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A review by rebekah_b94
The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller
3.0
When I first opened this book after finishing 'Empress', I was surprised to find the tone was very different to the previous novel, which I worried would become jarring. The world of Ethea, is very different from mjak, even the tone of the text between the two worlds are dissimilar. I applaud Miller for attempting to fuse together two very different worlds, but my first impression proved too true and soon I found the flow of the novel to be dry and unyielding. Whereas I loved Empress, with its brutal anti-heroine Hekat, I found in comparison Rhian to be rather less engaging. Whereas Empress is the lifespan of Hekat, from very early childhood to late adulthood, running almost like a biblical tale of eventual moral decline and destruction; 'The Riven Kingdom' barely covers a year in our characters lives. Yet even for the closer quarters we share with them, I found them no more endearing at the end than I did at the beginning, in fact I actually lost some of my affection for dexterity from the sudden reveal as him being the 'second-coming of Rollin'. I enjoyed dexterity's character for his simplicity and I felt turning him into a magical figure lacked development. Rhian remained pretty much the same character through-out, a poor comparison to the fiery Hekat, and Alasdair, who we spend most of the book waiting to meet could do with a good knife dancing session with Zanakadar, he seems the spiritual ancestor of Ashley Wilkes, lacking any fundamental willingness to get his hands dirty.
Marlan, was quite stereo-typically evil, I could easily imagine him twirling a fake black mustache and giggling manically, during several paragraphs of speech from him. An atheistic holy man with a lust for power, who seems to enjoy whipping young women a little...too much, is basically his character. Although his level of threat to Rhian personally is large at the beginning of the novel, his threat to the newly empowered Queen Rhian at the end, seems rather limp and lacks real power, especially as he has no support from the population, something he probably should have considered before whipping the next heir to the throne half to death.
There were however several points in the novel I enjoyed. I found the character of Helford, interesting and found the character growth believable. As always the returning characters of Empress were engaging and stimulating. The one plot choice that I applaud, is the reveal that the God of Mjjak, is in fact a Demon, something I can quite readily believe, and would make re-reading 'Empress' more interesting in retrospect.Therefore I can still safety give it three stars, and rate to above Millers 'Innocent mage' series. However such a poor showing after the brilliant novel that was 'Empress' leaves me with doubts to the quality of the next installment 'Hammer of God'.
Marlan, was quite stereo-typically evil, I could easily imagine him twirling a fake black mustache and giggling manically, during several paragraphs of speech from him. An atheistic holy man with a lust for power, who seems to enjoy whipping young women a little...too much, is basically his character. Although his level of threat to Rhian personally is large at the beginning of the novel, his threat to the newly empowered Queen Rhian at the end, seems rather limp and lacks real power, especially as he has no support from the population, something he probably should have considered before whipping the next heir to the throne half to death.
There were however several points in the novel I enjoyed. I found the character of Helford, interesting and found the character growth believable. As always the returning characters of Empress were engaging and stimulating. The one plot choice that I applaud, is the reveal that the God of Mjjak, is in fact a Demon, something I can quite readily believe, and would make re-reading 'Empress' more interesting in retrospect.Therefore I can still safety give it three stars, and rate to above Millers 'Innocent mage' series. However such a poor showing after the brilliant novel that was 'Empress' leaves me with doubts to the quality of the next installment 'Hammer of God'.