Review: LOTS packed into this novella
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 20, 2013
I don't know how she does it, but each of the installments of Lindsay Buroker's Emperor's Edge series is better than the one before.  This short novella, at 174 pages, feels like a complete novel.  There is no lack of the usual crazy scheming, explosions, weird science, and so forth.  What sets this book apart is perhaps the fact that three important characters (and one relatively new one) have the focus directed on their love lives.  We finally get to see Maldynado in love -- real love, and we get to see Amaranthe and Sicarius make their relationship public.  Or, at least public as far as the rest of the "gang" is concerned.  Also, within the pages of this short book, Sespian becomes a fully fleshed figure.So, Buroker has accomplished a lot in this book.  She's also set the stage for the final installment to come, without having to take up pages in that (what I hope will be a LARGE) book to illuminate these relationships, all of which are important to the series.  She has also accomplished the task of having Sespian come to terms with the fact of Amaranthe and Sicarius being a "we" as she puts it.  We see him grow up just a little bit more, and we also see him begin to accept, if not yet fully appreciate, the love that his father has for him.Sicarius is the character who has experienced the most growth during the course of all these books.  He has actually achieved greatness of spirit, despite his history and murderous past.  While never believing in this possibility for himself, he accepts that Amaranthe sees this in him, and falls deeply in love with her for it.  Her faith in him, and his desire to have his son see him as worthy have driven him to become more than he believed he could be.Buroker, in spite of her over the top plots and totally hilarious writing, handles her characters with great subtlety.  The relationships always seem authentic, and never forced or rushed.  She lets them reveal themselves to us through their words and actions rather than narratively informing us as to who they are.  This is very satisfying.  It also takes a lot of time.  The sum total of these novels is huge.  I haven't added up the pages, but when it's (as I'm sure it eventually will be) released as a collection, it will probably rival Game of Thrones in length, considering that I don't think Buroker is in any way finished, and considering that she has several side novels that relate to earlier periods of time, and fill us in on aspects of the history of events and characters she writes about in the Emperor's Edge novels.This book can't be skipped while everyone waits for the final (???) installment.  It's a necessary part of the story.  And, it's very, very good.