I've been reading Tamora Pierce's books since I was 9 years old, and she has not improved as a writer with time. Her first 8 books were short and fast-paced, with lots of action packed into a short novel. But since the "Protector of the Small" series, she's been writing longer and longer books. There is no major objectionable content in this book - the lesbian relationship is very tame - but the major problem is how slow and tedious the book is. Tamora Pierce needs a good editor - the length of this book could have been cut in half without losing any plot. The conflict between the four major characters is entertaining for about 5 minutes before it becomes annoying and contrived. The overly long descriptions (do we really need to know what clothes every character wore in every scene?) slow the pace of the book down to a crawl. There is hardly any magic, just endless backstabbing and gossiping. By 300 pages, I was nearly ready to give up on the book. The only thing that got me through was the four major characters. The rest of the characters are uninteresting. The Will of the Empress won't damage your kids' innocence - but it might bore them to death.

Another reviewer talked about how Pierce is fearless and bold in her love scenes and such and I completely agree. But this isn't one of those extremely descriptive, mushy, overly done romance books. The story is exciting and amazingly written as well and sex isn't an issue to make you stop reading. Beautiful story!

AWESOME BOOK BY TAMORA PIERCE

yuck. verx weird ideas . badly written. uses the word redhead too much. WEIRD

tamora pierce has great book s this is one of her best most importently to me she doesn't protray female always helpless she shows girls as what they really are.in this book four friend once unseperable grow apart and sandry tries to tie them together again but it is comlicateed by her cousin in namorn determined to keep sandry and her friends from leaving

Some people may disagree with the lesbian relationship in this book and other sexual relations in her previous ones. If you want answers as to why she puts these things in there, check out her website. I find it EXTREMELY refreshing to finally read books that don't tiptoe around such subjects. They're there. They exist. They are DEFINATELY things teens talk about. Kudos to you, Ms. Pierce, not only is your writing fantastic, you are fearless as well.

I loved this book! There is hardly any sexual things, no bad language, and just the ok amount of violence. If you're having doubts, if your child (or you!) is over seven, they can probably read this book. I really reccomend it. Hope this helps!