2.5 stars

Empress follows a young girl named Hekat when at is sold as a slave by her father to traders. Hekat is beautiful and treated well by the traders as she travels across the land to Et-Raklion. She learns to talk properly and to read and write but is soon unhappy with her future plans. Hekat is godtouched, precious and beautiful and she will be more than what people say she is.

The concept of this sounded great. A young girl fighting against the expectations put upon her by men because of her beauty. A woman who becomes a warrior and breaks her chains and rises up to power. And yes, that all sounds great except that Hekat is absolutely insufferable. She is arrogant, vain and cruel and I really hated her story. I enjoyed the world building we got in Et-Raklion and how much we learned about the religion and a God who is very much present in its people's lives. But Hekat ruined everything, I really hated her and she's the main character! There were times I wanted bad things to happen to her just so she'd get off her high horse.

I didn't plan on reading the next book because I can't deal with Hekat but I've realised the sequel follows a completely new character in another part of the world so I think I will give that one a shot.