Mara must plot, bend tradition, avoid assassination attempts, and trade her heart for power in order to save the Acoma from destruction.

[2] In a Tor.com re-read of the series, author Tansy Rayner Roberts praised the way it "prioritiz[ed] the domestic and political machinations over quests and forests", which in her view differentiated it from typical epic fantasy.

[3] Publishers Weekly called Daughter of the Empire a "full-bodied dynastic fantasy" with "the sweep and drama of a good historical novel about an exotic time and place.

[6] Publishers Weekly wrote of Mistress of the Empire, "The characters' efforts to work out their destinies within the constraints of a tradition-bound culture is depicted with skill.

"[7] However, Kirkus Reviews described Mistress as written "in a style more evocative of The Hungry Caterpillar than its obvious paradigm, Shogun", and called the novel "Wearisome twaddle that just lies there, quivering feebly.