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Worlds Without End Blog

WoGF Review: Empress by Karen Miller Posted at 10:59 PM by Nathan Barnhart

Skynjay

WWEnd Women of Genre Fiction Reading ChallengeNathan Barnhart (Skynjay) is one of three reviewers for Fantasy Review Barn. Though he read Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books as a kid, he didn’t really get into the genre until a few years ago, at which point he started reading any speculative fiction he could get his hands on. If not reading or playing with his kid, you can find him at the rec getting beat in basketball.


EmpressAieee! You’re looking at a nice painting of a forest. Seems pretty good, nicely detailed, and you are thinking it is pretty realistic. But you make the mistake of looking at it a little closer and it all starts to fall apart. It is like the painter has a good idea of what a forest looks like from a distance, but it’s a little fuzzy on the details. Looking closely you realize the painter doesn’t have a clue what individual trees should look like. Little details are wrong, hidden well if skimmed over but glaring if ones eye rest on it too long. This is the world that Karen Miller has built in Empress. While incredibly interesting the world is built almost lazily, changing at times to fit the author’s needs. Throw in some strange language choices and a complete lack of interesting characters and you will find one frustrating book.

Aieee! A girl with no name is sold into slavery. She is told she is a jewel and is taken from wastelands into a big city. She learns her fate is to be sold again as a bed slave and mutilates her face while running away. The rest of the book tells of her rise in power in a land where the bloodthirsty god is always present, Godspeakers roam the streets smiting sinners and warlords get ready for battle. It is a nasty land full of nasty people.

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