A re-read of one of my favorite books, part 1 of the Exiles series. It's a fantasy book but it has a wonderful detailed political thread as well. The characters are fascinating and well-rounded, the pace is high and the setting interesting. 5 stars. ( )

Enjoyable fantasy novel. This is my standard read for incredibly long international flights, generally because the plot is a delightful ramble, you can escape the snoring man next to you and the horrid airline food, and it will last you till you land. The characters are rather well developed as is the world the novel is set in. Perhaps this is more of a woman's read as here we are the one's in power. ( )

This was a good book for about the first 90%. It would have been great if it would have ended right there, but there was another part that seemed like a 50 page epilogue. The writing seemed to worse, and little of it made sense. It was tying up loose ends (there really weren't any), and it didn't seem to add a lot of preview for a next book.
The story is really about three sisters on different sides of a Mage war. Except for the youngest sister (who seems lacking in some way), the characters seems well developed, and the writing is well done - fast moving and engaging. ( )

"The Ruins of Ambrai" and "The Mageborn Traitor" remain two of my favourite fantasy books. Still waiting on the third book of the trilogy to be written and published ... it's been an awfully long time that Melanie Rawn has kept her fans waiting on this one, especially with a trilogy as good as this one. The one silver lining is that when it is finally released, it will hopefully spur some new readers to discover this series, which is truly excellent. ( )

I don't normally go in for the billion-page epic fantasy doorstops, but something about this book and the sequel really drew me in. It's been 5 years, and I don't properly remember every detail of the plot, but it's endlessly compelling and the pages fly by. Maybe it's because I have a thing for powerful women, and in the world of this novel series, the women hold all the power... maybe it's because I have a secret crush on that one character (you know, the guy who plays the instruments)... but whatever it is, I couldn't put this book down and finished it within 2 days. It's just sad the third of the trilogy is showing no signs of being written. ( )