Saturday, February 17, 2018

2018 book 31

Karen Healey and Robyn Fleming's The Empress of Timbra
This is a strong entry in the fantasy with court politics/other politics genre, anchored by the sibling relationship at its core. It starts with the son of a fisherman whose beloved father dies at sea, and then he finds out the man wasn’t his biological father when his mother brings him to court, where his father is a Baron—and where he meets his younger half sister, also a bastard, the daughter of the Empress' Witch. I guessed a fair amount of the political plot, but finding out if I was right was still an interesting and intense journey, and it didn’t go entirely as I expected. I also liked the world building here a lot (there is some interesting gender stuff) and found parts of this very funny and parts very moving. It looks like this is the start of a series and I am eager to read more. A/A-.

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