Servant of the Empire has been… kind of disappointing.

Servant of the Empire has been… kind of disappointing.

To start, I’m only 25% of the way through the book, so take all this with a grain of salt that perhaps my mind will be changed. BUT… this book has felt quite a bit a step down from Daughter of the Empire–which I consider a PERFECT book. And I think there are two reasons for this:

1. The length/pacing - This book is almost twice as long as the first, but really doesn’t feel like it should be. While book one was fast and tightly plotted/paced, book two meanders. The introduction of the villain POVs has become detrimental to the storytelling in my opinion. To hear about the villains planning in detail… and then hear about Mara talking about the villain’s plans in detail… and then see the plan in detail… It's too much. I think that it takes away a crucial part of what made book one good too, as we now know too much about what Mara is facing–it takes away the suspense of having to guess with her how to strategize. And the villains just aren’t that interesting. Mara’s plans themselves just don’t have the urgency of book one either, with things more of happening to her, rather than her having the agency to do them herself.

2. Kevin - In concept, this should work. To see more connections to Riftwar, see the vastly different ideologies between cultures, to delve into the institution of slavery in the empire, and to explore Mara in a non-abusive relationship… all of these things should work; but as a small part of the story. (I don’t want these things overshadowing the political drama, which they have.) Kevin has effectively taken over the story, which I really don’t like. His ideas of Midkemian culture come across as too superior for me as well, and the slavery thing is really problematic when coupled with the romance. And the romance… I’m happy that Mara can experience the joys of youth now, but it's just so bad. The dynamic of slave/mistress is not great, Kevin has turned Mara into an idiot half the time involving what she was normally great at (politics/administration), and the constant horniness has kind of gotten a little old. I think these things might work better if pushed to the background, but they have really overshadowed the great parts of what made book one phenomenal.

Anyway, I’m curious if anyone else has similar criticisms. This really is still a good/decent book, but it’s just nowhere as GREAT as Daughter of the Empire was for me. I’m also curious if the rest of the book is like this, and whether book three will fix some of my criticisms?