Identify Books During Servant of the Empire (Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2)
| Original Title: | Servant of the Empire |
| ISBN: | 0586203818 (ISBN13: 9780586203811) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2, Riftwar Cycle #6 |
Raymond E. Feist
Paperback | Pages: 827 pages Rating: 4.3 | 25314 Users | 384 Reviews
List Based On Books Servant of the Empire (Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2)
| Title | : | Servant of the Empire (Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2) |
| Author | : | Raymond E. Feist |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 827 pages |
| Published | : | 1990 by Grafton |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Epic Fantasy. Science Fiction Fantasy |
Chronicle Conducive To Books Servant of the Empire (Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2)
”Life would be so dull without enemies.”This book is twice the paging and half the plotting of the Daughter of the Empire. And a love triangle.
Do you remember Mara? A girl who had to grow up quickly after her father and brother were killed, and she had to lead her family? In the first volume of the series, Daughter of the Empire, Mara suffered humiliation and abuse but managed to defeated many adversities, and the enemies of the Acoma family in an incredible whirlwind of intrigue, plotting and being two moves ahead of everybody else.
The Servant of the Empire picks up practically immediately after these events. Lord Minawanabi solemnly swears bloody revenge against Lady Acoma and her family. Mara, although having gained influence in the Tsuranuanni Empire, is well aware that her position is not secure.
Herein lies my first problem with The Servant of the Empire: it’s really hard to play the same trick twice. While the Acoma family was at the verge of extinction in the previous book, this time thanks to Mara’s ingeniousness, things are much better both politically, and economically. And yet, the opening chapters try to convince the reader of a looming disaster of epic proportions. How could that be credible? The Acoma are not on the brink of ruin any more! The ruling lady is more experienced, has a wide margin for manoeuvres and more assets at her disposal. The febrile undertones of the narrative ring falsely and unconvincing.
The only thing that saved the book is Mara herself. Her character is built very artfully and in great detail that offers a fully multidimensional figure. It would seem that after the heartbreaking events of the previous book, Mara will not be able to develop further and will only settle in and mature, but here, the novel is a very positive surprise. Mara-Anni decides to buy a group of barbaric slaves who arouse both her irritation and certain fascination. Among them, you will find one who will not only open the girl's eyes to the world around her but also open her heart (though, as I said before: brace yourselves for a triangle).
What I also liked was the fact that the world presented is much richer than in the previous volume. There are more families, more names, more places, and although it may bring chaos, when we deal with it, you will notice how beautiful and multi-layered is the Empire and its social order. The more pity that the intrigues in this instalment are so awfully puerile. In some way, Feist and Wurts had lost their strength and the second volume is weaker; still good level, but definitely missing something.
In her splendid review of the Daughter of the Empire carol. wrote: ”Mara develops the habit of keeping her plans to herself…This both aids and detracts the story; aiding because it keeps the reader in suspense about what she will do, but detracting because it means her actions are often not quite comprehensible to the reader…left with a culture and heroine that is just slightly incomprehensible.” To be honest, as much as I see the potential problem here, I loved the plotting in the Daughter of the Empire. Mara’s inscrutability, her ability to scheme in silence, to factor in other people’s virtues and vices into how events pan out, in the end, to take everything and everybody in one sweep and entirely by surprise - that was simply glorious and I enjoyed every page of this as it allowed me the double-guessing game.
In this book we have two separate intrigues, so to speak. The first one is explained in detail by the plotting enemy so when things are put in motion, the reader can safely take a nap because the next couple of
What is described in detail is the senseless and chaotic violence of the imperial palace nights that not only reminded me the Hobbesian war of “all against all” but also proved all the intrigues obsolete in the face of naked force; playground games for bored, rich kids destroyed by brute power. This was the main reason why the intrigues created by the Authors failed to arouse any emotions in me. Descriptions of fights and landscapes, fantastic characters, delicate relationships between the families and the Council's Game itself, did not contribute too much to the main story.
