I Wasn't Empressed

Advantages: Distinctive characters
Disadvantages: Over long and got a little repetitive

...Karen Miller took the fantasy world by storm with her debut "Kingmaker, Kingbreaker" duology, with both "The Innocent Mage" and "The Awakened Mage" selling well and getting good reviews in many places, including The Bookbag. Whilst I missed those, I'd heard enough good things about her work to be excited about "Empress", the first in a planned trilogy of "Godspeaker" novels. In a part of Mijak known only as "The Savage North", a young girl is resigned to a life of beatings, hunger and being unloved and unwanted, largely for having been born female. She is saved from this life by the arrival of two traders, Abajai and Yagji who take her back to their home city of Et-Raklion. Hekat, as she has named herself, thinks she is there as their favourite, but is upset to discover they have bought her as a slave. Not seeing this as...

Soho_Black 27.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Empress - Karen Miller

The Empress Impresses

Advantages: A beautiful story, beautifully written
Disadvantages: Detailed. Unusual names and words sometimes hamper.

...Paperback purchased from Waterstones for £7.99 I LOVED this book. Based on the true story of Tz'u-hsi, (the eponymous Orchid) the last Empress Dowager of China, Anchee Min brings to life the beauty and opulence of the famous, walled Forbidden City with the city of Peking. Orchid (who takes the name of Lady Yehonara on marriage) is the fourth of seven wives, and with 3000 concubines also vying for the attention of the Emperor, she soon realises that intrigue, treachery and manipulation will be part of her life until she dies. The Forbidden City has strict rules of etiquette and harsh punishments - often death - for overstepping the mark. "One wrong move and your head could be chopped". (p21) One unfortunate soul is dismembered and kept in a jar. However, the rewards are high and competition is tough, not only to produce a male...

astrababe 16.02.2006 (21.02.2006) · Read review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

Need Bodyguards to enter Empress

Advantages: Different Makes of Cars in 1 garage, and stay dry while looking!
Disadvantages: The Vultures

...I have been to empress a couple of times, obviously there was a large enough gap between the first and second visit that I had forgotten just how awful it is to go there. First of all you get acosted by the security guard who wants to know why you are there, and you have to wait for the barrier to be lifted, why???????? Is he really wondering why all these people keep going through? surely someone ought to tell him what they sell.... My Husband and I happily strolled into the building thinking that we'd have a nice leisurely wander around the site to try to come to some agreement of what car we should buy. (him Type R or BMW, me Scooby!) But no, no sooner had my little toe got over the front door we were met by a man in a suit asking us why we were there, hmm, another member of staff obviously kept in the dark. once we...

gingernutter 09.09.2005 · Read review
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Review of Carcraft at Empress

Empress Tzu Tzi, a fresh and fair look

Advantages: A refreshing look at Empress Tzu Tzi. You are not going to put down this book!
Disadvantages: The writing is so compelling and real, it is possible to confuse fiction and history.

...For more than a hundred years, the last Empress of China, Empress Tzu Tzi had been synonymous with a cruelty, and credited with bringing the empire to its collapse. Almost all things bad are credited to her. AnChee Min, had created an interesting "fictional biography". She showed a sensitive understanding and interpretation of the events around the empress, and how it shaped her outlook. Instead of a face of a cunning but ignorant woman who happened to be powerful because of her ability in bed, the book gives a real life to her. Her she is depicted as an intelligent, filial woman who was determined to stay afloat. There was even an element of innocence in her quest for love. The stories in the palaces are always full of twists and turns. Many a best selling books are based on love triangles. This is a book that is based...

graceC 15.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

Disturbing

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Overpriced Cars and High Pressure Sales Techniques

...the Ford I could still use the deposit against any other stock they had. I smelled a rat, told him no way and left the building. Once I?d arrived back home and compared prices surprise, surprise the Galaxy was a full £4,000 over book price. Even if I?d bought it at the ?reduced? price of £10,000 I would have still been robbed of £2,000! Personally I think they should rename the company from Carcraft at Empress to Caveat Emptor - ?Let the buyer beware?....

