maandag 10 oktober 2016

Karen Miller: Empress

Hi everyone

Empress is the first book in the Godspeaker Trilogy by Karen Miller.
My copy has 717 pages and an 8-page interview with the author.
I got my copy from Book Depository.
You can find all my Karen Miller reviews here.

“Her name is Hekat.
And she will be slave to no man.
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, slave to no man.”

Miller’s world building is amazing. I loved how immersive and detailed it was, I enjoyed learning about the people and their customs, I liked the religious system; I liked how it oppressed the people and how they had no free choice whatsoever. I loved it!
The writing and the world differs depending on the character ‘speaking’ and I liked that too. The writing style towards the end for example, when we follow Dmitrak and Zandakar is completely different from Hekat’s ‘voice’.

And I absolutely HATED Hekat. You can’t have such a long book about such a dislikable character. I know we’re supposed to dislike her and that Hekat is a balance for Vortka, Zandakar and Raklion who are all really nice and genuine characters.
It was too much, I had to take a breather from this book every so often because I just couldn’t stand her and that’s a sure sign it’s not enjoyable. Not every main character should be nice, but the book overall should be enjoyable, and there were moments I had to force myself to read on.
She's just too much. Too evil, too much of a cliché and so, so unrealistic.

Aside from that, the story is very predictable (everything I predicted came to pass) and I really disliked the constant repeating of ‘I am Hekat, I am ….’
Another thing I didn’t like was Miller’s easy way out of naming everything god-something. That’s just lazy writing and unimaginative.

To end on a positive note; I loved the fighting and the war-scenes! Those were awesome. It’s not blood and gore to make a statement; it’s there to further the story.

The second book follows a different character so I will try to read that one. I’m so tired of Hekat, but because she’s my main complaint I hope the second book in the series will be better.  

1 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten