Boy. What a difference 20 years makes. I wonder what this book would have been like had it been written today? I give it 3 slightly guilty stars because the story as a whole is compelling and I really like Mara as a character. However. And it's a big however: this time reading it I found myself very discomfited by what comes across today as a racist, Eurocentric pov, not to mention the extremely het-centric gender and sexual mores. None of this is apparent in the first volume, because the point-of-view is entirely immersed in the culture of the Tsurani world. What changes in this one is the introduction of Kevin, the slave captured from the war with Midkemia, who allows an outsider's critical view of Tsurani culture. So far, okay, except that Tsurani culture is clearly Asian and Midkemian is a fairly conventional fantasy variant on medieval Europe. Kevin and his fellow slaves use derogative language to describe the Tsuranis, which again might be ok (captured slaves, hating their captors) except that they are effectively racial slurs, and that overall we are shown how much BETTER the European culture, laws, customs etc etc, are, and that ultimately Mara, the Tsurani, is able to succeed in her political machinations because she learns BETTER ways of thinking from her Midkemian lover. And don't get me started on the fat-shaming. Or the rather squicky sexual politics. And the complete lack of anything even hinting at sexual diversity. Also, although there were several extremely exciting sequences there was an awful lot of wheel spinning in the plot and the final confrontation with Mara's arch-enemy seemed too easily resolved.

I am going to read the third one, because I can't really remember it and I do want to know how everything turns out, but I don't know if I'll ever bother reading the whole trilogy again.