Mistress of the Empire
The world on the other side of the rift: Kelewan, a land seething with political intrigue and deadly conspiracies. Following the opulent panoply of Daughter Of The Empire and the dazzling pageantry of Servant Of The Empire comes the resounding conclusion to the Empire trilogy.
Besieged by spies and rival houses, stalked by a secret and merciless brotherhood of assassins, the brilliant Lady Mara of the Acoma faces the most deadly challenge she has ever known. The fearsome Black Robes see Mara as the ultimate threat to their ancient power. In search of allies who will join her against them, Mara must travel beyond civilization's borders and even into the hives of the alien cho-ja. As those near and dear to her fall victim to many enemies, Mara cries out for vengeance. Drawing on all of her courage and guile she prepares to fight her greatest battle of all--for her life, her home, and the Empire itself.
-Goodreads
Title: Mistress of the Empire
Series: The Empire Trilogy #3
Author: Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts
Page Count: 676
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Date Read: December 23rd, 2024
Opening
Even though I own physical copies of many Riftwar Cycle books in my home library, it say dormant for years. I finally started reading it with the Riftwar Saga in 2024 and quickly fell in love with the world and its characters. It didn't take me long to dive into the second series which was The Empire Trilogy that added Janny Wurts to the mix. There was so sophmore slump to this series as I burned through all three in just as many months. Mistress of the Empire was an excellent finale to this trilogy. I don't know if this pace will continue but I sure hope so!
Pacing
The pacing in Mistress of the Empire was smooth yet exciting. This read had me on the edge of my seat just waiting on what was going to happen next. I opted to continue with the audio narration performed by Tania Rodrigues who did a great job bring this book and series to life.
World Building
The world building is amazing. This world is massive in scope when you consider the different realms or planes. Beyond that though there is a good mix of magic and epic battles. The largest aspect would have to be the amount of subterfuge and political intrigue though and I just couldn't get enough of it. I've wondered throughout this trilogy how much input there was from both authors and which parts of the story and world are from each of them. Regardless of ownership of ideas, the world if very detailed and easy to get lost in.
Character Development
The character development was also great in this read and series overall. Mistress of the Empire did an excellent job in bringing this chapter of the overall story and this trilogy to a great ending point for now. Seeing past characters come back into the fold to help mold this nation and realm into something different with Mara at the forefront of this effort was so exciting. Mara has become of my favorite characters in recent memory. I don't know if she or other main characters from this trilogy will pop back up later on in the Riftwar Cycle, but I truly hope I haven't seen the last of these characters.
Closing
I had honestly heard great things about this series even before I started reading the Riftwar books and now I can see why since experiencing it for myself. This was my introduction into Janny Wurts and I'm sure it won't be the last of her works that I read. I don't know where to go from here with her books but I'll do some research and hopefully find some more great ones to add to my Mt. TBR.
I you haven't looked into Riftwar or The Empire Trilogy due to it not being a recently released fantasy tale, you're doing yourself a massive injustice. Give these a try! If you've already started this journey but haven't gotten through the Empire Trilogy completely yet, keep going. I truly feel it only gets better as it progresses.
Scoring
Pacing 5.0 / 5.0
Worldbuilding 5.0 / 5.0
Character Development 5.0 / 5.0
