Karen Miller is an Australian author and her publication schedules differ between countries. Read news and excerpts at Karen Miller's website.
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Kingmaker, Kingbreaker — (2005-2011) The Awakened Mage is also published as Innocence Lost. The Prodigal Mage begins a sequel series called Fisherman's Children. Publisher: "The Innocent Mage is come, and we stand at the beginning of the end of everything." Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not the one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes, beggars, and the warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations. Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic. Asher might have come to the city to make his fortune, but he will find his destiny.
In a world ravaged by dark magics, a powerful mage named Barl sought sanctuary for her people and sacrificed herself in creating the Wall, a magical barrier that would protect the Kingdom of Lur from the reaches of the evil Morg. For over six hundred years, the two peoples of Lur — the Doranen and the magickless Olken — have lived in relative peace and prosperity with one another, but according to Prophecy, the Final Days are drawing near and only the Innocent Mage will be able to “save the world from blood and death.” Enter Asher, an Olken fisherman, youngest of seven sons, who travels to the city of Dorana in search of an honest income to help support his father and instead, ends up befriending the Crown Prince of Lur and becoming a valuable asset to the throne…and the unwilling pawn of Prophecy.
Okay, so the overall plot is nothing to marvel at. In fact, it’s pretty generic stuff and if you follow any kind of fantasy at all, then you’re probably pretty familiar with a lot of the archetypes that Ms. Miller employs, including prophecy, an ancient evil, a Hero destined to save the world, a mysterious group known as the Circle whose job is to serve Prophecy, Monarch politics, Asher being a nobody and then becoming rich and famous, Asher falling in love with someone who can’t love him back because of duty, a hidden library full of ancient texts, recognizable magic concepts, and so on.
Fortunately, it’s not all run-of-the-mill clichés. There’s Barl’s First Law, a cardinal rule that states no Olken may practice magic under penalty of death, which is just one of the variables behind the tension/prejudice between the two peoples that comes into play throughout the book. Then there’s another rule where the ruling family can only have one heir, but because Prince Gar is “magickless,” an exception is made and he now has a sister, which causes some complications for the family especially towards the end of The Innocent Mage. There are a few other fresh ideas as well, but those are the ones that stood out.
As far as the cast, you have fisherman-turned-Assistant Olken Administrator Asher, Prince Gar and his family — King Borne, Queen Dana, Princess Fane — Jervale’s Heir Dathne, her soul-sworn Matt, the Master Magician Durm, Gar’s Private Secretary Darran and his assistant Willer, none of which are that complex or original. In other words, the good guys are likeable and have few flaws, while the antagonists are easy to dislike. That said, the characterization is actually the strength of the book. Ms. Miller spends a lot of time developing her characters, is quite good with dialogue and conveying thoughts and emotions, and has a knack for distinguishing each personality. In particular, Asher is a short-tempered, forthcoming individual best characterized by his distinctive accent. While the lingo/slang can get a bit annoying, I was impressed with the effort that Ms. Miller put into this and thankfully the accent becomes less of an issue as the book progresses.
My only real complaint was the haphazard manner in which the narratives were presented. Aside from Asher and Dathne, it’s not readily established who the main characters are and who the supporting cast is, and there are long stretches where certain characters just seem to disappear. Also, a few narratives like that of Darran and Willer seemed to bear no importance whatsoever to the story (unless the two happen to play an important role in the sequel).
Overall, Karen Miller’s The Innocent Mage has its share of drawbacks: The story and characters are not that creative. The book is on the long side and is notably lacking in the action department. The worldbuilding is a bit sparse despite the obvious time and effort Ms. Miller took in establishing the Kingdom of Lur. And the novel as a whole likes to play it too safe never venturing beyond PG territory. Specifically, there were a lot of prospective conflicts involving certain characters in the book like Darran, Willer, Conroyd Jarralt, etc., that never reach their potential.
