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The Three Sisters
When their sister, Tari, is captured by the Mirayan conquerors who kill her husband, a powerful female warrior and a sorceress return from their island sanctuary to their oppressed homeland to rescue her and achieve their mystical destiny. Original.
498 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Jane Routley
9 books148 followersI write fantasy with strong women characters.
I’ve published 7 books as me – Mage Heart and the Aurealis award winners Fire Angels and Aramaya, The Three Sisters and The Melded Child.
I have a queer time travel romance called A Shining Knight.
I've begun a new series in a new world called Shadow in the Empire of Light.
I am also publishing TTRPGs in Call of Cthulhu.
My short stories have been widely anthologized, appeared in Meanjin and read on the ABC.
My favourite writers are Jane Austen, Angela Carter, Sara Douglass, Janet Evanovich, and Gail Carriger.
My current life ambition is to see an erupting volcano.
I’ve published 7 books as me – Mage Heart and the Aurealis award winners Fire Angels and Aramaya, The Three Sisters and The Melded Child.
I have a queer time travel romance called A Shining Knight.
I've begun a new series in a new world called Shadow in the Empire of Light.
I am also publishing TTRPGs in Call of Cthulhu.
My short stories have been widely anthologized, appeared in Meanjin and read on the ABC.
My favourite writers are Jane Austen, Angela Carter, Sara Douglass, Janet Evanovich, and Gail Carriger.
My current life ambition is to see an erupting volcano.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 17, 2008
This is a fun and entertaining read. If you enjoy fantasy and/or scifi fiction, you will enjoy this one. For the first time fantasy reader, this novel could leave you a bit confused early on as a lot of information is crammed in the first few pages. However, this is not an individual fault but rather a genre fault. Names and places are orginal and inventive, and an Australian aboriginal and Celtic influence can be felt. The swearing is also good and brought a smile to my face. If you also like to read about conflict, this has some exciting and well written battle scenes. One part I found confusing however, was the method by which the heroine escapes. How???
I have registered this book on www.bookcrossing.com Come and get it!
I have registered this book on www.bookcrossing.com Come and get it!
April 19, 2012
I’d been meaning to read The Three Sisters for a long time. The cover art intrigued me. I remember seeing it in the bookstore, thinking “But there are only two sisters in the picture!” and then finally noticing the third, ghostly woman in the pool. I wanted to know what these sisters’ story was. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever know.
The sisters, Elena, Yanimena, and Marigoth, are members of a race called the Tari. The Tari are magically gifted, drop-dead gorgeous, and feared for their power and beauty. Their religion is based around the “life spirit.” Tari are more in tune with the life spirit than people of other races. They’re so in tune with the life spirit that if a Tari kills someone, he or she suffers death throes in sympathy with the victim.
Their enemies are the Mirayans. The Mirayans follow a religion analogous to Christianity. They’re also warlike, imperialistic, and sexist. Oh, and they love to cut down trees. Readers, I am no Christian, but I still felt like I was being hit over the head with a Message.
However, I was quickly distracted from Rebecca Locksley’s message by the hideous copy editing. Missing punctuation marks are rampant, and there’s some bad spelling too. A few examples:
Stop being such a fool he told himself, she’s only a woman.
“Mari,” she said, catching hold of Marigoth’s wrist in the darkness “Can we get the ship’s crew out of here?”
There were stands of trees here and there, but only the valleys were truly forrested and the main road didn’t enter those.
“No,” said Yani “But her people have great respect for mine.”
Then there are passages I can’t blame on the copy editor. These are just plain awkward writing:
The Mirayans’ first glimpse of Elena: For she was fair, fair as gold with skin like ivory and huge dark green eyes. Her face! Each feature so delicate and fine! Her neck was slender, her body shapely. Skin as soft, soft as a whisper, as the touch of lip upon lip. Perfect! Surpassingly perfect! Astonishing! She was the most beautiful woman they had ever seen.
By the next page, Madraga, a Mirayan officer, is capitalizing Elena’s pronouns in his head as if she’s a goddess, and thinking this convoluted sentence: He was certain that was what the flare of Her nostrils and the quick backward glance She had given him as Scarvan had pulled Her away had betokened.
Oh, and when one Mirayan tries to explain matriarchy to his commanding officer: Like most of these native tribes she’s called Queen. It sounds like the lady in question is a tribe, which I doubt was Locksley’s intention.
What finally killed The Three Sisters for me was a particularly egregious head-hop on page 77. A little background: Yanimena is currently masquerading as a man named Yani. Her traveling companion, Ezratah, has no idea Yani’s a woman, and this scene is in Ezratah’s POV. Bolding is mine:
”I thank you,” said Yani, shaking the man’s outstretched hand. Duprey held the Tari’s hand for a moment longer than necessary, looking at her face almost as if he recognized her.
