...Empress has a very...Robin Hobb-esque feel to it, in that Karen Miller is EXCELLENT in writing believable, but unlikable, characters, and in that she's very good at making cultures for her characters, and making the characters react appropriately from WITHIN that culture, even if that reaction isn't a nice or virtuous one.
This book follows Hekat, who starts out as a young girl in an abusive, frightfully poor family. By the end of the book, she is Empress. Now, the standard format for such stories usually centers around a character that is likable--by the time the little starvling works their way to ruling the kingdom, everybody loves them, they are close to being canonized as a saint in the local religion, and the reader is overjoyed that they "got what they deserved" after being mistreated for so long. That is NOT the case here.
Hekat is self-centered, prideful, cruel, determined, a liar, self-deluded, and more. And as a character she is beautifully portrayed. But, as the reviews below show, she's not a likable character, so if you as a reader need characters that you like or love, this is not the book for you. In my case, it doesn't matter that I dislike Hekat--I find her journey intensely interesting, and it's fascinating how she, in a very true-to-life manner, exploits others in her rise to power. Karen Miller has very successfully thrown out one example showing why people who are complete scum can rise to power; reading Hekat's life is like watching dominoes fall, except I-the-reader didn't realize that the dominoes were falling until, to switch my metaphors, the avalanche was barreling down on me. It wouldn't be out of line to say Hekat is somewhat like a female Hitler, except that there's no obvious ham-handed Nazi-influences in the book. There may be some subtle ones, but you have to be pretty analytical or well-versed in history to find them. Personally, Hekat reminds me of an Egyptian Queen for some reason. Probably the scorpion/desert references.
Aside from the excellently crafted characters (likable and not-likable), Karen Miller is also very good at crafting a culture that is alien to us; she shows how the religion is linked to the people, how the government works, how a system of magic might influence a culture and its religion at its deepest roots. This isn't just a "copy what everyone else has done and change the colors so it doesn't look like a total ripoff" that's fairly common in fantasy. I believe someone else mentioned stilted speech from all the characters, but I didn't read it like that--I read it as their speech patterns being affected by their culture. It may sound odd to us, but then, we don't live in that country. Once I adjusted to it, I found that I really deeply liked it, because it took a different approach to culture-creation than I'm used to reading. Usually people just throw in a few goofy made-up words...it takes much more skill to take normal words, but string them in phrases that make the character sound foreign to our ears.
One thing that does confuse me is the cover. The cover is done in a style that indicates the story is much more fluffy than it is. I like the cover art, but I don't think it's particularly suitable to the story, and has probably misled more than one person. But that's not the author's fault, since authors don't have much input on the cover typically...more the publisher's fault, since they have a book that would appeal to Robin Hobb/C. S. Friedman/etc. fans with a cover you might see on a Mercedes Lackey or Tanya Huff book. Totally marketing at the wrong demographic, I think. Someone on the publishing marketing team was inhaling something when the cover was chosen! Anyway...
All in all, I loathed and was depressed by Hekat, but I was totally and utterly excited by the craftsmanship of the book, and by the chain of dominoes that are falling over, affecting everything in their path. And there are other characters in the book that are sympathetic--Hekat's son, for example. I want to know what happens to them too. If you're looking for some fun and light escapism, don't pick up this book...it may make you cry. But if you're looking for interesting characters and cultures, or for a book you might learn something new from, you might want to give this book a try.
I just picked up the next one in the series today; it looks like we'll have a bit of a more sympathetic main character than Hekat in it, but I hope we see Hekat as well, because she's just interesting. :D
~~Domini
Summary of Empress (Godspeaker Trilogy)
In a family torn apart by poverty and violence, Hekat is no more than an unwanted mouth to feed, worth only a few coins from a passing slave trader.But Hekat was not born to be a slave. For her, a different path has been chosen.
It is a path that will take her from stinking back alleys to the house of her God, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak.
This is the story of Hekat, precious and beautiful.
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