Despite all of this, I happened to like The Innocent Mage and thought it was a fairly enjoyable fantasy. In addition to the characters, I was most impressed with Ms. Miller’s writing, which may have not been that stylish, but was engaging, and for the most part, technically proficient. I also really liked the jaw-dropping, cliffhanger ending. Thankfully, I only had to wait a month to find out what happens in The Awakened Mage and to see how the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker is concluded. In the end, if fantasy’s your thing and you don’t mind treading over familiar ground, then Karen Miller’s The Innocent Mage is definitely worth a look and might be better than you expected. —Robert Thompson
The Innocent Mage: The Innocent Fisherman comes to town
The youngest son in a family of hard-working fishermen, twenty-year-old Asher steals away from his coastal home to find his fortune in the kingdom's capitol. He intends to return after one year, coin-purse bulging, to give his father an easier life; but once in the city, he unknowingly finds himself hitched to the puppet-strings of a Great Prophecy. For, as envisioned by a secret circle of prophecy-keepers, Asher may be the kingdom's only hope against a long-dormant Dark Lord who is awakening in the North, behind the magical wall that has protected the land for centuries …
And so on and so forth. If only the story of The Innocent Mage (Book One of the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology), as told by first-time novelist Karen Miller, were as subtle and intriguing as the book's cover. Karen Miller is a competent writer, word for word, and she shows a particular sensitivity to the flow of dialogue, especially argument, between friends.
However, the 640 pages of the novel are nothing more than a prologue for the conflict to come. (At least one assumes it will come, and Asher will, despite much self-doubting and protesting, become The Awakened Mage and save the world.)
Ms. Miller shifts easily from one character's viewpoint to another and shows range in moving from Asher's rough, salty perspective to the more refined ones of royalty. (That said, the villain's viewpoint is so stereotypically oily that one expects him to invent railroad tracks and grow mustaches, the better to place damsels in distress and have something to twirl while laughing sinisterly.) But overall, the pacing is simply too… bloody… slow — which is one of the problems of draping a protagonist with the heavy mantle of Great Prophecy: unless the story is told with extreme care, it loses dramatic tension, as the reader knows what will essentially happen next and is only left with discovering how it will happen. (Ms. Miller or her editor may have recognized this and attempted to manufacture tension by inserting chapter breaks in the middle of long scenes.)
I was able to finish this novel, and at times, I was taken in by the characters' relationships and Karen Miller's undemanding style; but I cannot recall reading a fantasy novel and being so annoyed at the lack of progress. Suffice it to say that both cover and title are misleading, as Asher doesn't even experiment with the tiniest spell. (The Innocent Fisherman Comes to Town would have been more appropriate.) I refuse to read the sequel unless someone I trust assures me of its payoff.
Recommended only for fans of epic fantasies wherein orphan boys make good and save the world. Two slow-drying starfish. —Rob Rhodes
The Awakened Mage
One theme drives the plot of Karen Miller’s The Awakened Mage, sequel to The Innocent Mage: friendship. That friendship is exemplified in the sometimes tenuous, but always interesting friendship between Gar and Asher. In the first novel, the two formed an unlikely pair. Gar is a magickless prince, unable to serve as King of Lur, since the King is also the WeatherWorker and maintainer of Barl’s Wall, the only thing keeping the evil of Morg at bay. And there is Asher, the intelligent and wily fisherman, who only seeks to serve the kingdom and his friend.
The story of The Awakened Mage (also called Innocence Lost) picks up where its predecessor left off, not wasting text space on retelling the story, as it is assumed the reader already knows all the events that have led to this point. (Do not read further in this review if you don’t want the plot spoiled from the first novel.) The King and all his family except Gar are dead, and the magician Durm is the puppet of Morg. Morg has planted the seed of power in Gar, timing it to disappear when it would be most disastrous for the kingdom. Now King, Gar must protect the kingdom from the racist and power hungry Conroyd Jarralt. But when Asher, the Innocent Mage of prophecy discovers his own magical powers, the whole Kingdom of Lur is thrown into chaos, just as Morg wants. The only solution will be for Asher to get help from Dathne and the Circle.
