Weekly Reader: Empire's Heir (Empire's Legacy) by Marian L Thorpe; Boring Historic Fantasy Has Very Little Suspense, Plot, and Fantasy
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: I absolutely hate reading a book in the middle of a series when I am unfamiliar with the previous volumes. It's not just a matter of getting confused by the plot or not understanding the characters or their motivation. It's also that doing so makes me feel like an intruder. I feel like I'm butting into the middle of a conversation. The characters are all looking at me as though I don't know what I'm talking about and saying things like "This is an AB conversation so C your way out."
I don't blame the authors when that happens or even those who send the books to me. When I am able to, I usually try to compromise with the authors or providers by reading the series in its proper order and reviewing each volume so I have some information about where this plot is going and what happened previously. When that doesn't happen, I try my best with what information that I am given.
To her credit Marian L Thorpe makes it easy for her Empire's Legacy novels. If you have to read a later one, as I did with her latest Empire's Heir, she offers a link that provides a synopsis of each previous volume to update the Reader on the story so far.
Online synopses work to an extent. You learn about important events. You learn who is allied with who, who were lovers before, and who became enemies. In a series like Empire's Legacy which seems to rely on ever changing romantic relationships to carry on most of the plots, that is very important.
However online synopsis only goes so far. You read about what the characters did but don't fully know them or care about what they did. It's not the same as experiencing the journey with them. Without that vicarious thrill, you can't be an observer. You are an outsider locked out of the loop and the story.
I don't blame Thorpe for these problems with her book. It's not her fault. It's my own ignorance for not following the power plays between who becomes the heir to Esparias or the importance when Gwenna, the adult daughter of Senior Prince Cilia and Major Lena of the Esperian Army is chosen as heir over Faolyn the son of Talyn, the General of the Esperian Army.
I understand the conflict between arranging Gwenna's potential marriage to Alekos, Prince of Casil over her personal feelings in her relationship with Lianthe, Lieutenant of the Esperian Army and Faolyn's sister. However, I don't get why this particular union is important over any other.
Speaking of relationships, It's my problem not Thorpe's that I practically need a flow chart to recognize the relationships in the series. That Cilia and Lena appear to be happily married but they just lost a daughter, Liane leaving them with Gwenna and a son, Colm. The parents also had or continue to have same sex relationships.
Lena had a former lover, Maya and their relationship carried through the first few books of the series. Cilia had been involved with Sorley and even though he married Lena, Sorley still serves as a bard and advisor to Cilia. To add to this drama, after Cilia's marriage, Sorley obtained another lover, Druisius who also serves as Cilian's bodyguard and Captain of Esperian Army.
It's my fault that I didn't read the previous books in the series and got lost in the plot developments in this book.
I do however blame Thorpe for the problems that can be found in this volume. Even without the benefit of reading the previous books, I can tell that this is a lackluster volume in the series which mostly has a lot of talking about of events, a lot of summary of what happened before, and manufactured emotional tension to move the thin plot forward as Readers who had followed the series waits for the better stuff in the series. Not every volume in a series can be a winner and I found this to be the potential weak one in this series.
But here is also the thing. If I were to even judge this book as a stand alone book (which admittedly is hard to do), I still would have problems with it. It's just not that good. It's slow paced, plods on for too long, plot points get repeated, and after awhile it gets tedious and boring.
I don't expect a Historical Fiction or Epic Fantasy to be filled with nonstop bloody action or magical characters around every corner, but I do expect something to happen. I expect some important stakes about why these power struggles are important, some suspense, maybe yes something Historic, Epic, and Fantastic.
For example, say what you will about the quality of the series, especially the final season, of Game of Thrones but they got those large aspects right. They had personal conflicts and power struggles but there was always the realization that Westeros was the largest stake. There was tension that spilled out and affected everyone. There was also the threat of the White Walkers and the questionable motives of many of the higher ups who vied with each other. The overall emotions was no matter who "won" the Game of Thrones, no one from the highest lord to the lowest slaves's lives were ever going to be the same again. Many would die, many would grieve, many lands would be destroyed, borders would shift, and the world would be forever rocked and may continue to be so for a long time afterwards, no matter how much they try to heal.
