Servant of the Empire: Riftwar Cycle: The Empire Trilogy, Book 2

Mara is strong, willful and decisively feminine. Her grace and strength are the foundation of the upheaval of a civilization.

Continuing where  Daughter of the Empire  left off, SERVANT OF THE EMPIRE follows Mara, Ruling Lady of the Acoma, as she attempts to navigate ruthless Tsuranuanni politics. In this book, Mara overcomes the grief and emotional torment she endured during her marriage to Bunto of the Anasati clan, and begins thinking of the future. All the time, she struggles to foil plots by her family's ancient enemy to obliterate her house. She also becomes enamored with a most-unlikely lover, in the form of Kevin of Zun, a captured Midkemian noble brought to her estates as a slave (more on this later). This is a long book, nearly 700 pages of emotional turmoil, an epic story with ups and downs and continual action. If you liked DAUGHTER OF THE EMPIRE, you'll like this one too, as it follows the same major themes of Mara the Underdog outsmarting arrogant and honor-bound lords. There are no real surprises here, as every conflict and climax center around Mara either surviving or not, and since the series is solely focused on her, you're fairly certain she won't be destroyed in book 2 of 3.The weak points of this book center around Kevin of Zun. He plays a major role in this story, and at times shows great promise, but mostly he's a disappointment. Your typical fantasy protagonist, he's witty, wry, stubborn, and incredible in a fight, but he also displays some annoying characteristics. He shows almost no loyalty to the men he became a slave with, he is overly emotional about how Mara treats him, and he is ridiculously disrespectful of Tsuarani tradition (in a place where most people would be summarily executed for a breach in protocol). The worst thing Kevin brings to the table though, is the way he changes Mara. She goes from being a level-headed, genius political tactician, thinking everything through to the Nth degree, to a love-struck and sometimes reckless young woman. I know the authors were trying to show how true love affected Mara, but they diminished her by casting her in this role here.This book, much like the first, tells a self-contained story-arc from beginning to end. No cliff hangers here, as the story seems nicely wrapped up by the end of the book. The third installment will have to introduce a new conflict, and I'm looking forward to reading it. Recommended!

I was so fascinated by all the details as I read this book. Just now stepping foot into the Riftwar world I’m enchanted.

The media could not be loaded.  Okay, so I'm very picky about the quality of my books before I get hardcover books I always get books in paperback to read first to see if I want to permanently add them to my library. I have the first book of this series and I love the quality of the pages that the text is written on, they're not too thick like a hardcover book but you can't see straight through the page onto the next. I like the quality of those pages. In this book and the last installment, the quality of the pages is different. They are much more flimsy and you can see straight onto the next page. I dislike this small detail a lot! I liked the quality of the pages on the first book a a lot better and I am a little upset that the same quality is not passed on to the next in the series.

This was one of my favorite books to read. I was worried about the narrator at first. But she has grown on me. She just doesn't seem to really do convincing male voices. I would like to have heard better "different" voices from her with each character, although the voice for Mara is just right. I think I am just spoiled on listening to R C Bray. Overall it is worth a five star and I would definitely recommend this to others.

This well written sequel continues the story of Mara of the Acona as she grows into a clever ruler willing to consider a new philosophy. Her slave and lover, Kevin shows her a kind of loyalty and honor contrary to her cultural traditions.The book, like the one that preceded it, is a good escape, as fantasy should provide.

I love all of the books I've read in the Midkemian/Kelewan universe from Feist so far. After finishing the four Magician books, I happened across Daughter of the Empire. Once I finished Daughter I immediately bought Servant of the empire.If you like Feist's writing style then you will also love this book and the entire Empire Trilogy. The Empire Trilogy gives an incredible account of the Kelewan world, as well as a different look at the war from the Magician series.In particular, Servant of the Empire provides a great continuation of the foundation set out for Mara and the Acoma in DotE. All of the plotting you would expect from the Game of Council, as well as an intriguing love interest and developments with the Cho'Ja.I will be keeping the entire series in my bookshelf so my future kids can read them as teenagers.

A good way to end the series, only just wish that kevin had stayed and it would have benefited Mara

If you've read Raymond E. Feist before, you won't be disappointed, wonderful story.

The Empire books show us the other side of the Rift Wars. The world of Kelewan is very different from Midkemia and it's good to see why they invaded and why the peace was broken. If you haven't read Magician, you should.

A perfect sequal. Had me gripped and on edge the whole way through. I loved the twist at the end. Straight on to book 3

I was delighted with this book, having read the whole series I hadnt read this, I was amazing and I wish there was more than just the 3. raymond e feist and janny wurts make a great team, it was really good to get a feel of how things were the other side of the rift, the story was brilliant, I am now re-reading magician and its amazing how much everything ties in. For the new reader it would be best read at least after magician, but it really is superb regardless

This series is unusual in that it has a little fantasy mixed in with what seams mainly an Asian based story. This is the first type of fantasy book I have read with such a small amount of fantasy woven into it. Most of this reads like a fiction story. But the fantasy aspect never the less is very well woven into the plot to make it all seam natural.