This time, Miller has worked hard to go from tragedy to even worse tragedy. Gone are the happy times of the first novel, and all that is left behind is darkness. Gar and Asher’s friendship goes through some horrendously trying times, even up to the point of breaking. Miller really dives into the friendship, giving it a great deal of stress, twisting it and tying it into knots to see just what will break Gar and Asher apart. And if there is one thing, it's magic. Gar’s jealousy of others with magic and Asher’s newfound ability really push the characters over the edge and their friendship into turmoil.
Whereas The Innocent Mage had a more lighthearted tone, The Awakened Mage is much darker. Things go from bad to worse, to even worse, and when redemption finally dawns, the reader will be glad of it. But this does make for some great reading as we wonder just how Gar and Asher will find their way out of this mess and ultimately defeat the evil magician Morg.
Miller continues to write in an engaging style. Relying almost completely on characterization (there are no fight scenes, folks) to move the narrative forward, she makes the characters so arresting that we just have to find out what happens to them next. Several surprising plot twists occur in this novel. Miller jerked left when I would have jerked right, and I think that the novel is the better for it.
The ultimate solution to the problem of Morg is a bit trite, and I felt that Miller alluded to the tug and pull of prophecy versus free will, but never really dealt with the issue, leaving a small vacuum in the story. When the final battle comes, Miller betrays her inability to write fight scenes or even spell battles. She does, however, kill off characters we have come to know and love, and doesn’t let everyone get off free and clear, so that makes up for the lack of action. Since Miller did such a good job of making the reader invest in her characters, even the minor ones, the shock of their deaths gives the final scenes the punch they need to make for a really great ending, even if the fighting itself lacks luster.
This novel really does end the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology in the only way it could have ended and still be a heroic fantasy. Miller is great at building suspense, and when the dam breaks and we reach the climax of the story, our hearts bleed for the characters.
I highly recommend that you read the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology. Karen Miller’s arresting writing style, superb characterization, and creative plot twists make her one of the best writers working in the field of fantasy today, and so deserve a special place on any fantasy fan’s bookshelf.
—John Ottinger FanLit thanks John Ottinger III from Grasping for the Wind for contributing this guest review.
Godspeaker — (2007-2009) Empress is also published as Empress of Mijak. Publisher: When a scrawny unwanted girl is sold into slavery, a chain of events is set in motion that will have a profound impact on all the civilized world.
Hekat is taken in chains to Mijak's largest city, home of the warlord Raklion. She is sold into his service and learns all she can about power — its wielding and its uses — as she fetches and carries and cleans and serves. She grows into a beautiful woman, and through ambition and manipulation Hekat becomes powerful enough to take over the rulership of Mijak... and then sets about making it into the greatest Empire ever known.
Empress
Karen Miller’s novel, Empress is shockingly different from her previous duology, Kingmaker, Kingbreaker. Empress shows us the rise of a barbarian warlord in a culture like the ancient Assyrian or Babylonian empires, with their city states that eventual become powerful nations. The society of Mikak is violent, worshipping a scorpion god who craves bloody ritual sacrifice. The godspeakers are the only people who are able to hear the god. They perform sacrifices and are a police force and a political entity separate from the warlord’s control. But Hekat, a runaway slave girl, upsets that balance when she discovers that she can hear the god as well. Believing herself special, Hekat begins a slow climb up the social ladder of Mijak, seeking power both to satiate her lust for it, and as protection for herself.
In the meantime, a fellow slave, Vortka is also making the climb into the realm of the powerful, but through a slow process, unlike Hekat’s clawing. For better or worse, there lives become intertwined.
Empress is a violent novel. Sacrifice and blood drinking are part of the ritual. Some people swim in pools of blood as they seek the will of their fickle, unforgiving god. All “magic” comes only through the god’s power, and while it gives power and knowledge, just as often it arbitrarily won’t. It is seen as an impersonal force by its supplicants. Hekat revels in it, and although at the beginning of the book she is a sympathetic character, by the end we want to hate her. Yet for all her success, she is a small child inside; her emotions are stunted and all she can feel is fear or hate. Besides being very violent, there are liberal does of swearing and a few sex scenes (including a rape of a man!) in Empress, so anyone offended by that ought to avoid it.
