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, worshiping a scorpion god who craves bloody ritual sacrifice. The godspeakers are the only people who are able to hear the god… But Hekat, a runaway slave girl, upsets that balance when she discovers that she can hear the god as well… Read the rest.