Here I need to put my two-pence against the antagonists too. All the scions of Minawanabi family make laughable enemies. The way they are portrayed, couples an inherent vicious streak and an unhealthy appetite for pain with telling, telling and more telling. To the contrary, Mara is both beautiful and smart and compassionate. She has the best set of advisers and warriors you could dream of. All her servants are as dedicated as sect members. Hint hint: Minawanabi are bad and dear reader you should shudder at the mere thought of them while your loyalty and heart should be inevitably invested in Mara - how crude a trick in a book about subtle schemes!
We are repeatedly told how dangerous, smart and talented the Minawanabi are - we never see a shred of it. The Minawanabi suffer one defeat after another and are beaten by Mara or a twist of fate every single time. The near disaster moment at the end of the book just happens not because Mara does or does not do something and clearly not because the Minawanabi family has an upper hand. The convergence of various factors leads to a concatenation which plays out, without Mara’s merit.
The barbarian slave is more important here as his views have a growing influence on the Lady’s decisions. It is under this influence that Mara changes her approach to tradition and honour, which are the most important values in Tsuranuanni society. As the Empire is at a turning point and it is a perfect time for change… change happens. And while it was nice to see how cultures are bared naked against each other (both figuratively and literally) and how things that were taken for granted need to be reexamined or else lose all rationale, it also meant that long (long!) buildups mount to nothing much (view spoiler)[the compromised spy network! or the enemies that become allies because (hide spoiler)] and in the end reading most of the book feels simply pointless.
And that’s an awful feeling to be left with after over 800 pages (and with another 800 more to come).
Also in the series:
1. Daughter of the Empire ★★★★☆
3. Mistress of the Empire
Rating Based On Books Servant of the Empire (Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2)
Ratings: 4.3 From 25314 Users | 384 ReviewsJudge Based On Books Servant of the Empire (Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy #2)
4.5 Stars.Mara is a fantastic heroine and probably one of my favourite female fantasy protagonists. The second book in the series has none of the lull so many sequels suffer from and instead packs plot for at least two books into one.What I enjoyed most, for once (and it did come as a surprise) was the romantic element. I really loved Kevin as a character and found his relationship with Mara to be one of the best aspects of this book.Every characters gets to grow and is developed further. TheSYNOPSIS: In "Daughter of the Empire" the first book of the series, Mara of the Acoma defeated her most immediate and dangerous enemy and saved her family name from obliteration. However, the defeat of Jingu of the Minwanabi doesn't end Mara's problems. Jingu's son Desio and his nephew Tasaio have merely taken up the family cause. And Tasaio was the cunning architect of the plans that killed Mara's father and brother. A long range thinker and a proponent of the idea of a well laid plan, Tasaio
Often in trilogies, there occurs what is known as the "second book" syndrome, where the universe is no longer shiny and new as it was in the first book, but not as exciting as the climatic third book, and mostly exists as a bridge between those two, providing important set-up, but not feeling as exciting. Servant of the Empire, I am glad to say, does not have this problem. Despite having crossed the first hurdles to her rule, Mara still has many threats to deal with, for while her position may
4.5 stars
3.5 StarsServant of the Empire continued the Riftwar spinoff series started in Daughter of the Empire, and offered another fun and layered adventure set in the unique Tsurani world. Mara, now Ruling Lady of her house once more, has survived the first attack from rival houses. But there are always more threats on the horizon. This time, the threat may destroy not only her, but her entire house. Picking up where the first book left off, Servant of the Empire offered up more of the things that made
The second book of the Empire trilogy failed to hold a candle to the first one. While most of the characters remain interesting and the writing style has not changed, the plot has gone from mildly ponderous to thin, irrelevant, and suffering from way too much padding. It makes reading the second book right after the first one a disappointment, which is the reason why I've only given Servant of the Empire a rating of two stars.The largest gripe I have with this book is the introduction of Kevin.
Yes, this book had a second book slump, but not much of one. I rate it 4.5 stars it would have had 5 stars except for the fact it dragged a bit in places and the names were a bit hard to keep up with but overall a great read. Again, Mara was great. The story again brought tears to my eyes at certain parts but alas, the good guy comes on top but with sacrifice.
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