Imperial Spy

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm just getting in to IS and its getting really good

I agree with Cosmo. I've read about a third and it's becoming a real page-turner -- also, you've just thrown in a plot development I was not expecting.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Curious - which one was that, Kelpie?

 

[Cosmo]

Just finished it ABSOLUTELY AWESOME
congratulations Mark.
I'll soon have too start a fanclub lol

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It was the second murder, Brian. Up until then, I thought I already had the conspiracy figured out. After that, I was as much in the dark as Femke.

 

[Debra]

I loved the book. Have always been a fan of Mark's. This book is such a page turner from the beginning for me. The story was well written and am looking forward to Imperial Assassin

 

[Aerin]

Yeah, that's one thing I love about this book. You think you've got it all worked out, then you don't have anything, then you have it, then you don't. The Black Magician Trilogy is like that too, only super-sized, since all three books combine for that effect, each one is about 400 pages and it's one huge twist.

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Just finished Imperial Spy this evening (slow, I know, but I wanted to read some of Mark's previous work first, before getting onto IS). I really enjoyed it, and am looking forwards to Imperial Assassin!

I may go into more detail at a later date, but the one thing I really admired was

(SPOILER BELOW)


the treatment of Ennas' murder of the prison guard, his feeling of remorse, and the way the moral issue is illustrated by what happens to him afterwards. I felt this was done really well.

Thanks Mark - a really good read.

 

[Mark Robson]

Thanks for your kind comments everyone. I'm now awaiting the release of Imperial Assassin with great interest. I've just finished the second edit and am about to send it out to proof readers for comment - given the editor's initial response I don't think I need worry too much about people enjoying the sequel. It won't match everyone's taste, of course, but I'm very confident that people will find some fascination in certain areas of the next story.

 

[danny]

Imperial Assassin will be great.

 

[Mark Robson]

Hello, Danny. I see you've found your way to Chronicles. Welcome. You will find lots of others here who like fantasy stories like mine. I'm fairly certain if you take a look around you will also find lots of people ready to recommend good books to try reading as well. There's a great Young Adult section. I look forward to seeing you around the forum.

 

[Aerin]

Oh yeah, another one of my friends says, "This is such a good book!" after reading just the prologue.

 

[Mark Robson]

For those who might be interested in such things, I've just been informed by S & S that Imperial Spy has already been reprinted (less than four months after the launch). I'm taking this as a very positive sign of things to come, as the first printing was 15 000 copies. I'm not yet sure how big the reprint is, but it is fair to say that this title has got off to a good start. Thanks again to everyone for their positive words.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Excellent news.

 

[dwndrgn]

Congratulations!!!

 

[Red Phoenix]

15, 000 that seem's like loads, i wonder how they heard about the book:
Word of mouth? - if it is it's an excellent sign!

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Mark,
This is great news! If they're doing a reprint, does that mean they will do some more promotional work? That would (obviously) be great news too...

 

[Mark Robson]

Mark,
This is great news! If they're doing a reprint, does that mean they will do some more promotional work? That would (obviously) be great news too...

There will be more promotional work on the series - the second book will no doubt generate a lot of further interest in the first one. I really tidied the second book up a lot after the comments of the proof readers - yours included. I'm very confident that we've barely scratched the surface of the sales of Imperial Spy yet.

 

[Carolyn Hill]

I just finished reading Imperial Spy, Mark. I enjoyed it.

**SPOILERS**

I like Femke; I like that she makes mistakes. Her mistakes make sense, given her young age. She's thinking, she's clever, she's trying to do her best. But sometimes she lacks the experience to succeed. And I admire you for letting her make those mistakes; that makes your book different from so many others, whose protagonists are often perfect Know It Alls.

Likewise, I enjoyed that King Malo, who could so easily have been written as a truth-blind, grief-addled antagonist to Femke in order to ratchet up tension, is protrayed as thoughtful and wise enough to see that not everything adds up. And Shalidar is a suitably skillful (and dangerously experienced) villain--a more-than-worthy opponent to Femke. The scene when he and Femke battle on the castle's roof is scary!

I also very much appreciated that important characters die, and that those deaths have meaning and consequences for the other characters. That makes the stakes matter and adds to the emotional punch. In fact, I was particularly intrigued by Danar's death, since it is a result of Femke's mistake. I would have liked to see her struggle to deal with that mistake even more fully--along the lines of Ennas's heartfelt remorse for killing the prison guard. And I would have liked to see Ennas live, if only so that he would have to deal with the killing of the guard. Ennas's death seemed a bit too neat: he dies, so no one has to put him on trial or remonstrate with him.

I must admit that I wasn't particularly sad that Danar dies. I like Reynik much better than Danar and felt dissatisfied that Femke has feelings for Danar. (I chalked her feelings up to another one of her youthful mistakes.) Certainly, Danar pursues Femke doggedly and gives up his life for her cause, but there is just something about him that doesn't warm my heart. Reynik seems more alive, more lively than Danar, and Femke seems more herself when she's interacting with him than when she's interacting with Danar. I also love the fact that Reynik is silent about his attraction to her, because he thinks that Danar is a more admirable suitor; I'm a sucker for a male character who thinks less of himself than he deserves. So, hooray Reynik!

 

[Mark Robson]

Thanks, Brown Rat. I'm glad that you enjoyed Imperial Spy. I know I don't world-build with the complexity and depth of some of the more esteemed writers around here, but I like to think I write stories that are worth the readers' time.

Your point about Ennas dying is an interesting one. I hadn't thought about it in terms of his facing up to the crime of killing the guard. I killed him to reduce Femke's resources still further, thus making her problems more difficult to resolve. I'm sure I don't need to tell you it's a basic rule when writing adventure style stories that you should try to keep making the problems get bigger and bigger until they feel insurmountable before finally revealling the 'brilliant' solution. I can very much empathise with your thoughts about it being a rather neat scenario that he should die, but it didn't occur to me in that way when I was writing it. I shall have to watch for things like that in future.

I, too, would have liked to dwell on Femke's feelings more, but much of that section was cut. I was hard up against the word limit imposed by the publisher, and while her response gave her character more depth, it did not move the plot into its final phase, so it had to go. A shame, I grant you, but sometimes compromises have to be made.

I do find it a little irritating at times that many of my readers are asking for longer books, with more complexity and depth of setting and characterisation, while the publishers are constantly squeezing me the other way - Imperial Assassin will be ten thousand words shorter and I've been given a word limit that's a further five thousand shorter for the final novel. There's only so much that can be done within such constraints. My writing is not yet tight enough to give everyone what they want, but I'm still working at it.

 

[Carolyn Hill]

How frustrating for you (and for readers), to have useful scenes removed in order to fit a page limit! Makes me wish there was a "director's cut" option.

Why do your publishers want shorter books? Why are they decreasing the page count further with each novel in the series?