Empress is also extremely long, and the style of writing can get annoying. There's a lot of ritual dialogue which gets repetitious. Phrases like “may the god see you in its eye” or arrogant words that tell of the speaker’s triumphs or skills tend to wear after a bit. The reader would do well to take this novel in slow spurts, rather than trying to read it all at once.
But for all that, Empress is creative and different enough to make it enjoyable. The story is fascinating because Karen Miller has created a culture that is difficult for modern people to understand — a culture where religion rules much of everyday life. And yet, while Miller doesn't tell us what the origin of the religion of Mijak is, there is the hint that it could actually be a twisting of a natural phenomena.
It was also fascinating to read how an evil warlord comes to be an evil warlord through a long slow process as a result of very human traits. Thus, Empress shows the real human emotions behind what we call “good” and “evil.”
I did not enjoy Empress as much as The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage perhaps because there was no character I was really able to root for, but I still want to know what happens to them. I recommend this novel, with the few caveats stated above, and look forward to seeing how its sequel portrays the enemies of Hekat. —John Ottinger FanLit thanks John Ottinger III from Grasping for the Wind for contributing this guest review.
As K.E. Mills
Rogue Agent — (2008-2012) Publisher: For the life of him, Gerald Dunwoody can't keep a job or a roof over his head. When disaster strikes again it looks like his days of being a wizard are over for good... until his friend Monk, genius of the government's secret research department, helps him get appointed as Royal Court Wizard to the King of New Ottosland. His offsider Reg, an ensorcelled bird with a murky past, isn't sure it's such a good idea. But Gerald's choices are limited. It's New Ottosland, or starve. But once Gerald arrives it quickly becomes clear that King Lional isn't the vain, indolent young man he appears to be. And with the passing of time it becomes even clearer that Lional's plans might not be in Gerald's best interests...
The Accidental Sorcerer
The Accidental Sorcerer is the first book in the Rogue Agent trilogy by K.E. Mills, a pseudonym of the author Karen Miller.
Gerald Dunwoody is a “Third Grade” wizard who has been failing at one job after another. After he loses his job as a magical inspector for the government, he takes a job as Royal Wizard for the kingdom of New Ottosland. And that’s where the story really starts to get interesting.
K.E. Mills has a gift for descriptive writing. Her characters were all physical presences in the story. She also manages to write realistic sounding dialog. Though a few of the plot twists were fairly obvious, the final conflict between Dunwoody and the King was well written, and showed the growth of Dunwoody’s character from a failing naive wizard to a major magical being struggling to take responsibility for the consequences of his failures and magical power. Mills manages to mix interesting characters with consistently paced action to create a story that reads quite quickly.
The Accidental Sorcerer starts out feeling like a farcical romp of a tale, as if PG Wodehouse had decided to turn Wooster into a magician. Then half way through, the book turns into a fairly serious story of the corrupting influence of ambition and black magic. This left the novel feeling like it had a split personality. Both parts were well done separately, but together they had a rather jarring effect. I spent the second half of the book waiting for it to get funny again. It almost felt like Mills had changed her mind about how she wanted to write the book, and then didn’t go back and change the first half of the novel. The bad editing also irritated me. At one point, an entire paragraph was repeated.
Mills has a good story here, and the end of The Accidental Sorcerer sets up the rest of the trilogy. Assuming that the writing at the end of the novel sets the tone for the rest of the trilogy, it seems that Mills has created a world where she can explore serious issues of responsibility and power in a relatively light setting. Though this shouldn’t be mistaken for serious, heavy fantasy, it is a good romp of a tale, and the intriguing cast of characters makes me willing to pick up the next book in the trilogy to see what mess they will get into next. —Ruth Arnell
The Awakened Mage
Empress
The Accidental Sorcerer
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