That is what Historical Fiction and Epic Fantasy does. It often reminds the Reader that among the romantic and personal, something larger is going on.
With this book, what I got was a Soap Opera with Swords.
There is some great characterization especially regarding Liane's death. It's moving to read Lena and Cillian grieving for her. Even though it's a fictional kingdom, it mirrors a time period when child death was all too common. In some countries, children weren't even named until their first birthdays because parents didn't want to get too emotionally attached if they died. It's actually heartbreaking and anguishing to read about Liane's parent's grief and while they clearly love and care for each other, her death fractures their close but strained marriage.
There are some sweet moments between Cilia and Sorley and Gwenna and Lianthe. It's truly moving that Gwenna has to decide between choosing what the kingdom wants, to marry Alekos and produce heirs and what she wants to continue her relationship with Lianthe. It's also clear that Cilia chose the political over the personal and while he loves Lena, it's apparent that he misses what he had with Sorley and doesn't want his daughter to go through what he did. Still be makes some power grabs that Gwenna, Lena, and Sorley question and could be detrimental to his family anyway.
However the deep emotion felt by the characters is neutered by the tediousness of the plot. The plot points get repeated ad nauseam. Conversations were similar and characters kept talking about the same things over and over. It got to a point where I was uncertain whether I was rereading the same chapter or an entirely new one. I would have reread previous chapters to make sure but the slow pacing made doing that a chore so I didn't bother.
It's a sad state of affairs when the most exciting events that occur are when one character slips on the floor towards the beginning and an assassination attempt is easily thwarted towards the end. The middle is just endless talking and repeating the same things.
I don't expect an exciting battle or blood and guts to spill throughout the book. That would be just as tedious and plotless. But I do expect something interesting to happen to further the plot, something larger than the endless diatribes over the various love shapes.
Speaking of love shapes, there is another concern in this book. While the series' setting is based on European history, it is set in a fictional world. A fictional world that is free of Abrahamaic religious influences, influences that state that force LGBT rights and relationships in hiding. It's a fictional world that can make up it's own rules and morals and doesn't have centuries of brainwashing that tell the people that being gay or trans is wrong.
So why does the central government and standards in the Empire's Legacy series look so disdainfully on same sex relationships in the first place? Why do characters like Maya, Sorley, and Lianthe have to play the roles of side lovers while Lena, Cilian, and Gwenna have to settle into conventional heterosexual marriages? While the characters keep repeating that they don't "have" to be married, the fact that they are suggests that there is pressure for straight marriages, even continuing arranging them for political purposes.
In the introduction Thorpe stated that Esperian culture is based on ancient cultures like the Romans and Celts. But here's the thing: heterosexual marriages were not required across the board with them either. The Greeks were noteworthy for allowing same sex unions. Alexander the Great's advisor, Hephaestus, was also his life partner and for all intents and purposes, his husband. The Roman Empire was famous for its leaders carrying on various affairs.
While yes I know a possibility is to allow for procreation,to keep family lines going, and the Imperial line to continue. But in the latter, that is definitely not true because in Esperias, ruling heirs are clearly selected and are not inherited titles. As for family lines, there are ways to get around that as many cultures have shown such as fostering.
Celtic and Native American social structures for example often encouraged fostering. There are many stories where a foster child rose up and fought on the side of their adopted family over their birth one. In Native American families' cases that even included white children that were adopted or married into the tribe defending their adopted home against white authority figures who challenged them.
There is no real reason that Sorley and Cilian couldn't be a couple with Gwenna as their foster daughter or even in an arrangement between them and Lena and Maya. The only reason that doesn't happen in these books seems to create dramatic tension in a world where that tension isn't necessary.
I want to like Empire's Heir, I really do. It has all of the things that I would usually like: a historical setting, fantasy and high adventure, strong female leads, struggles in marginalization, and parallels between the real and fictional world. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
