The Hands of the Emperor

I vastly preferred the first half of this book to the second half; felt like it got repetitive, and . . . less plausible and nuanced, I suppose? I do believe the term ‘Mary Sue' often gets overused, especially when angry men are applying it to female characters, but I think by the end Cliopher was very nearly a male example of that trope. He was the best at everything, and everyone who criticized him was wrong, and even his flaws were actually strengths! Also the Emperor mostly vanished from the story, and I love him roughly a million times more than any other character. I don't regret reading the book, but it didn't get the five stars I once expected to give it.