Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Will of the Empress (Circle Reforged #1) - Tamora Pierce


The Will of the Empress (Circle Reforged, #1)

Summary

GoodreadsSandry, Daja, Briar, and Tris, are older now and back together again, in an exciting and much-awaited, stand-alone novel by everyone's favorite mage, Tamora Pierce.

For years the Empress of Namorn has pressed her young cousin, Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, to visit her vast lands within the Empire's borders. Sandry has avoided the invitation for as long as it was possible. Now Sandry has agreed to pay that overdue visit. Sandry's uncle promises guards to accompany her. But they're hardly a group of warriors! They're her old friends from Winding Circle: Daja, Tris, and Briar. Sandry hardly knows them now. They've grown up and grown apart. Sandry isn't sure they'll ever find their old connection again - or if she even wants them to.



Thoughts

This book is probably one of my favourites in the whole series so far.  I feel like it succeeded where the very first book didn't.  Both books focus on all four mages, but this book must be triple the size of the first one, and it is exactly what was needed for that many main characters to work.  The only thing I didn't like was that there were all these references to Briar's past (that we don't know about).  It made me feel like I'd forgotten something.  I actually had to look it up to make sure that I hadn't skipped a book!

It was so uncomfortable having the four of them at each other's throats most of the book, but I loved it!  It's the right sort of feeling uncomfortable, especially because I think it mirrored how the characters felt after being reunited after 2 years. 

The character development in these books have been so amazing.  I really don't think I've read another series that rivals it (well, okay, probably Harry Potter.  But other than that, I don't think I have).  They've gone through so many different experiences, it's no wonder they've all changed so much as indiviuals!  And they've grown - and not all in ways that I liked.  I hate that Briar's become a lady's man :-/...it feels weird since we were first introduced to him when he was what...12? 14?  I suppose he's the right age for it now though *sighs*  And I particularly hated the assumptions they all made about Sandry -  who I felt bore the brunt of the ire, when I feel she deserved it the least.  She was the most open to reopening a connection between the four of them, the most supportive, and the others treated her like crap AND IT MADE ME SO ANGRY!  But this isn't me complaining about them doing that - it felt very in character with how they have grown as individuals.  This is me angsting out about how I felt reading the book haha.  So this isn't even really a review.  Do I even have the right to actually review a Tamora Pierce book?  Don't answer that.

4 comments:

  1. I feel so terrible, because Tamora Pierce has been recommended to me again and again and I STILL haven't gotten around to reading her yet. This is very shallow, but whenever I see the print books, the fonts or layouts for the editions don't appeal to me, so one of these days I need to suck it up and just buy the ebooks to try. If there are great characters and the series raises these kinds of emotions in you, that's got to be a good thing.

    Thanks for the review!

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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  2. I think that having such strong reactions to the characters means that the author is doing something right, even if they are bad reactions! I haven't read this author either, but seeing your enthusiasm makes me think I should give her books a try. :)

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  3. I definitely agree! I would be here all day if i listed all the reasons
    why you should read Tamora Pierce, but I'll limit it to:

    1. She's been one of my favourite authors since I was like 10
    2.
    She is one of the most influential fantasy authors, changing the genre
    in regards to female characters, lgbt, and racial diversity...since the
    1980s

    So if you get the chance, you should definitely check out
    one of her books! I'd recommend her Song of the Lioness quartet since
    that's her very first series and the Tortall series read more YA where
    the Emelan series (this one) reads more MG (at least the first few).

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  4. I have to say that as many times as these books have been redone (and I mean ALL of them)...none of the covers have ever been appealing. I'm fond of the Tortall editions I have, but if I hadn't grown up with them they definitely wouldn't have made me want to read them haha. But just like every one else, I could not recommend her books more highly.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete

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