Was this Yani some kind of religious leader? When the girl came back with the food, she brought two other women, her middle-aged mother and a thirteen-year-old girl. They asked her to bless them, which she did, saying,
“May the Circle of Life enfold and bless you.”
She even blessed the woman’s unborn child, putting her hand on her swelling belly to do so. Though Ezratah thought he had become used to the easy intimacy between native men and women, he could not help being shocked to see how readily the woman let a strange man touch her belly. She seemed to trust the Tari as completely as a child trusts its father. He must be some kind of religious leader. Sinister!
Leaving aside the silly melodrama of that “Sinister!” proclamation, why on earth are we randomly jumping into an omniscient POV in which Yani’s true gender is known, and then suddenly back into Ezratah’s head, where he thinks Yani is male?
That’s when I knew I’d never be able to concentrate on The Three Sisters long enough to enjoy it. I can’t read for pleasure when I find myself wishing for a red pen.
The sisters, Elena, Yanimena, and Marigoth, are members of a race called the Tari. The Tari are magically gifted, drop-dead gorgeous, and feared for their power and beauty. Their religion is based around the “life spirit.” Tari are more in tune with the life spirit than people of other races. They’re so in tune with the life spirit that if a Tari kills someone, he or she suffers death throes in sympathy with the victim.
Their enemies are the Mirayans. The Mirayans follow a religion analogous to Christianity. They’re also warlike, imperialistic, and sexist. Oh, and they love to cut down trees. Readers, I am no Christian, but I still felt like I was being hit over the head with a Message.
However, I was quickly distracted from Rebecca Locksley’s message by the hideous copy editing. Missing punctuation marks are rampant, and there’s some bad spelling too. A few examples:
Stop being such a fool he told himself, she’s only a woman.
“Mari,” she said, catching hold of Marigoth’s wrist in the darkness “Can we get the ship’s crew out of here?”
There were stands of trees here and there, but only the valleys were truly forrested and the main road didn’t enter those.
“No,” said Yani “But her people have great respect for mine.”
Then there are passages I can’t blame on the copy editor. These are just plain awkward writing:
The Mirayans’ first glimpse of Elena: For she was fair, fair as gold with skin like ivory and huge dark green eyes. Her face! Each feature so delicate and fine! Her neck was slender, her body shapely. Skin as soft, soft as a whisper, as the touch of lip upon lip. Perfect! Surpassingly perfect! Astonishing! She was the most beautiful woman they had ever seen.
By the next page, Madraga, a Mirayan officer, is capitalizing Elena’s pronouns in his head as if she’s a goddess, and thinking this convoluted sentence: He was certain that was what the flare of Her nostrils and the quick backward glance She had given him as Scarvan had pulled Her away had betokened.
Oh, and when one Mirayan tries to explain matriarchy to his commanding officer: Like most of these native tribes she’s called Queen. It sounds like the lady in question is a tribe, which I doubt was Locksley’s intention.
What finally killed The Three Sisters for me was a particularly egregious head-hop on page 77. A little background: Yanimena is currently masquerading as a man named Yani. Her traveling companion, Ezratah, has no idea Yani’s a woman, and this scene is in Ezratah’s POV. Bolding is mine:
”I thank you,” said Yani, shaking the man’s outstretched hand. Duprey held the Tari’s hand for a moment longer than necessary, looking at her face almost as if he recognized her.
Was this Yani some kind of religious leader? When the girl came back with the food, she brought two other women, her middle-aged mother and a thirteen-year-old girl. They asked her to bless them, which she did, saying,
“May the Circle of Life enfold and bless you.”
She even blessed the woman’s unborn child, putting her hand on her swelling belly to do so. Though Ezratah thought he had become used to the easy intimacy between native men and women, he could not help being shocked to see how readily the woman let a strange man touch her belly. She seemed to trust the Tari as completely as a child trusts its father. He must be some kind of religious leader. Sinister!
Leaving aside the silly melodrama of that “Sinister!” proclamation, why on earth are we randomly jumping into an omniscient POV in which Yani’s true gender is known, and then suddenly back into Ezratah’s head, where he thinks Yani is male?
That’s when I knew I’d never be able to concentrate on The Three Sisters long enough to enjoy it. I can’t read for pleasure when I find myself wishing for a red pen.
December 24, 2009
While I would normally give a book of this quality of writing one star, most of those books have stories I am not intrigued by. This book had an intriguing story, which was what prompted me to purchase it. Unfortunately, I found the writing quality to be terrible, and I was constantly distracted by issues not fixed by the editors. It's been a while since I read it, so I cannot give specifics, but I doubt I will ever be bothered to try and read it again. It was hard enough the first time through.
