Miriam Forster

I cried. Guys you have no idea the ending...The twist and acknowledgement and the knowledge that could crush a person's heart...Omg guys I loved this book so much.



There's a bit of a trick to EMPIRE that isn't as obvious as it should be at first. If you've read CITY then you'll hear familiar names, but in unfamiliar circumstances. Certain events will sound like a story you've heard before, but maybe not quite like this. The last word on the last page however brings it altogether and I have to wonder--would I have felt differently if I had known going in that this was like that to CITY?

I think if I had known, or if I hadn't been so enthralled by the story I had realized what was going on, the story would have felt so much sadder in a way. And that's a disservice to Mara and Revathi and Emil in so many ways. Mara is...fantastic. There isn't any other way to describe her. She owns her mistakes and while she suffers a bit too much for them, she doesn't let it ruin the rest of her life. She moves forward, on her own two feet and with her own determination. She doesn't allow her family's condemnation of her actions completely destroy who she is.

Her suffering, her penance and her vow to not change shape again, she does because she doesn't want to lose control again. She doesn't want to hurt humans, little as they regard her kind.

So she joins an elite group of body guards who protect their charges unto death. She leaves her school full of idealistic hope that she will find some great scholar or priest who deserves her loyalty and protection. More then anything she wants to make up for her past by protecting someone who has worth in this world. Someone others look up to and who believe in, who does the right thing.

Having so little experience with the real world (or with humans in any significant manner) she doesn't understand that a person doesn't need to be doing great things to be in need of help and loyalty. The moment when she realizes who deserves that respect is a powerful moment. You could see it coming, could see that this was an outcome that was desirable for all parties concerned, but she just had to come to terms with the "ideal" vs. "the real".

I'll admit that Mara and Emil's romance is...well its instalove. They know very little about each other before they start promising the moon and stars, but here's the important bit - when push came to shove Mara trusted the person she swore to protect above Emil. She loved and honored Emil, but for her love wasn't the most important choice in her life. In a perfect world she wanted both, but she didn't enter into service to just toss it aside when the perfect guy came along.

And you know what? Emil understood that and he accepted that. Did he not like that? Oh yeah. Did he wish it was different? Yep. But Emil understood the place Mara was in (mentally) and understood why her vow meant so much. So yes, this was insta-love, but it was insta-love that became a stronger bond based on appreciation on both sides.

Here's something else. Revathi and Mara, though they begin as contentious, I think was the stronger of the two relationships. What begins as a way to get a suitor off her back, quickly becomes a friendship between two girls with no one to turn to, but very similar dangerous situations. And while that friendship began because of a guy, and many times could have ended because of a number of different guys, they stuck fast. In the end I think Revathi, more then even Emil, understood what Mara needed--no matter the sacrifice or cost.

I can't recommend this or its companion enough. I can't wait to see what else Forster comes out with because already she's won me with these two books.… (meer)

City of a Thousand Dolls was an engaging read, though the ending felt rushed. Whereas at first Forester hoarded clues and secrets like a squirrel with acorns, the last quarter was revelation after revelation, giving me very little time to adjust. Some of the secrets were subtly woven in, often buried beneath each new murder so that in the end I was able to look back and recognized the signs. And some became painfully obvious far too quickly.

At first I didn't understand the big deal about Nisha. She alternated between being unbelievably naive and independent. I blame Devan for this mainly. The entire family of his were a thorny manipulative bunch of of jackals, though to his credit I think Devan did genuinely care for Nisha...he was however a spineless coward as well. Nisha rose above her early unlikeableness though. Her interactions with the cats, her investigation and insistence for the truth drove this story.

In some ways I think this reminded me of Avatar: the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. At least what I enjoy most about those shows. This story was about balance in the end. The Empire finding a balance between what was working and what wasn't, the girls of the Houses finding a balance between their wants/expectations and reality, the balance of past mistakes and potential failures in the future and lastly Nisha finding a way to come to terms about where she belongs.

I can't help but think that there will be more books about Nisha and this world, and for that I'm hopeful. While Forester does a good job wrapping up Nisha's story in this novel, there are by far more mysteries and secrets to uncover before I think her story is fully told.… (meer)