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princessrobotiv 's review for:
Emperor Mage
by Tamora Pierce
3.5
--
I wasn't as fond of this installment as the last two, though - as always - there were many things that pleasantly surprised me.
The biggest strength of the novel was undoubtedly Ozorne. The character Pierce constructed was so entirely believable - as a villain, and as the product of the environment Pierce created. Diplomatic yet dictatorial, kindhearted towards animals yet ruthless towards enemies and subordinates. The contradictions in his personality really resulted in a well-rounded adversary for Daine. I'm very pleased with that, though apprehensive of his characterization now that he's become a Stormwing.
Likewise, I enjoyed Kaddar quite a bit. His gentler nature paired with the stubborn inability to recognize that his empire's practice of keeping slaves is reprehensible gave him the depth needed to offset the very predtictable role he filled in the story as usurping prince.
I didn't find the writing as tight as in prior installments, and the dialogue became pretty cheesy at times. The entire situation with Numair's death was a bit exasperating because it was so obvious to the reader what was coming - if Daine's dreams hadn't spelled things out so clearly, this miscommunication could have possessed way more tension and grief.
There were heavier Daine/Numair themes in this one, too, as expected. It was a little skeevy at times, though things did TECHNICALLY remain entirely platonic. Daine still hasn't so much as thought about Numair as a romantic possibility, but the implication was clearly there that some non-platonic love exists on Numair's part, which is...eh. Not great. But I knew it was coming, and I'm bracing myself against it for the next volume.
--
I wasn't as fond of this installment as the last two, though - as always - there were many things that pleasantly surprised me.
The biggest strength of the novel was undoubtedly Ozorne. The character Pierce constructed was so entirely believable - as a villain, and as the product of the environment Pierce created. Diplomatic yet dictatorial, kindhearted towards animals yet ruthless towards enemies and subordinates. The contradictions in his personality really resulted in a well-rounded adversary for Daine. I'm very pleased with that, though apprehensive of his characterization now that he's become a Stormwing.
Likewise, I enjoyed Kaddar quite a bit. His gentler nature paired with the stubborn inability to recognize that his empire's practice of keeping slaves is reprehensible gave him the depth needed to offset the very predtictable role he filled in the story as usurping prince.
I didn't find the writing as tight as in prior installments, and the dialogue became pretty cheesy at times. The entire situation with Numair's death was a bit exasperating because it was so obvious to the reader what was coming - if Daine's dreams hadn't spelled things out so clearly, this miscommunication could have possessed way more tension and grief.
There were heavier Daine/Numair themes in this one, too, as expected. It was a little skeevy at times, though things did TECHNICALLY remain entirely platonic. Daine still hasn't so much as thought about Numair as a romantic possibility, but the implication was clearly there that some non-platonic love exists on Numair's part, which is...eh. Not great. But I knew it was coming, and I'm bracing myself against it for the next volume.