Eliza Andrews

Empress of Dorsa

Naty Corbett

On the one hand, I am excited to write my review because I just feel the need to talk about this book but on the other, I dread it because it will finally mean the end of the story.

First off, if you haven't read the first two novels in the trilogy - stop reading this review and go pick up The Princess of Dorsa & Soldier of Dorsa. You won't regret it.

One thing I noticed right off the bat with this book was how mature it felt compared to the previous novels. Not mature necessarily because of the content being not for young people but her writing matured. A lot. Which is saying something because I loved the first two books yet this one is on a whole new level. Epic barely begins to describe it, Empress of Dorsa truly lives up to the author's goal of writing a queer Game of Thrones-esque series. Reading it, I felt her confidence in her work and ideas that permeated every page. The pacing of this novel is spot on from the beginning to the end, and the way stories are woven together throughout space and time was done so intricately and precisely that you can tell that the author was on the top of her game. And knew it.

(view spoiler)[She also took a bold step in how she started the novel, with all-new characters and informing the readers that the characters we cared about and loved in the previous books are all dead by four years. That was a shock for me. But I was invested from page one regardless. I was saddened but I had faith that the author would either give us some flashbacks to their demise and that this new person would find some sign of them or something. And when we finally did get the flashback it was one long one that lasted 3/4 of the book before circling around and connecting to the opening act. 

The author so perfectly captures what it is to be strong yet vulnerable. And the chosen family message throughout not only this book but the series as a whole is a wonderful nod to the queer community, which for decades we had to find our own family because our blood relations shunned us. We might not have been sold into slavery like Joslyn or Linna but many were abandoned just the same. The unacknowledged parenting by the Elder Gays (Tasia and Joslyn) to Linna who when growing up and has a crush on basically every strong woman in her life, hello been there!, was something so relateable to me on multiple levels from remembering my time as a baby gay and crushing on basically everyone to now when I have my own baby gays and baby trans to mentor.
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If you are on the fence about reading this, don't let the nearly 900 pages daunt you. If there was a way to have a never ending book I would have chosen this one. I was so enthralled with the characters and the plot that I would read every side story about all the main and side characters if that meant I got to stay in this world longer. 

(view spoiler)[Towards the end of the book, when Tasia fights her way back from the Undatai to the real world and Joslyn is holding her body and wakes up feeling her lover's arms on her I felt Joslyn's hands on me and her love in my soul. That is how invested I was and still am in this. I WILL be rereading this series this year.  (hide spoiler)]

This book deserves more than a five-star rating. It's too simple and cannot begin to describe what I feel towards it.

Empress of Dorsa

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