Worldbreaker Saga 1 (The Worldbreaker Saga) - The Mirror Empire

The Mirror Empire has everything I look for in an epic fantasy: creative and intricate world-building, interesting characters, brutal action, and excellent writing. The author doesn't just rely on expected roles and tropes, she truly creates a fresh new world from the ground up. At times, it's a dark world, but well worth visiting.
This is an under-valued achievement in epic fantasy.

A wonderfully complex epic full of morally gray characters and fascinating cultures. The world is wholly unique and the plot was never predictable. I can't wait to read the second book and find out more about the characters and universe I fell in love with here.

When I started reading this, I knew nothing about it - I had not read a book jacket or any other description. It was a little confusing for about the first 50 pages, but the book got better as it went along.

This book was one of the most innovative, imaginative and memorable books I have read in a while. The world, magic, characters and politics are all strengths. Some magic comes with horrific costs, the politics run deep and the characters are well defined. I leave this book with such vivid images of the worlds, the cultures, the characters and the conflict. It is a rare book that can leave such an impression in one of these areas, and to find a book that is so strong across them all is just amazing.

Honestly, my first impression of Mirror Empire, was “Wow, there are a lot of terms and names to keep straight”. For some reason, the more foreign something sounds the longer it takes for me to fully commit to memory. So, my pace for reading this was definitely slower, especially at first. But, that is not a bad thing. Because while there was much to keep up with and learn, it all pays off in such a richly created world.

Before I started reading this, I saw another reader quite excited about the sentient trees. And as cool as that sounds like it could be, I have to admit to also having some fears, picturing of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes ensnarled into a fantasy world. It’s a concept that could go amazingly well, or could go horribly wrong. Like many things in writing and fictional worlds, it all comes down to execution. And Hurley has proven she has some serious skill with execution. Mother nature is given a cruel and dangerous twist in this world, there are plants that can melt away your skin, pitcher plants that can devour people. And if you think you are safe because you don’t see any near by at the moment? Think again. Trees can walk, they can come to your supposed safe place and destroy you. Yeah, you’re not safe. These are not plants from some B-movie, these are the plants of your nightmares.

There has been a lot of buzz over Hurley’s gender reversals in this. Women definitely have the power in this, they are dominant and the males are in more submissive positions. With the power, also comes some prejudices by women for their male counterparts. And I love this about the book. But personally, I think if you reversed the genders in this, you would still have a fantastic fantasy world and story. I applaud the reversal, I am so glad it is there and I am even more thrilled that it pleases readers, that they think about and see the value in it. But I want take a moment to emphasize that that is not the only thing that gives this story strength. The world, the magic, everything is strong. And on top of just gender reversal, Hurley also added in additional genders and classifications of people. For example, in one society, there’s 5 genders: female assertive, female passive, male assertive, male passive and engendered. This adds a layer of complexity not just for the reader to keep straight, but also people from other societies to keep straight as well. It is considered quite rude to get it wrong (as one would expect).

There is so much to love in this book. It shows issues of slavery and war. The world has a deep history and the ability to be cruel. Oh, and the mirror worlds. Worlds that are the result of the butterfly effect, essentially. Little differences here and there resulting in a different history and a different world. It’s just fascinating. I enjoyed this book so much, and am really looking forward to reading the next. Highly recommend it.

I found this unenjoyable. Strangely over complicated and bouncing around among different points of view way too often. Every time you'd start to get the hang of it something weird happens that changes everything. I'm sure someone would like this book but it's not me. I've read and enjoyed plenty of "complicated" fantasy books so I don't think that's the issue. I just didn't care for the style of writing. I barely finished the first and will not be reading any more of them.

This review was originally posted on Avid Reviews: www.avidfantasyreviews.wordpress.com

Every once in a while a novel comes along that is so innovative it has the potential to redefine and an entire genre. Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley is such a novel; an epic fantasy that is truly unique and remarkable. Hurley’s first novel God’s War won several awards for best debut novel in 2011, and was nominated for an Arthur C. Clark award, a Nebula award, and a Locus award. Hurley is not a newcomer when it comes to writing amazing novels that make the speculative fiction community take notice, but Mirror Empire is even more ambitious and groundbreaking than any of her previous work. In fact, her writing style alone is so distinctive that it alone will most likely cause this novel to be polarizing among its readers, much like the Malazan novels by Steven Erickson. There will be many readers who absolutely fall in love with Mirror Empire, but I also anticipate that many readers will find Hurley’s writing style too hectic, be weighed down by the number of POV characters and the scope of her world building, or find her reversal of gender roles and exotic setting too strange. It is definitely not a novel that everyone will be able to engage with, but those that do are in for a spectacular treat.

The story begins with Lilia, a young girl whose home is attacked by invaders. Lilia’s mother is a blood witch, and to save her daughter she opens a portal to another world and shoves Lilia through it, only to orphan her in a place that is both alien and eerily like her own. Lilia’s memories of that night are incomplete, and she is unaware that she has been thrust from a world on the brink of destruction. It is not until her old world starts to seep into her new one, and brings the threat of annihilation with it, that she starts to uncover her bloody past and the rising of a dark star that will bring power to a few, mayhem to all, and a war between two worlds.

Though this novel is everything that I could wish for and more in an epic fantasy, I have to warn potential readers that the disparate plot lines and chaotically fast paced writing style will confuse the hell out of you for some time before the beauty of the story starts to unfold. It is similar to Erickson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen in that way, but luckily the complete foreignness and alien wonder of Hurley’s world building made me want to stick with the story from the very first chapter, no matter how baffling the plot was at times.

I also found the intellectual ambitions of the novel kept me occupied during the places in the plot where the sequence of events became too dislocated. I was especially impressed with Hurley’s reversal of gender roles, where women are the warriors and heads of households, and the men have to deal with issues like rape and virtual ownership by their wives. I loved that Hurley made gender dominance just as horrifying from the opposite perspective, while at the same time showed the reader that both men and women are capable of both good and evil, and that to be human is to be subject to one’s society and the fight for survival at any cost.

Mirror Empire is very dark in tone, and the violence and detailed depictions of the horrors of war are the common thread in the novel’s otherwise disparate plot lines. Hurley’s writing rivals the darkness of authors like Mark Lawrence and Joe Abercrombie, and she manages to multiply their gritty brutality to a worldwide scale. In Mirror Empire there are no characters that are untouched by war, and therefore none that can escape both causing and living through atrocities.

It is amazing how Hurley can take ideas that are so universal for the basis of her plot and setting, and from them create a world that is so utterly foreign to the reader. The idea of mirror realities or dimensions is far from original within the fantasy genre, and basic human qualities like moral ambiguousness are the foundation for many of the story’s themes. Despite this, more imagination and ingenuity was put into the novel’s world building than any other book I have read. From structures and weapons made/grown from organic materials, to walking bloodthirsty trees, dogs and unrecognizable bears substituted for horses, and a magic system that is derived from the planet’s moons, you are unlikely to come across a fantasy set in a world so aesthetically different from our own. The cultures of this world are vastly dissimilar as well, with the reversed gender roles, and one of the prominent societies being unabashed cannibals. But the basic human tendencies are still present, and Hurley’s ability to highlight human nature by putting it in the middle of a completely alien setting is both clever and fascinating.

Obviously, I would not recommend this novel to anyone looking for a light and fun read. Mirror Empire is an epic undertaking that will sweep you away even before you read enough to make sense of the plot and multiple POV characters. It is a very dark book, and an extremely imaginative one, and it is only the very beginning of a series that promises to be vast and wonderfully weird. If you are looking to kick back with some easy entertainment, I advise you to look elsewhere. I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a challenging read in a dark but epic setting.

My rating: 8.5/10

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley is an incredibly ambitious and wonderful epic fantasy that throws out every rulebook trope of the genre to create a truly magical experience. The Mirror Empire combines awesome magic dependent on which star is most present in the sky with parallel worlds battling for their very survival as an apocalypse approaches that occurs every 2000 years. Forget fantasy based on Medieval Europe with kings and knights, bring in a number of matriarchal societies, plus societies with completely different gender norms (5 genders) and marriage arrangements (understandable with 5 genders), and did I mention the swords that grow out of warriors’ wrists?? This description only barely scratches the surface of all the cool things that The Mirror Empire brings together, but if you love world-building and want a truly unique fantasy read, just trust me on this one ;-).
Note: I received an advanced copy of The Mirror Empire from the publisher. I have been informed that a fair amount has changed and been added in the final version.
This book has adult content.

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley (Worldbreaker Saga #1)
Published by Angry Robot on August 26th, 2014
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Length: 544 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past... while a world goes to war with itself.

In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. At the heart of this war lie the pacifistic Dhai people, once enslaved by the Saiduan and now courted by their former masters to provide aid against the encroaching enemy.

Stretching from desolate tundra to steamy, semi-tropical climes seething with sentient plant life, this is an epic tale of blood mages and mercenaries, emperors and priestly assassins who must unite to save a world on the brink of ruin.

As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war; a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family to save his skin; and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father's people or loyalty to her alien Empress.

Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself.

In the end, one world will rise - and many will perish.

Strengths:
-You all know that I read A LOT of fantasy, so hopefully I can convey to you how awesome it was for me to read The Mirror Empire because it is the most unique fantasy I have ever read. EVER.
-The world-building of The Mirror Empire is really where the book shines. Or should I say worldS-building? I could make a post that was simply a list of all the cool little details that Hurley included to make the worlds in The Mirror Empire standout, but I don’t want to take away too much of the joy of discovery from you. Let’s see, I don’t think I’ve mentioned the dual suns or the riding bears and dogs yet have I? Oh and then there are the semi-sentient carnivorous plant life :D. There are herds of walking-trees! Ruuuuuuuunnnnnnnnn!
-The Mirror Empire is pretty dark at times (all the time?) and that grittiness added a strong sense of realism to this otherwise completely alien world. Things like loss and grief, anger and jealousy, and bad things happening to people just trying to survive are constants in life and make it easy to believe all the wonders of the world along side the suffering of the characters in The Mirror Empire.
-There are a lot of points of view in The Mirror Empire and just as many sides to this multi-world conflict. I looooved the amount of grey in the characters’ choices and morality. There was so much grey that I don’t know what black and white would even look like in this world. Everyone is the hero of their own story and The Mirror Empire beautifully demonstrates how even noble intentions can have horrible consequences.
-I’ve already alluded to the awesomeness of a society with five genders. There is another society with three genders. I love that on top of those two cool twists on typical fantasy cultural norms, most of the societies in The Mirror Empire simply expect people to decide which gender pronouns they want to use and everyone is okay adjusting pronouns as a person indicates which they prefer. The gender roles are also turned all about in The Mirror Empire, with a number of matriarchal societies, including one where women are expected to be the more aggressive and dominant gender and husbands are treated as wives often are in historical fantasy.
-The Mirror Empire should show up in any discussion about diversity in speculative fiction from here on out. It is probably a given after the previous point that there is a lot of diversity in gender identification and sexuality in the worlds of The Mirror Empire, but I also loved seeing a main character who is fairly severely disabled after acid burns away half of her right foot. I felt that just the right amount of emphasis was placed on Lilia’s physical limits because she was still able to walk and ride, so she still gets to go adventuring, but if she walks for too long or tries to go too fast, her foot and leg hurt like the dickens and add another layer of strength to her character.
-There is obviously a lot going on in The Mirror Empire, but rest assured that the intricate plotting interweaves fairly elegantly and lots of connections slowly coalesce as the book wraps up. I kind of want to make a flow chart of who knows who and how all the characters are interconnected because it would be both awesome and not centered on one single character. While Lilia is probably the main character, she shares lots of page time with the various other characters and everyone’s stories end up being important to cover what all is happening in the world.
-All right, I saved the best for last: magic! There are three satellites that I’m pretty sure are asteroids on 12-ish year cycles. As different ones get closer to the planet, the people with an affinity for that satellites magic get stronger and then as the satellites descends, they lose their power. This means that a magic user’s life will involve finding out that they have magic early on, training for their childhood, and then possibly having 12-year intervals where they can’t do much magic. Oh, also the magic powers roughly split into earth/plant type magic (used to make buildings out of trees!), air magic (which can also be used in battle to move quickly, etc) and healing magic. I might be missing some of the intricacies too though since each jista (magic user) has different strengths based on the theme. Also there is a dark star that only shows up every 2000-ish years >.> :D.

Weaknesses:
-The Mirror Empire is perhaps understandably really freaking intense. I was at first hoping to rush through the whole book in a day, and then realized that pacing myself at about 100 pages a day was much better for my mental health. This would be a great book for a read-a-long though >.>. But yes, The Mirror Empire is not at all a light and fun beach read ;-).
-While I like dark books, The Mirror Empire does get pretty darn depressing at times. A side effect to everything being grey and there not being easy answers is that I really didn’t have anyone to cheer for. I knew that anything good for one character would be bad for another and my emotions are STILL all wonked out!
-Yes, The Mirror Empire is incredibly confusing at first. I knew going in that I wouldn’t understand everything right away, so I was mostly okay with it and just floated along. However, if you are a reader who has to completely understand every detail of a world as it is explored by the characters, you’re going to have problems. May I suggest reading it multiple times in that case? ;-)
-Generally if a first book has a lot of points of view, I expect them to all come together by the end of the book. The Mirror Empire does have good reason for all the points of view, but there wasn’t much resolution by the end of book one. I’m kind of wishing that I had waited until the second book was out because there is really no way I’m going to remember everything by the time it comes out! (Though this review is actually fairly detailed so maybe that will help me :D).

Summary:
This might be the longest review I’ve ever written and The Mirror Empire deserves every word of it. I’m sure the second I look back I’ll realize I forgot some cool detail (bone trees!) because that is just the kind of book that The Mirror Empire is: it is incredibly packed with details different from what we’re used to in this genre. If you are like me and absolutely love discovering new and unique fantasy worlds, you will love this book. If giant tomes full of dense plots with very little romance scare you, you might be happier reading something else. In either case, be prepared with something light and fluffy to help you brain process ;-).

The epic fantasy market is bursting the shelves these days. So many titles appearing in fact, micro-genres have splintered off as writers are forced to greater lengths in achieving originality. Thinking to add her own imaginative world to the fray, in 2014 Kameron Hurley penned The Mirror Empire (Angry Robot books), first in the Worldbreaker series. Combining the magic and visuals of mmo gaming with an epic fantasy mindset atypical for its superficial treatment of gender but quite familiar for the quests, grasps at power, and kingdom sweeping wars beneath, fans have a new title to chew over in deciding whether the genre has reached its saturation point, or if there is is room for one more on the shelves.

Set on a sprawling, diverse world, The Mirror Empire capitalizes on `epic'. Multiple cultures located in multiple lands using multiple types of magic in multiple battles and feuds that extend beyond good vs. evil, Hurley throws the contemporary conception of epic fantasy upon the reader. In one region resides a society grouped in clans that bears a strong resemblance to those of samurai/ninja stories, right down to the Japanese names. Trained assassins wielding various steel and biological weapons, magic assisting those whose star is in the ascendant, and sedition and subterfuge continually in the shadows, the clans' future is about to change as the ruling empress lies on her deathbed, her unprepared brother waiting in the wings. In a land far to the north, a matriarchal society exists, and one of its leading generals, Zezili, has just received a strange command from her queen. Unquestioningly devout, Zezili follows the orders perfectly and sets about slaughtering her kingdom's working class. But when she sees the dead's blood used for arcane magic, a whole new world reveals itself--literally and figuratively. And lastly, when a young girl named Lilia and her mother are attacked by marauders, the mother is forced to send her daughter through a portal into an alternate world to save her. Arriving at a temple, Lilia grows up amongst other youths her age, but remains determined to find her mother. When chaos arises around her, a chance opportunity appears, and she is taken on a journey with a mysterious dark assassin who wields magic beyond the wax and wane of stars. Lilia's own powers slowly unleashed, her mother draws closer one tumultuous step at a time.

Myriad sub-stories spun off from those above, The Mirror Empire is plot spaghetti. One almost needs to take notes to track all of the names, places, titles, factions, and groups. But only `almost'. When looking at the larger picture, The Mirror Empire is standard epic fantasy, and for as confusing as a planet's worth of nomenclature can be, the paths of genre are so familiar one can walk them with eyes closed. There is a girl with undiscovered powers, hidden books of secret lore, assassins lurking, quests, neologisms, kingdom feuding with kingdom, alternate worlds, symbol puzzles to be solved, beasts of the fantastic, colorful magic systems with spells and wards, and yes, plans for genocide. Almost everything the fans of the genre love is implanted in the novel, right down to its classic zingers. "I'll find out who killed her, Nasaka, if I have to burn this whole temple down around me." is one, and another is: "He could take her life, but she would always have his heart", as well as this doozy:

Ahkio closed the book. "What if I told you I'd heard someone say that Kirana killed herself? Why would a person do something like that?"
Ghrasia touched his hands. "To save someone they love."

While there will be many who cite the color and vividity of the magic system as the best part of The Mirror Empire (indeed it is appealing), the manner in which Hurley interleaves the storylines remains its greatest success. Nothing routine (first character A, then B, then C), the narrative moves between the various viewpoints according to need. It is this `need' which Hurley has a firm grasp of. I imagined the story arcs like buckets with holes in them that Hurley ran amongst to keep filled with water, return trips dependent on the size of the hole. No bucket allowed to go empty, the overall pace of the novel is never allowed to slow, while the ebb and flow of individual stories move to complementary rhythms. For a novel with such a large number of sub-stories, this is a real achievement.

But for as nicely balanced as pace and plotting are, there remains a noticeable gap in background detail. I'm not referring to the fictional history of the people or lands: this receives perfunctory treatment such that the reader learns enough to understand the motivations and movements of characters. What I'm referring to are the subtleties of setting and character.

One of the things that makes George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series as immersive as it is, is its sense of person and place. When a scene needs this detail, when it doesn't, what should be added here to offer verisimilitude, where a tangible element the reader can relate is added, a tiny reminder to jog the reader's memory about an important plot point, etc.--all are taken care of "in the background" by Martin. As a result the reader slowly builds an image of the world in their mind for easy reference when off-screen names or lands are mentioned. This sense of person and place--the reader's mental reference book of the novel--is not fully constructed in The Mirror Empire. Easy to overlook due to the brisk plotting, rarely does Hurley stop to describe a place beyond a few details, take a quick break to look at the broader scope, rehash where things stand, or, most importantly, crack open a character beyond the second dimension. More like outlines than finished pieces (the cover art in this case is representative), the significant elements of The Mirror Empire are loosely not fully singularized, which leads to problems identifying with character and place while reading.

And the evidence is in the page count. Where Martin needed roughly 700 pages to introduce the reader to the players, gameboard, and gameplay of A Game of Thrones, Hurley uses 400--despite the fact she has just as many characters, kingdoms, and interrelationships at stake (really). I'm not one to yammer for longer epic fantasy these days, but Hurley's book is one that, while effectively relating gameplay, could have done with more in-depth treatment of its players and gameboard such that the size of the vision could be better realized in the mind's eye. As it stands, it's likely the reader will often have thoughts such as "Kairana? Which one was that, again? The one feuding with Nagana, or the assassin protecting the Patron?" Few clues ladled the reader's way after initial introductions, a lot of time is spent keeping the characters and settings in place mentally, rather than relaxing and enjoying what is a truly sprawling, epic story. (For the record, I'm not saying Hurley should imitate Martin, but if one looks at all of the `great' epic fantasies of such scope, they will find said background details in place.)

If not for being grandiose epic fantasy, then The Mirror Empire will garner some attention for its play with gender. Like with Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, however, I'm not sure the treatment is beyond skin deep. One of the cultures in the novel has four personal pronouns for `he' and `she' that identify passiveness and aggressiveness in a personality. But, 1) the pronouns are never shown to the reader (i.e. as neologisms), 2) are mentioned only a few times, and 3) have only the effect to give the reader the brief impression the culture under discussion is more formal and complex. Given a large part of the book is about power struggles, the potential is wasted. There are likewise neuter characters called ataisis. But again, just window decoration. There is little discussion of how they interact with people or examination of the resulting relationship complexity which would draw out the potential meaning of having a neuter gender in society. And thirdly, there is a character which morphs back and forth between male and female. But besides a snide comment about how troublesome urinary tract infections are, little else is done with the idea. By comparison, Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness utilizes a neuter humanoid species to rigorously examine what gender means to the individual and society. It is the premise of her novel, rather than a tertiary feature. Given this counter-point, the alternate gender aspects of The Mirror Empire feel more like candy tossed to the politically correct crowd than a hearty meal that could serve real discussion on the underlying meaning of gender and gendered language. (And yes, fantasy does have a strong circle of academics eagerly looking for substantive material.)

I described Hurley's debut novel God's War as a work of extreme third wave feminism. An effusion of blood and gore initiated by a hero intentionally female rather than male, the novel possessed a dearth of anger, but not in a way that progressed cultural ideals. (Given the radical quantity of pointless violence in the bleakest of dystopias, it was perhaps even a regression.) The Mirror Empire likewise seeks to play such games; several commonly held gender roles in genre are inverted. Case in point: Zezili, a strong female warrior, and her husband, a popinjay she controls to the point of slavery. Their relationship is identified per the following:

"His first night with Zezili, she made him strip in her bedroom in her country house. She cuffed him across the mouth, drawing blood. She told him to kneel. He was so startled, he did not even cry out.
She took his chin in her hand and said, "You're mine. All of you. Every bit of you. You'll service my sisters, because it's proscribed. But never forget you're mine."

By reversing the stereotypical husband/wife relationship as such, Hurley passionately hammers a female peg into a male hole. But one wonders: should there have been such a hole to begin with? In other words, just because a man plays greedy, egocentric power games in genre does it make it acceptable for a woman to do so, also? Is the scene above an enlightened depiction of a male/female relationship? Does it progress mutual respect, gender relations, or a balanced feminist agenda? Or is it just a kid sticking his middle finger up at a passing car, knowing he won't get in trouble for it?

The inversion of gender roles accomplishes little if super-dominance and ill-treatment are still the result. Not until the underlying terms of power in the relationship are dealt with in comprehensive fashion can any real commentary be made. Thus, the bottom line of The Mirror Empire is that it doesn't require a great deal of imagination to create a character or society on paper for which gender is perceived differently or is functionally different than the real world. What requires real imagination is to flesh that alternate reality out, to explore its implications for the deeper meaning, and then make them apparent in individually and socially relevant terms. Significantly bound up in plotting, magic, power games, violence, and the more commercial side of genre, Hurley's novel does not accomplish this in any meaningful fashion. (It's possible I'm speaking too soon, and Hurley may develop Zezili's relationship with her husband in the coming books, but for the moment, this is how it appears.)

Thus, is The Mirror Empire a standout on the epic fantasy market today? The conclusion: depends how you view the novel. If one looks at its entertainment qualities, the answer is yes. Dressed in the vibrant colors of grimdark samurai, it features an extreme variety of characters and settings, and will satisfy the reader looking for a complex world with action. The quests, revenge, blood feuds, sword fights, magic, genocide, etc. is what the genre is stereotyped for. At a minimum it will be comfort food, and at maximum `an original take on epic fantasy'. But if one looks deeper than the skin, they find little that stands out. For as well as Hurley handles pace and scene transitions, a better job could have been done singularizing the characters and settings such that when names appear, one does not have to rifle unconfidently through weak impressions to find at the desired person or place. More importantly, the gender treatment takes only the first step. It is a paper exercise. The second step (examination or discussion of gender in a cultural or societal context with meaningful purpose) doesn't happen. For its continuation of the "strong will always overpower the weak" mentality and sustained depiction of blood and gore, The Mirror Empire, like God's War, most closely resembles Richard Morgan's writing. Where Morgan made the switch from cyberpunk/noir to epic fantasy, from the Takeshi Kovacs novels to Land Fit for Heroes, so too has Hurley, and will therefore be of interest to those who enjoy his novels.

I think Kameron Hurley has invented a new sub-genre: Epic Noir Fantasy. Surely others have written dark fantasy, but I think she is its no-holds-barred queen. She creates an incredibly lavish, but disturbing world to weave a dense, dark story filled complex characters, cultures, politics and manners. She has a mother's sacrificial love juxtaposed to a cannibalistic ceremony for transitioning leaders; much of her landscape, like much of her story, has incredibly saturated and verdant life which is equally dangerous and poisonous. Politics and relations are slippery with multiple wives or husbands making family ties complicated. Some cultures are matriarchal where men are mere play things while others would not allow a women to rule. I'm not sure I've read anything quite like it. Gifted people have abilities which wax and wane with the ascendancy of their related stars is (there are four), but Oma is the most powerful and dark star. This is a seriously brilliant, complicated work that takes effort to read; the effort is worth it.

For full review: wp.me/p2XCwQ-U6

Amazing stuff! You will never find anything like The Mirror Empire in all the epic-fantasy genre. A deep and fascinating discussion about gender is a sign of a genre's maturity, and what great conversations are triggered by this novel!

Original world and concepts, but the story line is unbearably slow, and the characters are marginally interesting at best.
Got half-way through, put it down, and didn't have the desire or care to see how it ends.

Interesting characters, fascinating world building, great interwoven plot/subplots and the cover art looks great (sue me, sometimes you can actually judge a book by its cover). Read if you dare, but watch out, there's not a sequel yet.

The author thinks shock value can hold a novel afloat, it cannot. I love strong female characters, and I think a women lead society is an idea to explore more in the fantasy world, but this book becomes what it hates, and not in a funny ironic way. It turns women into the violent men-hating/raping husks of characters.

I would not recommend this book to anyone.