http://pro-libertate.net/20111222/178-read-ambassadors-mission ( )

El relato arranca en la ciudad de Imardin, capital del reino de Kyralia, dos décadas después de los acontecimientos narrados en el Gran lord, el tercer volumen de las «Crónicas del Mago Negro» protagonizadas por Sonea. Esta, una exparia convertida en maga negra, descubre horrorizada que su hijo, Lorkin, se ha prestado voluntario para asistir a Dannyl en su nueva misión como embajador del gremio en Sachaka, un país aún regido por despiadados magos negros. Teme que algunos de ellos deseen vengarse por las acciones que llevaron a cabo Akkarin, el difunto padre de Lorkin, y ella misma años atrás, así que cuando llega la noticia de que Lorkin ha desaparecido, Sonea está desesperada por salir en su busca. Pero sabe que, si desobedece las restricciones que le impone el todopoderoso gremio y abandona la ciudad, la exiliarán para siempre.
Además, su viejo amigo Cery necesita su ayuda: en el marco de la cruenta guerra que se libra entre los principales ladrones de la ciudad, un enemigo anónimo acaba de matar a casi toda su familia recurriendo a la magia. Lorkin, mientras tanto, accede a facetas inesperadas de la sociedad, el paisaje y la magia de Sachaka de la mano de su intrigante secuestradora, y des- cubre detalles del legado mágico de su padre que podrían cambiar el rumbo de su propia existencia para siempre.

I've read all in this series so far. I think they are written very well, but sometimes the story is very dark. I actually really liked this book. I think the story is more interesting to me from the son's point of view, and want to see what happens next. ( )

A decade ago, when I read “The Magician’s Guild”, the first of the “Black Magician Trilogy”, I was filled with excitement. Young Sonea’s struggle with her new found powers, her attempts to understand and survive the upper-class world she was pushed into and the complex loyalties she had to navigate had immediate appeal and, although it was a long book, kept me eagerly turning the pages to find out what happened next.

For me, “The Ambassador’s Mission”, the first volume in the “Traitor Spy” trilogy, has none of the magic I found in the “Magician’s Guild”.

It is well written. The ideas are thought through. The characters are as well drawn as in the previous books. Yet the book seems slow. It feels as if Trudi Canavan is thinking: “I have three thick volumes to tell this story, there’s no need to hurry.” Unfortunately, I was left thinking that, if they all go at this pace, I might never make it to the end of book two.

Perhaps it is that the Sonea is now older and more reflective, she has become part of the establishment, while Cery has become an old thief and the head of a family. Perhaps it is just the need to connect this book to the “Black Magician Trilogy” and its prequel, “The Magician’s Apprentice” but I found that I did not have the same passion for these characters and the challenges that they face.

In “The Magician’s Apprentice”, it mattered to me whether it would be Lord Rothen or the treacherous Lord Fergun who had power over Sonea. In “The Ambassador’s Mission” the death of the whole family of one of the characters barely created an emotional ripple.

As a generation-spanning, fantasy-saga, dealing with a complex world, this is still a book worth reading but set against the last trilogy, I found it disappointing.
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4/5 estrellas.
Tenía muchas ganas de empezar esta trilogía y no me ha defraudado . Aunque hubo algunas partes que se me hicieron algo pesadas por lo general me mantuvo enganchada y cada vez que empezaba a leer me costaba dejar la lectura. De momento la trilogía empieza bien y me hace tener más ganas de leer el segundo. ( )