What else is there to say about Karen Miller? When I reviewed her EMPRESS, the first novel in her GODSPEAKER trilogy, I described her work as simply awesome. Is there a better word? Could she be more awesomer? With her second novel in the trilogy, THE RIVEN KINGDOM: GODSPEAKER — BOOK TWO, she shifts her focus from the fearsome Hekat and land of Mijak, to a more human and humane world: the land of Ethrea.
The Ethrean king is dying and he has no sons. He does have a daughter who is not quite old enough to rule on her own and has become a ward of the holy church. Unfortunately, the leader of the church has no interest in allowing the girl to rule as queen, and he insists on marrying her off to one of his own simpleton relatives in order to maintain his power. The girl, Rhian, will have none of this. She feels it is her rightful duty to rule, and as such, she must thwart the church’s wishes and take the throne herself.
The more than 700 pages of the novel tell her story: how she escapes the clutches of the evil church leaders, finds the man she wishes to have as king consort, then her eventual return to the seat of power and her task of convincing the people of the land to have her as queen. She is the opposite of Hekat, a ruler who tries to rule with a fair hand, but a ruler nonetheless.
And in her retinue, we find Zandakar, Hekat’s disgraced son, who has somehow come to be taken by slavers, been rescued by a toymaker who is friends with Rhian, and … well, let’s just say all of these characters’ lives are now up in the air. Because we can bet the two empresses, Hekat and Rhian, are bound to meet in the third installment, which frankly, cannot come out soon enough for this reader’s taste.
This is truly awe-inspiring fantasy on a massive scale, written with great sensitivity and understanding of the characters’ interior lives and motivations. It’s emotional, as your heartstrings are alternately tugged and irritated; it’s realistic in its dialogue and behaviors; it’s captivating in its storyline. Easily the best fantasy series you will read all year. If you like the genre in any way, it’s a must that you give Miller a try. —Mark Rose
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• EMPRESS: GODSPEAKER — BOOK ONE by Karen Miller
Related posts:
- Empress: Godspeaker — Book One
- The Innocent Mage: Kingmaker, Kingbreaker – Book One
- Kingdom Come
- BOOK WHORE >> 10.25.05
- In the Eye of Heaven / In a Time of Treason
