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A review by kieralesley
Mistress of the Empire by Janny Wurts, Raymond E. Feist
5.0
Fantastic conclusion to the series!
This series is an excellent example of how a trilogy should work, with each book raising the stakes and the scope of the plot to both build on and eclipse the previous instalment. Each of the books in this series confronts Mara with both an element of her society to question and an existential threat. However, having left off Servant of the Empire with Mara and the Akoma not only on the top of the political pile, but adopted into the Emperor’s family to boot, you have to wonder what Mara has left to confront, disrupt and conquer.
Turns out a lot.
In this book Mara tackles the Great Ones, the Anasati and the Hamoi Tong. The Cho-Ja also play a significant role. I’m not going to go into detail about the plot because this book, even more than the previous two, wouldn’t be well-served by giving the twists away.
Mistress is really about the country and culture of Tsuranuanni as a whole. What was fascinating to me as a reader was how much, like Mara, I had accepted as unquestioning facts of life in this world and setting. How little we’d seen or thought about the borders of the world and conduct, and – rift aside – what might lie beyond. It is humbling to see Mara face down these challenges presented to her in this book, even when that meant confronting some uncomfortable truths about herself, her society and their history.
Arakasi and Lujan also really step up in the book each concluding what, in hindsight, are pretty impressive individual trajectories across the series. Arakasi in particular faces a deep personal crisis which is a bold narrative move that pays off beautifully. He also gets one of the most stand-out scenes in the whole trilogy here. The climax is spectacular: dynamic, perfectly paced, and with imagery that will stick with me long after the nuance of the plot fades.
I also liked that this series takes place over a long period of time – decades – and we get to see Mara develop and change as a character and a woman. It’s not often that you get to stay with a protagonist over that long a time period, usually their story is a piece of their lives, whereas this trilogy encompasses almost all of Mara’s adult life. It’s refreshing.
There were some slower interludes that I found, pacing-wise, were a little more uneven than Servant, particularly through the third-quarter.
I also found the individual Magicians a bit tough to differentiate. Their characterisation was quite similar, even when they had differing opinions, names and occupied different ‘sides’ of the debate and conflict. They were minor characters, but I tended to read them as one or two major groups with multiple voices rather than as individuals.
Ultimately, though, these were minor problems in an otherwise remarkable novel and series.
Mara’s story is one how in order to face things bigger than you are, you have to become the sort of person who can do that – even if it means coming to some brutal realisations about yourself and things you have previously assumed to be true. It’s also about how it’s not enough to do it once in a lifetime. You don’t necessarily get to go home and put your feet up after you win your first big fight. You will likely have to do it over and over again, for bigger stakes. Mara does this with humility, confidence and daring. She’s not physically strong, she has no magic, she makes big mistakes that cost her and those close to her dearly, but she never fails to roll up her sleeves, use her wits and attack the problem in front of her. Even if it feels insurmountable. Even if she’s grieving or tired. Even if it takes her years. That’s the sort of narrative and protagonist that lets this series hold up much better than it has any right to after more than 25 years.
This series is an excellent example of how a trilogy should work, with each book raising the stakes and the scope of the plot to both build on and eclipse the previous instalment. Each of the books in this series confronts Mara with both an element of her society to question and an existential threat. However, having left off Servant of the Empire with Mara and the Akoma not only on the top of the political pile, but adopted into the Emperor’s family to boot, you have to wonder what Mara has left to confront, disrupt and conquer.
Turns out a lot.
In this book Mara tackles the Great Ones, the Anasati and the Hamoi Tong. The Cho-Ja also play a significant role. I’m not going to go into detail about the plot because this book, even more than the previous two, wouldn’t be well-served by giving the twists away.
Mistress is really about the country and culture of Tsuranuanni as a whole. What was fascinating to me as a reader was how much, like Mara, I had accepted as unquestioning facts of life in this world and setting. How little we’d seen or thought about the borders of the world and conduct, and – rift aside – what might lie beyond. It is humbling to see Mara face down these challenges presented to her in this book, even when that meant confronting some uncomfortable truths about herself, her society and their history.
Arakasi and Lujan also really step up in the book each concluding what, in hindsight, are pretty impressive individual trajectories across the series. Arakasi in particular faces a deep personal crisis which is a bold narrative move that pays off beautifully. He also gets one of the most stand-out scenes in the whole trilogy here. The climax is spectacular: dynamic, perfectly paced, and with imagery that will stick with me long after the nuance of the plot fades.
I also liked that this series takes place over a long period of time – decades – and we get to see Mara develop and change as a character and a woman. It’s not often that you get to stay with a protagonist over that long a time period, usually their story is a piece of their lives, whereas this trilogy encompasses almost all of Mara’s adult life. It’s refreshing.
There were some slower interludes that I found, pacing-wise, were a little more uneven than Servant, particularly through the third-quarter.
I also found the individual Magicians a bit tough to differentiate. Their characterisation was quite similar, even when they had differing opinions, names and occupied different ‘sides’ of the debate and conflict. They were minor characters, but I tended to read them as one or two major groups with multiple voices rather than as individuals.
Ultimately, though, these were minor problems in an otherwise remarkable novel and series.
Mara’s story is one how in order to face things bigger than you are, you have to become the sort of person who can do that – even if it means coming to some brutal realisations about yourself and things you have previously assumed to be true. It’s also about how it’s not enough to do it once in a lifetime. You don’t necessarily get to go home and put your feet up after you win your first big fight. You will likely have to do it over and over again, for bigger stakes. Mara does this with humility, confidence and daring. She’s not physically strong, she has no magic, she makes big mistakes that cost her and those close to her dearly, but she never fails to roll up her sleeves, use her wits and attack the problem in front of her. Even if it feels insurmountable. Even if she’s grieving or tired. Even if it takes her years. That’s the sort of narrative and protagonist that lets this series hold up much better than it has any right to after more than 25 years.