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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very enjoyable, an improvement on her previous series, 17 May 2008
I disagree strongly with the 1-star review.
Although the main protagonist will be seen as 'evil' by some readers, the moral disposition of a character should never be the reason for giving such a low rating.
Empress is much darker in tone than the Kingmaker/Kingbreaker duology, so don't expect the typical brave-hero-defeats-evil-enemy type fare you get from most books in the genre. The protagonist lies, steals and kills with no compassion for her victims; all in the name of her god.
Personally i quite like Hekat, even if she is evil and possibly insane. But even if you really can't relate to her at all, its easy to admire the way she does things.
This was a very enjoyable read and in my opinion much better than the previous series. Don't be put off by the one-star reviews of people expectng a 'goody two shoes' main character.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Precious...certainly, 2 Oct 2009
Having read all of the reviews here (like a good little anorak) I took a chance on this book and have to say I loved it. The sheer fact alone that so many people hated Hekat shows she's rather well written and the blood and the gore and the mess...lovely! It saw me through the school holidays with a smile on my face! Yes Hekat is nuttier than a snickers bar in a peanut butter dip, yes she is colder than a naked polar bear, is she a zealot...absolubtely! She is difficult to relate to simply because she is bonkers, she does have a blood lust that would have made Ghengis Khan quail in his furs, and she is relentless in her oppression, ambition and belief.
I enjoyed it and have ordered the next book and even though I know it's meant to be more along the lines of traditional fantasy I'm curious to see where the author takes us next. On a lot of reviews people say they felt there was too much blood and gore and if we look back in world history there's plenty of races and eras to compare this writing to, so this is a great read if you can unlatch your civilised mind and leap into barbarism neck deep.
My one gripe with this book has to be how many times Hekat goes on about being precious and beautiful and the slayer of.... even to her husband who took her on knowing all of this, like us, I'm sure he didn't need reminding every five minutes of her greatness. It was a good job really that this character loved herself, because it seems that nobody else does.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A difficult book, 6 Sep 2008
Empress tells the tale of a girl, Hekat, a she-brat, sold into slavery (which comes as a relief to her...), who escapes, believing herself to be a chosen tool of the gods, and, in the city of Et-Raklion, first with her skill with a knife, then her seeming power as a tool of the gods, rises and rises in power and status ... until she ends up as Empress, the most powerful person in the world. The humble-origins-destined-for-greatness them is explored in Empress, but with a lot of twists as religion is thrown strongly into the mix, too. Magic very clearly comes from the gods, or at least agencies that present themselves as gods, and Godspeakers -- priest types -- are very powerful people ... except that Hekat, a slave girl with a strange amulet, can survive a pit of scorpions -- the totem animals of the gods -- where the priests cannot...
I don't like Hekat. It's taken me a while to decide that, and I expect it will probably be true of a lot of readers. Where Asher was an affable friendly type, Hekat is the opposite: secretive, ambitious and, perhaps, every so slightly scary. She determinedly believes that she has been chosen by the gods to lead her people, steals, kills and is generally cruel to those around her; she's also quite insane (at least, by modern standards), I think. It's not hard to see why she's like that, of course, and one thing that I really liked about Empress was it's harsh unflinching take on her life, and it seems that throughout the novel, Karen is deciding just how much damage she can do to one character! From a life in a squalid village, where the term "father" is replaced with fearing "the man", where slavers come to buy their children. So much cruelty is thrown at Hekat -- and is expected in that world -- that it's easy to see why Hekat is such a damaged creature.
But I still don't like her, and I can't identify with her.
While it was interesting to read about her exploits, to be slightly taken aback at her constant vehemence, her madness, and I don't think her story could be told without those things, I still think it's a problem when I feel nothing for character. For me, that was a bit of a disappointment. Miller stayed away, though, from the strong-female butt-kicking, clad in leather, rolling around in mud with mercenaries type, and indeed a lot in Empress is stuff we don't always see so often in fantasy. It's definitely at the gritty end of the spectrum, indeed, but I think moments of levity were needed and not always provided, though Karen did say that moments of lightness and warmth were more abundant in the latter two volumes of the trilogy.
And so, the final line, with me not really knowing what to say. I did enjoy Empress, but it's a tough read. I still think that I enjoyed the Asher series more, and I really think it's due to getting on better with the characters, enjoying the time reading them more, but Empress, nonetheless, has proven a strong start to this new trilogy, and from what I've heard, it looks like I might have more fun reading the next volumes.
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