DNF at 7%

I was initially inclined to give this book more of a chance. However, based on what I've gathered so far, it doesn't seem to be worth it.

To start with, the original premise of Mara devising plans to deal with the Minwanabi clan is quite good. It makes perfect sense that a rising clan led by a clever yet largely untested young widow would be targeted by a rival clan with unpredictable tendencies due to a recent succession. Other clans will stand by and observe, and allegiances may change. So far, so good.

The portrayal of the Midkemians, though, is something I simply cannot tolerate. They are depicted as physically superior beings with no respect for Tsurani culture. They are hypermasculine, tall, and muscular Caucasian stand-ins who bring enlightenment to the short-statured, rigid, and honor-obsessed East Asian stand-ins.

It is hypocritical when Kevin (such a creative name!), a Midkemian war prisoner, begins to lecture on dignity and the meaning of life while simultaneously shitting on his interlocutor's culture and slut-shaming her for wearing a liberal dress code, implying unwanted sexual advances.

And this doesn't even take into account the Midkemians' own form of slavery. It's just putrid, vile sanctimony.

After just around 50 pages, it's already featuring a cocktail of tropes that I absolutely detest: cultural posturing, Orientalism, toxic masculinity, and slut shaming. And from what I've learned, this won't be subverted or averted for the next 650 pages or so. It's just a White dude disrespecting, gaslighting, and insulting his Asian love interest.

It's a great shame because I really wanted to read Janny Wurts' works. I suppose I'll have to look into her other personal works instead.

The machinations of the Great Game persist unabated. The power-hungry Lords are engaged in a fierce struggle for supremacy. Their ambitions know no bounds as they scheme and plot to gain the upper hand. Meanwhile, the Empire finds itself on the brink of an unprecedented change. This change looms large and menacing, threatening to send everything spiraling into chaos.

In this tumultuous landscape, two distinct worlds and cultures collide. The clash is a complex web of politics, filled with intrigue and deception. Amidst the turmoil, love also finds its way in. It adds yet another layer of complication to the already convoluted situation. The characters are caught in a storm of emotions and loyalties, forced to make difficult choices that will shape their fates and the future of the Empire.

The story unfolds, revealing the hidden motives and secret alliances that drive the actions of the characters. As the Great Game continues to play out, the outcome remains uncertain, leaving the reader on the edge of their seat, eager to discover what lies ahead.

2 and a bit stars rounded up.

'When you play the game of thrones empire, you win or you die.'

After pulling her house back from the brink of destruction, Mara, the ruling lady of the Acoma, is now focused on building up the power of her house. She hopes to win the blood feud with the Minwanabi family, who wants her and her young son dead. However, the plot of this book, which clocks in at over 800 pages (300 more than the first), feels meandering and unfocused. Instead of simply surviving and rebuilding, Mara gets enmeshed in the politics of the Great Game for somewhat unclear reasons. There are potential allies she could have made an alliance with more easily, but she chooses a more convoluted path.

I also lost sympathy for Mara due to some of her actions in this book, which I won't detail here. Additionally, the 'romance' between Mara and her 'barbarian slave' Kevin irritated me. It took up a lot of space and was filled with trite cliches. Kevin's constant comparisons of his homeland to the Empire and his brash behavior according to Empire standards became tiresome. I even wished Mara would punish him severely.

Feist and Wurts are talented writers, but this book seems a bit too indulgent. A tighter edit and a clearer focus could have improved it. The villains in the book are also one-dimensional caricatures, which detracts from the story. I will read the third book, but not right away as I need a break from the Empire of Kelewan.

Wow. I mean WOW!

The second installment of The Empire Trilogy was truly remarkable. It surpassed the first book in so many ways.

This series has the potential to end up as one of the top 10 of all time for me.

Mara, the main character, is definitely a top 10 character.

From the very beginning to the end of this book, I couldn't think of a single thing that I didn't enjoy.

Every page was filled with excitement, adventure, and complex characters.

The story was engaging and kept me on the edge of my seat.

The writing was excellent, with vivid descriptions and a great sense of pacing.

I can't wait to see what happens in the final installment of the trilogy.

Simply wow!

This was yet another captivating story, albeit distinct from the first book in several remarkable aspects.

Regrettably, I personally found the departures rather jarring, which slightly diminished my enjoyment. However, they also more closely resembled the form of the original Riftwar books, making them somewhat understandable. It perhaps indicates a greater involvement by Feist compared to the first volume.

The focus remains on Mara as she copes with the aftermath, both positive and negative, of the previous book. It also introduces a Midkemian slave, Kevin, who assumes a very prominent position as the house navigates political and military conflicts.

Kevin's presence as an outsider allows the authors to use him instead of Mara to explain what's happening in Tsurani politics, as Mara is presumably mostly an expert by now. Yet, he also plays a significant and active role in the story, so the conceit is not a concern. The point of view in the story alternates between him and Mara, often without much indication beyond the context, but it's mostly done well and sensibly. For example, when we need to stay with Kevin while Mara is formulating a secret plot. Battles, both personal and at the army level, occur more frequently and in greater detail than in the previous book, suggesting to me that Feist had a greater hand in writing this volume. These additions are not unwelcome, although two others that I attribute to him were not as entertaining for me.

