Empress

Godspeaker, Book 1

By: Karen Miller

Narrated by: Josephine Bailey

Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

In a family torn apart by poverty and violence, Hekat is no more than an unwanted mouth to feed, worth only a few coins from a passing slave trader. But Hekat was not born to be a slave. For her, a different path has been chosen. It is a path that will take her from stinking back alleys to the house of her God, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak. This is the story of Hekat, slave to no man.

©2007 Karen Miller (P)2009 Tantor

Good but Bad

The narrator is awesome and fit the characters perfectly. Books should evoke some emotion and this book did so ... so much so, that I won't be reading the rest of the trilogy. The main character became so despised, I don't want to continue.

Disappointing

I was intrigued and eager to see where The Empress would go just after reading the first chapter. The ideas are original and the world development is well-thought out (easily the biggest reason i stuck around til the end). But there's so much that i had to wade through just to find enjoyment. The story began as something new and interesting, but quickly degraded into just another fantasy story. I'm sick and tired of stories that treat female characters like garbage. I thought Hekat had a promising start and, while i still like her character (as warped and cruel as she had become) I cannot stand her. She's the main character and the only female that contributes to the story. The rest of the female characters that appear in the story are slaves, whores, or godspeakers/warriors who have little to do with the story. It's upsetting and ended up making the entire story cheap and not worth reading. I don't regret listening to this on audio, but I could have lived without ever picking up this book.

Ugh, this was painful

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I really hate the main character hekat. She does not have a single redemeing quality tht makes me like her. She is full of hate, a user and doesn't respect a single character in the book. She is horrible.

I would show how she evolved as a person. Grows to discover the good things in men and women. To embrace all of the strengths and weaknesses of her social group and to leverage them. I am actually routing for the demons in this book because I want her to be taken out. This is just a bad character.

If you’ve listened to books by Karen Miller before, how does this one compare?

I've listen to almost all of the books Karen Miller has written and for the most part, I enjoy her work. This book was also well written with an interesting storyline and well developed characters. I just can't stand the main character. I will not be buying the next two books. That is the a very rare occurrence for me and a statement as to how bad this character is.

Which character – as performed by Josephine Bailey – was your favorite?

I like War Leader, the War Lord, Vodka, pretty much any character oer than the main character.

Did Empress inspire you to do anything?

Yes stop listening

Good story, incredible narrator, enjoyable but dark listen.

If you’re looking for a happy ending wrapped up in a Tolkienesque fantasy - run away.

If you enjoy more grit with your fantasy, then this dark, riveting, and raw fantasy is worth a read/listen. The characters are fascinating; the world creation is OK, but the overall story arch is terrific.

Don’t get attached to characters, because all the twists and turns will have you loving and hating all of them before the god smites them in his smiting eye.

Simply Riveting!

This is truly an amazing book.
The breath of life is in every character.
They will make you grin at there triumph,
cry at the misfortune that befalls them.

brutal and intriguing.

The end was surprising and yet expected. Characters were clearly defined and developed.Curipus to what comes next.

I can't help being contradictory

Unlike the previous reviewers, I think that Hekat is appropriate for the culture, which is strangely consistent with early human cultures. The land of Mijak is cruel and harsh and utterly subservient to their deity. Hekat reminds me a great deal of Joan of Arc, though her temperament is more consistent with a badger... though perhaps slightly less pleasant. I can sort of picture their own culture, centuries later, trying to puzzle out whether she was a lunatic or a zealot... or perhaps both.

Hekat is the major character among a cast of primarily static characters that manage to produce a very dynamic history. She is never (in her mind) a slave, though she is sold as a slave in the beginning of this book. Her strong will finds her defying the expectations of all who surround her as she does what she believes that 'The god' wills of her, attending to no words other than those internal words she believes that she can hear and interpret.

'The god' is a rather barbaric and yet attentive god, that seems to offer great reward and punishment both self inflicted and manifested divinely among its people. This deity awards the 'god speakers' with the power to smite the wicked, which in turn is virtually everyone. This close relationship between the god and the people seems to have a variety of affects both on the culture and the people individually, ranging from a greater level of civility to outright insanity.

This book details a grand design of 'The god' for its' people, which uses our heroin to manipulate the powers of the land to make way for a new era. Though she seems to serve the plan zealously, she seems almost autistic and sets herself apart from all others, be they friend or foe.

This story is new and original. You will not be reading events that take place in every other fantasy that you have read or heard. I can see why people seem to love it or hate it :)

The Empress of all things Blood...?

I recently found Karen Miller's books and I have enjoyed them. But about 2/3's of the way through THIS book, I became, well, BORED with the constant and unceasing use of blood. This is not violence, but it is all together too much blood. It surrounds the story as the characters bathe in it, drink it and spill it on "border stones". Suddenly, I can't read/listen anymore because I don't want to hear more about blood. I guess it speaks to the writing that I CAN picture each incident, but it became so repetitive that I just stopped the book.

I would like to know if anyone else had this reaction? Or were you able to stay on the plot line? And then, is the book worth the effort?

Thank you

Unique setting and characters

This had me debating if a person can be made insane through traumatic events in life, or are some people born that way, and then thrust in traumatic situations, to which their mental state gives them an advantage? Anyway, this book makes you feel like you are in a place like Afghanistan, pure hot desolation....then add sticky hot blood, some being consumed.....that is only the setting. The characters are vivid and deep and change over time. The writing is an exceptional display of craft, brought forth by the narrator, who reads with passion and many different voices. the beginning of this book alone set the tone for the realness that was to come. I recommend not only this book, but the entire series.

Tolkien this is not.

If you're looking for a safe, Tolkienesque fantasy world, this is not for you. If you like the clear fight between good and evil, this is not for you. If you like your characters to be perfect, with minor flaws that are easily overcome, this again isn't for you.

However, if you're bored with the all too frequent tropes of genre fantasy, enjoy a more gritty world, and are willing to feel uncomfortable, then this book is stellar. The reason I'm writing this is because I was going back through my library to see if there were any series with a new release, and noticed the 3 star review. This is wholly unfair. It's akin to hating an actor because they played such a brilliant villain, you can't help but hold a grudge.

While I was perusing my library, I often had to play excerpts to remember what the plot even was for many of the books (one as recent as only a couple month prior). Not this book. You will remember this book.

It's not safe, but it is brilliant. You will feel... something.

The performance is fantastic, and I can't think of a book that has lingered in my thoughts more than this one.