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Empress (Godspeaker Trilogy)
 
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Empress (Godspeaker Trilogy) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Karen Miller (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 752 pages
  • Publisher: Orbit (April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316008354
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316008358
  • Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.7 x 4.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 641,209 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
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
By Ignis Statdfeld "Swee" (London, England) - See all my reviews
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
This review is from: Empress (Godspeaker) (Paperback)
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
This review is from: Empress (Godspeaker) (Paperback)
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Bother
I have to say that this is the worst book I have ever read, I have read hundreds and none are as bad. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Martin Eddy

1.0 out of 5 stars Dont waste your time on this book it is a terrible read
I have recently finished this book and the entire trilogy. The whole trilogy is around 2000 pages and they could have been compacted into 220 pages in total. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Patrick J. Mccarthy

5.0 out of 5 stars loved it!
Empress is the first book in Karen Miller's Godspeaker trilogy, and tells the story of Hekat, a she-brat sold into slavery, whom eventually rises to great power. Read more
Published 1 month ago by xenofan

3.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for world-building, 2 stars for plot and zilch for follow up
I was totally hooked by the world created for this novel. I thought it inspired and completely imaginative, something new and thought-provoking. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Shiner

5.0 out of 5 stars Very different but a good read
I'm surprised to see so many people giving this book bad reviews because they didn't like or identify with the main character because that is exactly what appealed to me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. A. Daffarn

2.0 out of 5 stars Readable but second rate
I haven't read Karen Miller before and probably won't be reading her again. In the absence of other reading material I will probably see "Empress" through - I'm about two thirds... Read more
Published 7 months ago by J. Wood

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Special...
Having previously read Karen Miller's 'Innocent Mage' and disliked it, i felt that perhaps i should give her another go. However, i found that i was, once again, dissapointed. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Rosetta

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing journey into madness and zealotism
As I've said in a number of comments to other reviews... I think the problem with this book is that its dramatic purpose really doesn't become clear until a revelation at the end... Read more
Published 13 months ago by H

3.0 out of 5 stars fundamentalist psychopathic heroine?!
Well heroine might be pushing it a bit but it was certainly a brave move to put such a dark character at the centre of this book. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Misty

4.0 out of 5 stars Immersive Mijak
The first book of the Godspeaker trilogy centres around the character of Hekat. Hekat is a shortening of "Hell cat" and she really is one. Read more
Published 13 months ago by EJade

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