Mistress of the Empire - Hardcover

Janny Wurts; Raymond E. Feist

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385247192 ISBN 13: 9780385247191

Publisher: Doubleday, 1992

Synopsis

Lady Mara of the Acoma, a powerful member of the Tsurani court, faces a brotherhood of assassins, spies from rival ruling houses, and the Assembly of Magicians, who perceive her as a threat to their ancient power

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Reviews

The trilogy begun with Daughter of the Empire is here brought to a strong conclusion. Lady Mara of the Acoma clan, named Servant of the Empire by Ichindar, Emperor of the Tsuranuanni, whom she has raised from figurehead to true ruler, feels safe from her enemies for the first time in her life--until an assassination attempt aimed at her kills her young son and heir instead. Convinced her old foe, Jiro of the House Anasati, is behind the deed, she plans war. But her desires are thwarted by the reactionary Assembly of Magicians, who are, Mara begins to understand, the true power in the Empire, having kept the people docile for a millennium. In her fight to bring down her enemies and ensure peace for the Empire, Mara must employ the nonhuman cho-ja and an ancient secret. The characters' efforts to work out their destinies within the constraints of a tradition-bound culture is depicted with skill.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

``The morning sun shone.'' So begins this concluding volume of the trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, 1987; Servant of the Empire, 1990), in a style more evocative of The Hungry Caterpillar than its obvious paradigm, Shogun. Tsuranuanni, the world on the other side of Feist's previous Riftwar saga, is a pseudo-medieval-Japanese contrivance of contending warlords and aristocratic families, with dollops of magic thrown in. Lady Mara of the Acoma clan is now the most powerful woman of the Empire, hence the target of violent dissent. Her son Ayaki is killed in an assassination attempt whose real target was Mara herself. Gradually, after many distractions, the antagonists are revealed: Mara and her insectoid-alien cho-ja allies must battle the vastly powerful Assembly of Magicians. Mara eventually wins, by a trick so flimsy that it is not worth repeating here, to preserve the leadership for her other son Justin, whose Midkemian father, Kevin, also shows up. Wearisome twaddle that just lies there, quivering feebly. Addicts only. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Lady Mara of the Acoma, consummate player of the deadly game of intrigue that maintains the stability of the Tsurani Empire, pits her vision of a transformed society against an apparently unbeatable foe in this conclusion to a trilogy that includes Daughter of the Empire ( LJ 6/15/87) and Servant of the Empire ( LJ 10/15/90). Feist and Wurts have created an exotic fantasy world that is rich in texture and alive with political machinations. Fans of the series, as well as readers interested in Feist's "Riftwar" novels (set in a related universe), will enjoy this well-constructed fantasy.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385247192
• ISBN 13: 9780385247191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 613