PrinceSilk 04.10.2003 · Read review
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Review of Carcraft at Empress

The Orchid that never blooms

Advantages: Rich historical detail, brings life in the Forbidden City to life
Disadvantages: Dull, fails to captivate, flat characters, wrong period of Tzu Hsi's life

...Empress Orchid is the latest work by Anchee Min, the acclaimed author of "Becoming Madame Mao" and "Red Azalea." The book is based on the life of Orchid, a concubine in the court of Emperor Hsein Feng who later went on to become Empress of China, ruling for more than 40 years. The description on the back cover of the book sounds fascinating - a woman managing to come to power in a male-dominated society, trying to protect and preserve her country against the European powers who seek to carve it up for their own purposes. Added to this the undeniable allure of exoticism (books on court life in ancient China are hard to come by), and the hint of sexiness given the fact that Orchid is a concubine, and the expectations of sex, romance, intrigue are all set. They exist in the book, but for a number of reasons they fail to take hold...

mystikchick17 27.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

A long time ago, on a continent far away....

Advantages: Good overall picture of life in the Forbidden City
Disadvantages: Some areas could be developed further

...Now, this is a tricky novel to review as while there were some elements of this novel that I really enjoyed, there were others that really irritated me. Anchee Min grew up in China, but, like many other Chinese authors I've read, now lives abroad (in Min's case, California). This novel is her fictionalisation of a real character: the Dragon Empress of China, Tzu-Hsi. The novel begins with Orchid, whose character and life is based on that of the Dragon Empress, walking from Wuhu to Peking with her family to bury her father at his birthplace. The family is so poor that partway through the journey they run out of money, and, once they reach Peking, have to move in with Orchid's uncle. At this time, Orchid is seventeen. Orchid's uncle suggests that she marry his son, who is simple and has sloped shoulders. She's horrified by...

sally.jenkins 04.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

More to it than meets the eye

Advantages: Rich, descriptive, imaginative
Disadvantages: Slow moving

...find her way in life. The story is based on the life of Tzu Hsi the last Empress of China, a woman that a lot of controversy surrounded over whether it was China's or her own interests that were her motivation. Firstly I would like to point out that the description of the story on the back cover is rather misleading. I got the impression that the story was erotic and sensual, but this is not particularly the case. However I would like to point out that the story is told in first-person view and in this regard I think the story is very well written. Anchee Min manages to convey a sense of period through the way Orchid tells her story. She is able to show us her embarrassment, frustration and restraint. I find Min's style of writing compelling and addictive. Although she does not discuss any of the characters in depth I found her...

Kittys_gremlin 14.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

A joke

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: So overpriced we almost couldn't believe it

...May 2003 We have been looking to buy a specific car, a Focus 2.0 Zetec, 2-3 yrs old possibly with highish mileage (40-60K) but in good condition. Carcraft at Empress no longer have a website so we rang the national number to see what they may have to look at. We were told that they had no "high" mileage cars but that there were a number starting at V reg with 35K plus miles, starting at 5650. We travelled from Bristol to look over the stock. It was a joke. We were shown one 85K miles, ticket price 9995. Another, 95K miles 8995 neither in brilliant condition. We looked through the entire pound and could not see a single 2.0 Focus in the range described on the phone. When we pointed out that the price new for this car from Ford Journey (internet Ford sales) was 13040 and that their price was therefore way over they denied the new...

carbuyer 06.06.2003 · Read review
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Review of Carcraft at Empress

Different angle at the famous Cixi Express

Advantages: beautifully written, emotionally charged, sympathic
Disadvantages: could deviate from history a little

..."Empress Orchid" is a fictionalised account of Express Cixi, the last empress of China. It describes the journey of Orchid, a girl whose family's downfall leads her to become a candidate for one of the Emperor's new wife. Although she was not as beautiful and talented as the properly educated and high socially ranked Nuharoo, she was also chosen (alongside Nuharoo) as a concubine of Emperor Tsien Feng and became Lady Yehonala. The story describes the politics and struggle in the Forbidden City, and the lack of trust within the palace. Yehonala could only trust her enunch, An-te-hai. Her rise of power, for her to become Empress Cixi (not described in the book), is a result of a clear knowledge of the Chinese politics at the time (as Tsien Feng allowed her to help with his documents), the production of a son for the emperor and being...

immortal_pheebs 06.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Empress Orchid - Anchee Min