MISTRESS OF THE EMPIRE

The morning sun shone."" So begins this concluding volume of the trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, 1987; Servant of the Empire, 1990), in a style more evocative of The Hungry Caterpillar than its obvious paradigm, Shogun. Tsuranuanni, the world on the other side of Feist's previous Riftwar saga, is a pseudo-medieval-Japanese contrivance of contending warlords and aristocratic families, with dollops of magic thrown in. Lady Mara of the Acoma clan is now the most powerful woman of the Empire, hence the target of violent dissent. Her son Ayaki is killed in an assassination attempt whose real target was Mara herself. Gradually, after many distractions, the antagonists are revealed: Mara and her insectoidalien cho-ja allies must battle the vastly powerful Assembly of Magicians. Mara eventually wins, by a trick so flimsy that it is not worth repeating here, to preserve the leadership for her other son Justin, whose Midkemian father, Kevin, also shows up. Wearisome twaddle that just lies there, quivering feebly. Addicts only.