Tomes of Spellcasting

Welcome to the land of mystery, where the impossible is possible, and the improbable the reality. Join me as I investigate worlds filled with magic and meet the souls that wield this wondrous powers.

W A R N I N G !

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Title: Daughter of the Empire
Author: Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Format: Paperback
Copyright Date: 1987

While the war on Midkemia rages on, a new battle is brewing on the Tsurani homeworld. With the deaths of her father and brother on Midkemia, Mara of the Acoma is forced to abandon her future in the clergy to take over her family estates and sustain the family name. It will not be easy, for the forces that plotted her father's death are determined to destroy the Acoma, and with most of her family's soldiers slain with their lord, there seems to be nothing and no one to protect the clan from total annihilation. But Mara is no ordinary woman. Raised a noble and weaned on the subtle power plays and negotiations of the Great Game of Council, she will do whatever it takes to preserve the Acoma, even if it means forging an alliance with one of her family's deadliest enemies. But will the Acoma survive the alliance or be be trampled underfoot by traitors and crushed into oblivion?

Daughter of the Empire starts a new trilogy set in the world on the other side of the Rift. It describes the power struggles that lay behind the varying fortunes of the Tsurani forces on Midkemia. It also provides a glimpse into the strange world of the Tsurani, who did nothing without weighing the consequences against family honor and politics.

Now, I've read impressive books about women, and I've read books about impressive women. This book, however, is an impressive book about an impressive woman. No book I've yet read has a character--real or otherwise--that rivals the awe that Mara of the Acoma inspires. Following her through the trials and tribulations of political maneuvering and enduring the sacrifices she makes to preserve the Acoma name, I couldn't help feeling that anybody of my acquaintance, be it man or woman, would succumb to despair and curl up to die before experiencing even a fourth of all that Mara must. Perhaps the only place to find such a woman is in fiction and not in reality. Alas, that ideals are only rarely met and never exceeded!

Daughter of the Empire takes us off on a new adventure in a new land that, readers, however briefly, glimpsed during Pug's adventures on Kelewan. Now we get to see more of the world that Milamber came from, and witness the politics that drove the Tsurani on Midkemia to the brink of destruction, then pulled them back again. Intrigued? Find the book and see for yourself just what was going on!

Rating: Thumbs up! Who knew that being a lady could be so difficult...and deadly?

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This page posted October 16, 2001.

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