[Books/Authors] A Blight of Mages by Karen Miller

[celestineangel]

Disclaimer: I won a copy of the HarperVoyager edition of this book from a drawing on Karen Miller's LJ, karenmiller, with an absolutely gorgeous cover. It will be released in the U.S. by Orbit on August 4th (with, in my opinion, a functional but less gorgeous cover).

The gorgeous cover.

A Blight of Mages on AmazonNow, with that done and over with, how many

Comments

[celestineangel]

Hello and welcome! :)

The books are in this order:

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology
The Innocent Mage
The Awakened Mage (Innocence Lost in Australia)

Fisherman's Children duology
The Prodigal Mage
The Reluctant Mage

And then A Blight of Mages.

Even though A Blight of Mages takes place first within the books' chronology, I definitely recommend reading all the others first... it's nice to read them first, and then go back and fill in the gaps. :)

Once you're done with those, she has another trilogy that begins with the book Empress (or The Empress of Mijak in Australia), and continues with The Riven Kingdom and Hammer of God.

Then there are her books written as K.E. Mills, the Rogue Agent series, which are also fabulous, but lets see how you like the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker books first. ;)

[celestineangel]

You're welcome!

[queen_bellatrix]

Guh, this looks amazing!

Throughout the Kingbreaker series, I kept thinking that y'know he had to be human once, had to be something other than this twisted nightmare who can only think of vengance and past wrongs and death.

And he is! Omg, he really gets depth and dimmension and humanity, and then has it ripped away through his own arrogance, and there's love, even as their's hate, which wasn't a theme I was sure she would tie back in the prequel, and erm, I am rediculously happy, now!

And I love the fact that she's as arrogant as he, that but for a choice here or there, she could have become just as awful, and they could have oblitterated everything she gave her life to protect. And just...the stripping away of illusions and myth and sainthood, the revealing of an all too human woman, who still died to do such a wonderful, brave thing. I can't even...I am going to go nuts waiting for August.

Thanks for such a phenomenal review.

[celestineangel]

You've read Kingmaker, Kingbreaker!!!! I LOVE YOU. :D :D DID YOU CRY OVER GAR??? I did!

Have you read the Fisherman's Children books too??? (Sorry, but I haven wanted someone to squee with for a very long time!)

And it's awful, too, at the end when Barl and the other survivors have crossed into Lur, and she knows Morgan is back in Dorana, and she knows he's beyond saving, knows he's evil, but she remembers who he was, remembers how much she loved him and how much he loved her... guuuuuuh.

I'm so, so happy I had the opportunity to read this early... if not, I'd be DYING for August to get here.

[queen_bellatrix]

I haven't read Fisherman's Children; I'm planning a reread of Kingmaker and a first read of Fishermen as a lead up to Blight's release. I've gathered from your blogs that they're just as good as the original, which is hard to do, so I'm impressed and excited

[celestineangel]

OH MY GODS. Just a warning: The Prodigal Mage ends with the WORST. CLIFFHANGER. EVER. Holy GODS. You're lucky, you won't have to wait forever to go straight on to The Reluctant Mage. In fact, if you haven't bought them already, I suggest buying them together, because if you're anything like me, you won't be able to stand not jumping straight into the next one after that cliffhanger ending. OH GODS. That's what inspired this post of flail.

Gar and Asher... oh man, were two so different and yet so similar men ever been so close? That's part of why I cried so much over Gar, because he was Asher's BROTHER, man. The brother Asher wanted from his blood and didn't get. They hurt each other, and Asher has reason to be angry at Gar, but then... oh gods, I just... D:

My heart.

Oh, I watched a video of her with N.K. Jemison! In that one, Miller talked a little bit about her fans, and the communications she gets, and she said her favorite was from a guy who'd read Empress and then told her she was sick, and needed help. XD