Firstly, the point of view jumps to the first advisor in the Minwanabi household, Mara's sworn enemies. I thought the first book stood on its own quite well without the need for such jumps. Apart from one intriguing point early in the story, the switching added very little. It may have been done to highlight certain flawed traits of the other house, but I felt it was excessive.

Secondly, time jumps occur much more frequently in this book as well. Often, turning a page would result in six months passing, and sometimes it was concerning, especially since Mara's child is present, and he grows significantly during that period. The story never goes off the rails as a result, and the timing makes sense, but I couldn't help but feel that there were significant events and developments that were "skipped" by fast-forwarding through so much time, even though that's clearly impossible.

The final complaint I have pertains to the end of the book. Kevin's arc, in my opinion, was concluded very abruptly with no real resolution. Perhaps this was intentional to put us in the same mindset as Mara, but given the amount of time and attention devoted to him throughout the rest of the story, the cursory dismissal seemed like a waste.

However, my three complaints are more in the nature of personal preferences rather than actual problems with the story. It's still an excellent read, with all of the same genuine emotion, engaging characters, and intense conflict that characterized the first book; real interpersonal, political, and military conflict, written skillfully, without being overly grim and hopeless.

A HUGE disappointment compared to "Daughter of the Empire."

For the first third of the novel, Mara does absolutely nothing except moon over the forbidden love she has with a barbarian slave. It's truly frustrating to see her character so consumed by this one-sided and rather uninteresting aspect.

It reads like a bad romance novel, "swelling groin" included. The language and descriptions seem out of place and overly simplistic, lacking the depth and complexity that made "Daughter of the Empire" so captivating.

One has to wonder if the same authors of "Daughter of the Empire" were really involved in this. The quality and style are so drastically different that it's hard to believe it's the work of the same minds.

Perhaps they were influenced by something else or were trying to take the story in a new direction, but unfortunately, it just doesn't work.

Overall, this novel is a letdown and fails to live up to the expectations set by its predecessor.

I will admit that I wasn't a huge enthusiast of the Riftwar Saga. It did make quite an impact when it was first released, but there were parts of it that left me dissatisfied, and I never felt the urge to go back and reread it.

However, on a recommendation, I read Daughter of the Empire. I can't quite remember if it was shortly before or after that time, but it truly lived up to the hype. DotE is an excellent and highly recommended book. I regret that it has taken me literally decades to return to it, but I finally have, and the second book has met my memories of the first.

Mara is a maverick, a leader in a very traditional society who isn't afraid of change. She has bent the rules in the past, and now she delves into actually questioning the values of her society. Slaves from Midkemia (the main setting of the main series) were initially popular exotics, but their alien values and general stubbornness have made them less prized. Nevertheless, Mara ends up purchasing a large number of them for her understaffed estates. It's clear from the start that they are exceptional, as they are organized in a way that disrupts the ordinary way of doing things (such as selling off clothes as they are being distributed and then complaining that the allotment was short).

This is mainly because they are ably led by an intelligent and resourceful man who is determined to escape. A lot of what follows definitely owes a debt to Shogun, as Kevin ends up as a nearly co-equal central character for about three-quarters of the book. He and Mara have a passionate relationship, and she absorbs a great deal of information from him, becoming increasingly reform-minded.

Meanwhile, the politics of the Great Game continue, advancing the plot in somewhat uneven jerks. Also, some of the more dramatic events from the middle of the Riftwar saga occur during this book, with the characters here present for one of the significant ones (which was so dramatic that I have faint memories of it from the original books approximately thirty years later). The Minwanabi clan is still more powerful than the Acoma and continues to be the main source of threat.

The really nice aspect here is that, despite being the middle book of a trilogy, it stands on its own quite well. What happened in the first book is important, but you don't really need to have read it to understand this one, and where the next book is headed isn't really revealed here. This is a separate and complete book, and thus it doesn't suffer from the common "middle" problem. Additionally, the Kindle version is in very good condition, and I didn't notice any of the typical OCR-induced typos, although the formatting required a little improvement.

This fell into what I like to term the second book slump. It was good, but Mara is basically untouchable. I have the feeling that she is venturing ever further into Mary-sue territory. However, it is executed quite nicely. There aren't as many crafty political maneuvers in comparison to the first book, but it is still an entertaining read.

I wasn't too fond of the introduction of Kevin and the role that he had in the book. The further along I got, the more I kept seeing aspects of "this is a savage and uneducated culture when compared to ours". The inklings of the "western culture/ideals vs everyone else = west is best" really ruined a huge portion of the book for me. I can't recall the name of the trope, but it is one that I am not particularly fond of.

With Kevin being sent back to his homeland, I hope that the last book does not continue in this direction. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the story concludes and if it can avoid falling into the same pitfalls as this second installment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the author will surprise me and take the story in a new and exciting direction.

