The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
Dec. 10th, 2005 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyThis is the conclusion to the Mages' Circle books. You know, there were four, and then there were four more, and they were all a hundred pages long or so?
Well, this is the last book, and it was more than five hundred pages long.
At first I thought this was a sequel to Trickster's Queen, because those are the only hardcovers I had seen her do before. But perhaps this is the beginning of an overall trend, her writing longer books. If so, I'm glad. The world deserves more, and longer, YA fantasy. So I liked the format. You could almost see the four books that it would have been, if she'd kept following her usual pattern, but I liked having them all together. It made things feel a bit less formulaic, since the previous eight were definitely all-of-a-kind. Unfortunately...
There comes a time in the life of every fantasy author when she stops being edited scrupulously. Mercedes Lackey passed that point with the Magewinds series, but happily, she's recovered since then. We have yet to see whether Ms. Pierce will do that. As in the Trickster books, there were a few plot points that were just not that probable, where people are acting out of character. I also thought that the beginning and the end were rushed.
Pierce seems, recently, to have a fascination with Imperial courts. That's okay. She's also getting more into intrigue and betrayal types of plots - where not everything is at it seems on the surface. I like that too.
Overall, I'd give it three stars. I liked it, but probably won't read it again.
Well, this is the last book, and it was more than five hundred pages long.
At first I thought this was a sequel to Trickster's Queen, because those are the only hardcovers I had seen her do before. But perhaps this is the beginning of an overall trend, her writing longer books. If so, I'm glad. The world deserves more, and longer, YA fantasy. So I liked the format. You could almost see the four books that it would have been, if she'd kept following her usual pattern, but I liked having them all together. It made things feel a bit less formulaic, since the previous eight were definitely all-of-a-kind. Unfortunately...
There comes a time in the life of every fantasy author when she stops being edited scrupulously. Mercedes Lackey passed that point with the Magewinds series, but happily, she's recovered since then. We have yet to see whether Ms. Pierce will do that. As in the Trickster books, there were a few plot points that were just not that probable, where people are acting out of character. I also thought that the beginning and the end were rushed.
Pierce seems, recently, to have a fascination with Imperial courts. That's okay. She's also getting more into intrigue and betrayal types of plots - where not everything is at it seems on the surface. I like that too.
Overall, I'd give it three stars. I liked it, but probably won't read it again.
