Leth reviewed Empress by Karen Miller (Godspeaker Trilogy, #1)
Too long, but not bad
3 stars
The ending is very intense, kind of hammering home the impression I got from reading the blurb about the sequel that it will be essentially a different story entirely, lol. Ay, the cardinal sin of "Empress" is its length, which feels interminable because of its repetitive appellations for the characters and the religious rhetorical framework they use to fight when they are not using weapons. That said, its scope is impressive. Hekat's rise over the years has all the fury and inevitability of a mythic figure drenched in blood. Her undoing is encountering a love she cannot understand just as much as it is her conflation of her ego with the God's will, I think. I'm certainly curious to learn what comes next.
The ending is very intense, kind of hammering home the impression I got from reading the blurb about the sequel that it will be essentially a different story entirely, lol. Ay, the cardinal sin of "Empress" is its length, which feels interminable because of its repetitive appellations for the characters and the religious rhetorical framework they use to fight when they are not using weapons. That said, its scope is impressive. Hekat's rise over the years has all the fury and inevitability of a mythic figure drenched in blood. Her undoing is encountering a love she cannot understand just as much as it is her conflation of her ego with the God's will, I think. I'm certainly curious to learn what comes next.