two dimensional two stars - Rated 
I am surprised to see reviewers writing that this is an interesting look at a brutal society and the effects. That might be what she's trying to do but quite frankly, it's two dimensional and simplistic. The main protagonist is sub humun in her obsessive belief in the god and her inability to differentiate between her desires and the god's. And that's a legitimate character choice. But the other characters are almost all equally two dimensional. Raklion warlord is not much more than a man pushed around by his priests who occassionally stands up for duty and honor. Miller attempts to provide glimpses into his thinking and how he got to where he is - his suggestion that he was not ready to be the heir when his brother died, his love for Hekat - but it's not clear and it's all premised on a similar obsessive interest in his god.
The story is repetitive and simplistic. The concept is excellent, but somehow, it doesn't carry itself off well with very little sense of any genuine movement in the story.
Blood, psycopathy, messianism and more blood - Rated 
This book seems to be an extended meditation on what happens when you couple a brutalized individual with an equally brutal belief system that compels absolute obedience, constant sacrifice and flagellation with horrific consequences for those who step out of line. And when this person, a girl self named 'Hekat' (having had no other name since birth), is singled out from her domestic hell in a dirt poor desert village by wealthy traders who purchase her as a concubine for a far distant warlord and is 'betrayed' by one of these traders, she rejects humanity utterly and communes with the world's bloodthirsty God. It in turn seems to reinforce her exceptionalism in this stratified and constricted society and her growing messianism feeds a whole series of more and more audacious and bloody acts as she begins to influence, and then dominate her world ('Mijak', a seeming combination of , say, Yemen and the Russian Steppes at their bloodiest), culminating in... well, I can't tell you that, but the denouement is as shocking as anything that has gone before.
And, in its subject matter and style, this is a shocking book; you will want a shower after each reading to wash off the blood, frenzy and sweat it invokes. The author's style here is terse, declamatory and ferociously repetitive and it builds a convincing, if horrifying, world view; it's style reminded me of James Ellroy's 'White Jazz'. Whilst it does have characters that don't share the lead's ruthlessness, they are few and far between and still have to exist within the constraints of their fearful and fearsome world.
And 'Aiee!', to use a wordsound often used in the book; the blood! As a metaphor, as a reality, as a way of bonding, as an exultant result of battle, as a sacrifice, as a penance, and as a way of divining the God's will, it permeates the pages until they stink of it. (and I haven't even got onto the scorpions and other familiars of this loathsome God).
So, why 5 stars? If you can let yourself immerse in it, this is an exhilarating if discommfiting book. The previous reviewer was right; you cannot identify with most of the characters. It's a painful journey into the heart of madness, destiny and belief in a cruel world, but its style and ferocity make it a compelling read. Just keep the soap handy.
Questionable ????? - Rated 
Just finishing this book, I'm not sure whether I've enjoyed it or not. I have read her other books with more or less the same feeling. I don't like Hekat,
she seems to me to embody all that I feel is wrong with our world, her start in life was obviously the reason for her later development, but surely there should be some redeeming feature in the character.
The world of Mijak is devoid of hope and its ruthless disregard for human life and values make it uninviting. Having said that I've come to the conclusion that I probably won't be buying the next book. A pity because Karen Miller is a gifted writer, I just don't like her outlook.
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