Rereading with Tansy Rayner Roberts on Tor.com

You know what? I'm just not enjoying this experience at all. Each week, I find myself really struggling to read the chapter. In fact, I don't look forward to it one bit.

I'm going to continue reading the Tor.com posts, as I do enjoy Tansy's summary and the interesting comments from others. However, I've decided that I simply choose not to force myself to keep on reading the book.

It's not that the book is bad. I have really good memories of my original read, and I still firmly believe that it's a good book. But the fact is, I'm just not having any fun while rereading it this time. So, I've made the decision to let it go and move on to other things that might bring me more enjoyment.

Sometimes, it's important to know when to stop and not waste time on something that isn't giving us the pleasure and fulfillment we expect. And that's exactly what I'm doing in this case.

The second book in what is widely regarded as the greatest trilogy ever penned, this installment manages to sidestep some of the snares that plagued the first novel, without sacrificing its strengths. I harbored concerns that once Mara had carved out a bit of a place for herself in the world, the stakes and sense of urgency in this book would lose their grip. In some respects, this is true, yet simultaneously, I found the new stakes even more enticing. When you actually possess something, there is all the more reason to fret about losing it.

One of the most remarkable set pieces in the entire series unfolds within this book, during the night in the capital with the assassins. Mara's decision to reach out to others for shared protection from assassination was both astute and captivating.

The discussion of the slavery topic was perhaps given a bit too cursory treatment. However, on the other hand, it is a subject that I'm glad the series didn't overly dwell upon. It evokes such intense emotions within me that it could potentially weigh down the story like an anchor, but thankfully, that didn't occur here.

I continue to find the supporting characters more engaging than Mara herself. The crucial aspect of these novels has always been Mara's capacity to empower others to achieve greatness. In the second novel, the supporting cast receives less attention compared to the other two books, but it was essential to maneuver all the pieces into their proper positions.

The world expands to incorporate the capital of the empire in this book, and while it may not be revolutionary, it is just as vivid and fascinating as everything else. The political plotline was, in a sense, as interesting as any of the military ones, and I felt that it was wonderful that the story had such breadth to tell multiple genres of stories at such a high level.

Read this book. But, you should probably start with Daughter of the Empire first.

The second installment of the Empire trilogy truly paled in comparison to its predecessor.

Although most of the characters retained their charm and the writing style remained consistent, the plot took a nosedive. It transitioned from being somewhat sluggish to becoming flimsy, disjointed, and burdened with excessive filler. Reading the second book immediately after the first was a letdown, which is precisely why I awarded Servant of the Empire a mere two-star rating.

One of the major issues I had with this book was the introduction of Kevin. A noble-turned-slave from Midkemia, he would have been a typical character in Feist's other works. However, in Mara's world, he was an intrusive presence. He showed up in every chapter and received an inordinate amount of attention. His role in providing Midkemian perspectives on the world of Kelewan was executed in such an irritatingly effective manner that it made me question why Feist bothered introducing the Tsurani culture in the first place. Apparently, Midkemian concepts of family, honor, and war strategies were always superior. It would have been refreshing if Kevin's insights had been proven wrong or had led to disastrous consequences, even just once. Instead, his advice constantly overshadowed that of Mara's own advisers, making them seem increasingly incompetent and Kevin more and more like a Gary Stu.

Another problem was the numerous plot threads that were left hanging only to be hastily resolved by an off-stage event. A major villain was killed off-stage during a melee that didn't even involve Mara or her allies. This was done to allow another more intelligent and cunning villain to take his place. This was shoddy writing and could have been handled in a more convincing way.

The introduction of Milamber from the Riftwar Saga was yet another major gripe. This was the first of Feist's trilogies that I had read, and I had no prior knowledge or empathy for the eponymous character from the Riftwar series. His actions in this book, defiantly going against the traditions of Kelewan and ultimately引发 a conflict that claimed many innocent lives, were extremely jarring and made me dislike his character despite Feist's attempts to justify and redeem him. A foreigner who forces his way of life onto an unfamiliar culture is not worthy of sympathy, and Milamber received only a token punishment for his reckless and destructive outburst.

In conclusion, these are the reasons why this book was a huge disappointment compared to its predecessor. If only Feist had resisted the urge to favor Midkemia, this book would have been a much more enjoyable read. As it stands, especially with the insufferable amount of padding in the middle, I would caution anyone who has picked up this series to approach Servant of the Empire with caution.

Wow... wow.

This simple exclamation holds a world of emotions. It could be a gasp of surprise at a beautiful sight, like a breathtaking sunset over the ocean.

Or perhaps it's a sound of wonder when encountering something truly amazing, such as a rare and precious gem.

Maybe it's an expression of excitement upon receiving great news or achieving a long-awaited goal.

The two "wows" carry a sense of emphasis, intensifying the feeling.

It's as if the person can't quite find the words to fully describe their reaction, so they resort to this repeated exclamation.

In that moment, time seems to stand still, and all that matters is the overwhelming emotion that has taken hold.

Whether it's joy, astonishment, or admiration, the "wow... wow" says it all.