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A review by ninetalevixen
The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
4.5
My love for this book goes way back to middle school, when I did a book report on it (which included a video game adaptation and earned an A+, for the record). So I was delighted to discover that it holds up wonderfully, even all these years later, now that I've grown up a bit and our social norms have shifted.
Despite remembering only the main events of this book — and few, if any, of the mentioned scenes from previous Emelan books — I found it really easy to fall right back in love with the protagonists. Briar is still my favorite and I still relate most to Sandry, but my esteem for Tris and especially Daja has really risen; perhaps more importantly, I'm just as invested in their interpersonal dynamics as pairs and trios and a quartet, which are a focus throughout the series.
The New Adult perspective of this book is well done, imo: the characters show significant growth from the previous two quartets and over the course of this book, as individuals and as a group, and their worldviews are more mature while retaining some youthful idealism and stubbornness. Pierce does a great job balancing social commentary with the main story that acts as our lens, and I'm honestly impressed with the overall effect.
Despite remembering only the main events of this book — and few, if any, of the mentioned scenes from previous Emelan books — I found it really easy to fall right back in love with the protagonists. Briar is still my favorite and I still relate most to Sandry, but my esteem for Tris and especially Daja has really risen; perhaps more importantly, I'm just as invested in their interpersonal dynamics as pairs and trios and a quartet, which are a focus throughout the series.
The New Adult perspective of this book is well done, imo: the characters show significant growth from the previous two quartets and over the course of this book, as individuals and as a group, and their worldviews are more mature while retaining some youthful idealism and stubbornness. Pierce does a great job balancing social commentary with the main story that acts as our lens, and I'm honestly impressed with the overall effect.