Tamora Pierce: The Will of the Empress

• Mass Market Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; Reissue edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 054507455X
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Daja, Briar, Tris, and Sandry have grown up and grown apart since their days together at Winding Circle, and Sandry's especially disappointed with the change. When Sandry's uncle requests that her three old friends accompany her on a visit to Sandry's vast lands within the Empire of Namorn, the young mages discover that they've landed in a trap. Namorn's iron-willed Empress has plans for Sandry and her companions, and she has wily and powerful mages to help her. But so, of course, does Sandry--if only she can get them to work together . . . .


Ah, hello Emelan. It's nice to see you again. But wait - everything has mysteriously changed. Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar are finally reunited, but a schism has formed. As Sandry will need their help to maintain her freedom on her visit to her cousin, the Empress of Namorn, they need to repair the damage, and fast.
 My biggest, and perhaps only, problem with this book was the inexplicable damage to the relationships among the four. So they traveled, and they saw and did things that were horrible and scary. However, after all the time spent developing their bonds, one would think that they would bind closer together after experiencing horrific encounters. Instead, they all become somewhat encased in their own heads and forget that they are friends/siblings first and foremost. What? I simply found it hard to believe that these four people, who had been through hell and back together (they all helped Tris kill a pirate fleet, for God's sake), would suddenly completely forget the personalities of the others so completely. I have four best friends who have been my friends for fourteen years. We've grown up together, and if something bad could happen to a person, it's happened to one of us. We don't see each other constantly like we used to, as we've all moved in different directions and developed, but we are still each other's best friends and we never forget each other. Supposedly these four are even closer than that. So I had difficulty with the sudden veering of their relationship. I understand that it was a necessary plot device and that these are essentially young adult novels meant to teach some sort of lesson about human emotion and development. Thus, I'll excuse it, though it did seriously bother me for the first half of the book.
 Aside from that, Pierce is her usual brilliant and lovely self. I never feel like I'm reading a YA novel when I read her books (except for Melting Stones). She just has a way of making you believe her characters and love them with all their flaws. Plus, she's just got a mind like a labyrinth. I've always been impressed with her ability to create a completely encapsulated world that is fully fleshed out. And each one is a little different. I love it. SPOILER ALERT One of the coolest things she did this time around, in my opinion, was Daja's romantic development. I won't say more than that, but it was surprising as I can't think of another similar circumstance in her other books. Not off the top of my head, anyway. The Circle books are different from her others in that their generally weren't romance plot lines as the characters were too young. They're eighteen now, though, so that changes to an extent. Daja definitely got the brunt of it, and I love the way Pierce handled it.
 Plus, she delivers a marvelously satisfying conclusion. The reader feels like the struggles have been overcome, lessons have been learned, and the characters will continue to exist and develop without our eye constantly on them. To me, that is a great talent.
 Overall: A
 Pierce is brilliant, and I will pretty much always give her high marks. The reason this isn't an A+ is the aforementioned strange character development.