Reviews for The Will of the Empress (The Circle Reforged Series #1)

The average rating for The Will of the Empress (The Circle Reforged Series #1) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-15 00:00:00 Ryan Crocker For the past several years, I've been sloooowly making my way through all of Tamora Pierce's books, first with all the Tortall books, and then with Emelan. I've liked all the Emelan books, but have always preferred the Tortall books. This is the first Emelan book that has made that opinion waver a little. Maybe it's just because this is the first time Pierce's self-imposed structural limitations on this series have been lifted. The first four books were for children, about children (ten and eleven year olds) and while they were great, I was at a bit of an emotional remove from them. The second four books split all of our characters up and had them go on separate adventures, which was fun, but also *not* fun, if you know what I mean. In The Will of the Empress, our four ambient mages and foster-siblings Briar, Sandry, Daja and Tris are reunited for the first time in four years as eighteen-year olds. They have been acting the part of adults for years, since they got their mage medallions at the age of fourteen, but now they are finally coming into the bodies and minds of adults to match their already existing adult responsibilities. It's not all flowers and roses when they reunite, either. They've grown apart in the four years since they left Winding Circle, and while they still love each other, they are all full of complicated conflicting emotions that they have to work through in order to renew their emotional and magical ties to one another. When they last left each other, they could speak through their magical bond telepathically and share powers. Now, none of them but Sandry wish to re-open that connection, afraid of what the others will see, or resentful, if they do. And all of this is happening at the same time as a personal crisis for Sandry. Her cousin, the empress of Namorn, has finally gotten her wish for Sandry to return to her home country after years as an ex-patriot in Emelan. Sandry doesn't wish to return because she knows the empress is smart and cunning, and always gets what she wants, and what she wants is for Sandry and her income to remain in her home country. So Sandry heads home, and brings her three mage-siblings in tow. They end up having to navigate the politics of the court, at the same time as Sandry realizes about her home and lands and responsibilities that she has been ignoring for years. It was all just really well done. The emotional conflict between the siblings was believable, and the empress struck exactly the right balance between being a competent and fearsome ruler, and a person who has genuinely come to believe that it's okay to wield controlling power over everyone, because it's in their best interests. There's also a central conflict that involves gender roles and power struggles that I won't spoil, but it's key to the whole thing. I really enjoyed this book, and I can't believe I only have two more Tamora Pierce books left (plus a Tortall short story collection). I've heard the next two aren't great, but then again, I heard that about this one, too, and it just turned out that people wanted puppies and rainbows instead of real human emotional conflict. But she's got a new book coming out next year as well, so all is not lost, even if the naysayers turn out to be right.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-10-24 00:00:00 Paul Truman As a young girl growing up, I devoured anything with swords, knights, magic, medieval themes. I even owned my own wooden sword, my name engraved in the hilt, and eagerly persuaded the sons of family friends to teach me to sword fight. For a time, my reading centred around The Hobbit, Narnia, nonfiction about castles - and Tamora Pierce. Her writing was a lifeline in an inundation of male-centric fantasy. Her characters had a knack for inclusiveness and diversity before it was even considered a conversation worth having (how embarrassing for the genre - how embarrassing for the world!). So no, maybe all her works aren't perfect. Maybe there's further to push, maybe she sometimes gets it wrong, maybe the stories aren't all as vibrant or fluid as they could be (most are, though). But they taught me, or at least cemented my beliefs: Women can do anything, can be knights and slay monsters. Men can do anything, can be gentle and quiet and create life. Any person of any gender should not have to prescribe to stereotype. Never take no as an answer - unless it hurts someone. Consent is everything. Love can be between anybody, of any gender, any race, and that is beautiful. This is all relevant to this book, I promise. The Will of the Empress picks up the disparate threads of Tamora's Circle quartets, bringing the four main characters back together in a space filled with tension and conflicts, both within and without. And I thought it was done beautifully. The story is a little slow, with a wild-rush finale, but I loved it for this. The slowness of pace allows the tension to build, allows bonds to be broken and remade, before the climax forces these bonds to be tested to their limit. Daja was always my favourite of the Circle, without question, and is even more firmly so after reading this. To have read so many negative reviews of this book that are purely because Daja has a relationship with a women - are you fucking serious?! There are even comments such as "how could you ruin my favourite character in this way". Firstly, why the shock that Tamora has written a gay couple? As if she hasn't before - and explicitly within this series too - as if Rosethorn and Lark never existed. And secondly, someone please explain to me exactly why this is so wrong, without mis-quoting out of context a self-contradicting book written forever ago. I won't even pretend that there is a valid argument to have, but explain away. Go on. Daja is fantastic, has always been fantastic, her metal-working is kickass (and as an artist I am forever envious) and I seriously hope that the final book of this trilogy comes out soon as we have waited long enough. I want her happy ending!