March 25, 2009
This book had it's ups and downs, but over all I wish that another one would come out. I was so into it in the middle I simply couldn't put it down! But some of it was so frustrating that I wanted to throw it across the room. The over all experience was delightful.
June 20, 2022
The story seemed to move slowly, and then rush to the finish. There wasn't a proper conclusion, but I'm not going to bother with the sequel. The amount of typos was infuriating and there was a lot of characters to keep straight. The only good thing I can say is that it kept me mostly interested so I didn't give up on it. But there are way better fantasies out there.
April 12, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very ‘human’ with faults and flaws and even redeeming qualities.
The ending of the book was very odd, felt rushed and left SO many loose ends that it didn’t feel like an ending at all.
The ending of the book was very odd, felt rushed and left SO many loose ends that it didn’t feel like an ending at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2023
Rebecca Locksley's The Three Sisters was involving enough and a fast read, but if there's a sequel I'm not interested. A lot of the plot seems random, and the book contains a lot of frustrating characters. It's also littered with typos, most often of the missing punctuation kind.
Three sisters are born in response to a mass murder and possibly the loss of three mages to a hungry demon. Twenty-something years later, when one is taken as a war hostage by the Mirayans the other two set out to rescue her. They have no purpose on their journey aside from saving their sister, but the people in the lands they go through are going to force their hand.
I did appreciate that Elena's "fatal beauty" doesn't make people love her so much as go a bit nuts obsessing over her, which often ends in her being seen as a prize. A war hostage especially suffers with "fatal beauty." But I laughed for the wrong reason whenever someone referred to the three as "The Miracle Sisters." They sound like a burlesque act.
Three sisters are born in response to a mass murder and possibly the loss of three mages to a hungry demon. Twenty-something years later, when one is taken as a war hostage by the Mirayans the other two set out to rescue her. They have no purpose on their journey aside from saving their sister, but the people in the lands they go through are going to force their hand.
I did appreciate that Elena's "fatal beauty" doesn't make people love her so much as go a bit nuts obsessing over her, which often ends in her being seen as a prize. A war hostage especially suffers with "fatal beauty." But I laughed for the wrong reason whenever someone referred to the three as "The Miracle Sisters." They sound like a burlesque act.
July 14, 2013
I don't really know what to say about this book. Too many unanswered questions, too many loose threads. Apparently there is a possible sequel, but I'm not sure if I care enough to search it out if it is ever published.
The story itself is intriguing, with the different forms of magic--the kind the mages use and the life force that the Tari use. We get to know two of the three sisters quite well, Elena (the fatal beauty who is clever) and Yani (the warrior). But much of the backstory is missing and barely gets sketched in by the end of the book. This is a book with too many similar names for the tribes--a map would have helped.
The story itself is intriguing, with the different forms of magic--the kind the mages use and the life force that the Tari use. We get to know two of the three sisters quite well, Elena (the fatal beauty who is clever) and Yani (the warrior). But much of the backstory is missing and barely gets sketched in by the end of the book. This is a book with too many similar names for the tribes--a map would have helped.
March 8, 2013
I read this when it first came out some years ago, when I was in middle school. While I wouldn't recommend it for a younger audience due to violence of a sexual nature I didn't think the story was terrible. It was meant to be a trilogy I think and I do wish she had put the other books out - I hate not finishing a story.
My only problem with the book is kind of how they portray men (from what I remember, most of them were pretty much okay with rape.) And the race of people known as Tari were a little... strange in a few ways.
My only problem with the book is kind of how they portray men (from what I remember, most of them were pretty much okay with rape.) And the race of people known as Tari were a little... strange in a few ways.
October 15, 2015
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway. This book really was a good read! I loved the scenery and the world that was created. Many social issues were delved into however my biggest issue with the book lay here. Many social issues brought up were never resolved. To me this book felt as though it should bave been the first in a series, thinks left undone or unsaid. I prefer not to say what happens in a book, I'd rather you went and read it to make up your own mind. Overall good book just disappointed it didn't continue.
April 10, 2010
This was a tough book to get through. I think it was because there was so many things going on at the same time. The characters were interesting but a little under-developed. The ending didn't resolve the conflicts still existing. Perhaps the author has a 2nd book in mind, but I am not sure that I would read another.
August 10, 2010
This book took a while to get into and then once I was into it, it stopped. I hate a book with no ending. Argh!! I guess the writer was setting herself up for a sequel that never happened? Very, very frustrating. The world she created was fascinating and it really had potential.
June 1, 2015
This whole idea of fatal beauty is intriguing. This book is really very unique, I think!
January 27, 2016
more like two books of a series put in one but still good
December 30, 2023
this was a good fantasy with great character development.
did-not-finish-or-start
July 14, 2021DNS 7/14/2021
March 9, 2016
I was very disappointed that there wasn't a sequel to this story that just begs for a continuation.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews