Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce

Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Description: 

In Tamora Pierce's third book in The Immortals series, Daine sails to Carthak as part of a peace treaty delegation from Tortall. There she is amazed by strange and wondrous sights, including rooms filled with dinosaur bones and the Emperor Mage's zoo. But she also senses a darkness beneath all the gold and glitter, a darkness that lies in wait. While healing the Emperor's captive birds, Daine discovers a new and terrifying dimension of her wild magic: She can bring dead creatures back to life. What is she to do with such immense power? Finding out the answer nearly costs Daine her life. 

My Review:

I think this is one of the best books in the series to date, as you not only get to see more of Daine’s powers, but you get a better glimpse towards the mythology of Tortall and the surrounding countries.  I loved getting to see a new goddess and how the gods & goddesses communicate (or how they don’t) to the mortals.

I loved the development between Daine and Numair.  You know what is going to happen, at least deep down inside, you hope something will happen.  Daine is such an interesting character as she behaves towards the relationship with Numair.  And when she thinks something has happened to Numair, you see her reaction is something that you would never expect from her. 

I loved how Daine learned that her personal judgments on people/creatures that she doesn’t know needs to be re-evaluated.  She makes new friends, finds that people she thought were safe to trust were not.  I think the honest evaluation is that we can’t judge those around us by looks, status, or background.  We have to make personal judgments through our experiences with people.  Great lesson to be reminded of or learn.

In some ways, this story reminds me of the tensions between ancient Carthage and ancient Rome.  The attempt to create peace and the underlying currents of war seemed to make it an interesting concept when compared to our ancient history (maybe event to our current history). 

Overall, I think this is a great book.  I highly recommend this book. 

Happy Reading!


Cana