Before I start this review, I would like to say that I really liked "Daughter of the Empire", and greatly enjoyed reading it. I also enjoyed reading "Servant of the Empire", although parts of it and certain characters (Kevin) bothered me.

With that said, the main reason why I greatly disliked this book is that it is, in two words, completely unnecessary. At the end of the second book, Mara has accomplished the goals she set out for at the beginning of the trilogy; she's restored her house to power and then some, and avenged the deaths of her father and brother.

Because of this, the progress made in the third book (if it can be called progress) merely seems like the authors, for whatever reason, felt that she needed to vanquish ALL her enemies, tie up all plot lines, and become as powerful as she could humanly be in Kelewan. Not to mention get back her Barbarian lover, thereby making the well-written scene where she has to give him away in the second book utterly meaningless.

Add on to this the "Empire" formula, which appears to be
1. Mara gets in a crisis.
2. Good people, and just the right people she need, show up.
3. She takes a tragic loss that inspires her to go on.
4. She wins in the end, rising up another rank.

This was evident in the first two books, but it was alright, because it was interesting to watch her make her machinations (even if they were a bit too good for her experience level)in order to get stronger and seek revenge.

In the third book, it simply causes the book to drag, mainly because her enemies are contrived (only Jiro of the Anasati remains, and he only goes from an opportunist antagonist to an outright enemy in the third book), and I have a feeling the authors knew it, which is why they had to make some ridiculous add-ins. Suddenly, instead of dealing with a dangerous, politically adept foe that, while difficult,it is possible to defeat or at least stall, she has to fight the Assembly of Magicians, along with a dangerous and mysterious Gang of Assassins (TM).

But of course, she couldn't possibly lose to the assassins, or end up falling in this book after reaching the height of power. She's Mara. So the authors resort to something I thought I wouldn't see in a series that seemed to focus heavily on Mara surviving through political machinations, good picking of servants, and her mind; an actual Deus Ex Machina.

My advice, if you are a fan of the series, is to stop after the second book.

I first read this when it was published and I still come back to it every year or two, because the story of Mara's struggle for survival never gets old. She's truly a woman in a man's world, reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth, albeit in a culture whose inspiration is obviously from the Orient. And yet, as other readers have mentioned, Mara doesn't take on mannish traits to win, she's always purely female. And she uses that, at times, ruthlessly.

The culture in which she exists is so stagnate, so utterly drowning in pointless tradition that seeing Mara figure out ways to both work with it and around it in order to *change* her people's entire way of life never ceases to be a joy. She proves herself to be a tactical genius and yet she still makes mistakes, she has prejudices to overcome, ways of thinking that she has to force herself to change, she's still so very human and you can identify with her. Her sorrows, regrets, fears, they're all very real and you can't help but feel for her, worry that maybe this one time she and her House won't survive.

Such wonderfully well-developed characters, even the minor ones, beautifully described culture and Machiavellian politics. The entire trilogy is a feast for someone looking for books heavy on the plot while still being character driven. When you've turned the last page, read the last sentence, you'll find yourself wishing that there were books more to devour, because you won't want to let go of Mara or her world.

I finished this trilogy within the space of two days and I must say... although I dislike the cliche of "This last book was the best in the entire series!", it really was. The writing was pretty good and not as political nor as bland as the second book. The second was rather a disappointment.

Aside from that, the subplots in the story were extremely entertaining. Lujan's new character depth, not to mention the Thuril and the cho'ja, were extremely well done. But I must admit that Arakasi stole the show. In the past, he has been slightly flat, although still one of my favorite characters, but in this book I found myself cheering him on and waiting eagerly to see his name or Kamlio's. In fact, if you flip randomly through my copy of the book, the page will fall open at something Arakasi. Despite everything, I'm still a female, and the character depth and uncertain romance presented made me swoon.

The major plot itself, however, was a little lacking. I was taken off-guard by all the changes to the system, and the theme of pushing from stagnation was a little overdone, at least to a person who just read her way through the Sword of Truth series and had had more than enough of that. The presentation of Mara as Mistress of the Empire and her divine protection from death was, also, I felt, rather tacky. Her rising to more and more power irritated me a little, and the fact that she was protected by Hantukama felt a little like a plot-holed-riddled deus ex machina (by all rights, then, no one would die unless it was their time.... and to the half-million people who died on the battlefield, I'm sure at least one of them wasn't their time yet). I was pleased to see Kevin's reappearance in the story, however, even though, like the divine protection, the whole acceptance of a bastard half-Midkemian child as their Emporer felt a little flimsy.

ALl in all, though, Daughter was engaging and entertaining, Servant left much to be desired, but Mistress was a good return to the brilliance of the first novel. I recommend this book.