Many years have passed since the attack of the Sachakans on Kyralia, Sonea has now became the Black Magician of the Guild. Cery is a Thief who has risen to a high rank in the community. Many surviving magicians have grown old and Sonea's son is now an adult and his name is Lorkin. Lorkin has not much significant things to do in the Guild unlike his mother who will go heal people at the hospice everyday and so he just hangs out with his friends most of the time. An opportunity came and he took it which is to follow Lord Dannyl to Sachaka and be the assistant to Lord Dannyl which has taken the position as an ambassador. Before the decision is final there was a vote and Sonea is very against this idea as Lorkin's father and herself has dealt a lot of damage there. For the people of Sachaka, revenge is a must for the love ones that has perish to the hands of Sonea and Akkarin in the war.
If they know of Lorkin's background he will not be safe in those lands as there will be many enemies. Sadly the guild has voted and Lorkin was to go there. Lord Dannyl promised Sonea that he will take care of her son but before they left Sonea sneaked a blood ring to Lorkin so he could contact her anytime he liked. So their journey begins where it took a few days to reach there. When reaching the land their duties were to meet with many high rank Sachakans and do diplomatic duties. At the same time, Lord Dannyl was interested in doing some research called High magic which could be a valuable source in obtaining better magic to help heal lands that perished to the war.
At the same time, danger lurks around for the Thieves as many have been targeted and murdered. Rumours has that there is a Thief Hunter and he/she uses magic to kill. Cery is next on the target and he went to meet with another Thief by the name of Skellin who also wants to investigate on the matter. Therefore they made a pact to share any information obtained. On the way home, Cery received bad news where his home was broken in and the whole family have been murdered. It was terrible news and Cery needed a new hideout. He went to give Sonea the news and asked for help at the same time but it was difficult for her as she cannot leave the guild besides going to the hospice. She said she would try if she could.
In Sachaka, slavery is still a big thing and many nights Lorkin and Dannyl were offer sex by the slaves but it was decline because it was not right in principal to Kyralians. One night when Lorkin was sleeping soundly he started to have weird dreams as he was attracted to one of the slaves and so he dreamt of her sexually. The dream felt real and when he woke up from shock there was a woman on top of him and with a dagger on her hand readying to stab him in the heart and he could not move or use magic to repel her. Suddenly someone bust into his room muttered a few words to the lady and she dropped dead on him. Tyvara was her name and she was to protect Lorkin from being killed by another slave which they both belong to the same clan. It was a secret clan where women had more power than man and they were all taught magic. The clan was known as the Traitors. The faction of Traitors were in a disagreement whether to kill Lorkin for revenge as his father Akkarin was saved by them and in exchange were to teach them healing magic. But Akkarin broke that trust and ran back to Kyralia. Lorkin and Tyvara have to run because they will be hunted by the faction. For saving Lorkin, Tyvara would have to face trial and might be sentenced to death. Lorkin did not agree and asked to be taken to meet their leader. Lorkin wanted to go there to learn their special magic where could protect themselves from having their mind read. So their journey begins to the Traitor's secret hideout while running away from being chased by magicians who are assisting Dannyl in locating Lorkin.
In the mean time there were more information about the Thief Hunter where they found out that it was a female and using magic without the Guild's permission is illegal. It seems that this woman is buying books related to magic and learning from it. This really concerns the guild but Sonea did not know what to do with the information and so asked Lord Rothen for advicewhere he told her to talk to Regin which was her rival. Lord Regin bullied Sonea a lot during their schooling time and it has been a trauma for her which made her dislike him. Regin suggested to help hunt down the rogue magician before announcing to the guild. This way Sonea could prove to the guild that she was trustworthy and that they allow to go out of the country to help locate her son that was lost. In Kyralia, the hunt begins for Sonea to track and capture the Thief Hunter/ Rogue magician with the help of Cery and her arch enemy Regin.
The Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan, it's been many years since I've read on Sonea and this is the continuation from The Magicians Guild trilogy. Sonea's child is all grown up and she herself is in her thirties. The guilds is totally different after the invasion and rebuilding, restructuring has been made. I'm thrilled that after the gap I still love the characters in the story. Sonea though missing Akkarin still strives to live and care for her child. The changes for her are mostly her appearance and also her maturity but it's still the same girl I used to read about. I love how the author can pick off where the readers left off, continuing how the guild progress and how the situation is in Imardin and also Sachaka. It's also nice to learn more about the Traitors where the women who wanted to pursue magic ran off and that was related to the book The Magician's Apprentice. What I like about this book is although we have Lorkin in the story, Sonea is not left out because I totally love her personality. The ending of book keeps readers hanging and wanting more, it's definitely a good ending to me.
You get what you always get from Trudi Canavan, events happening to different people from different places and with so many featured she does not fail to mention minor details. When fantasy books have too many characters the focus is spread but not her, every character is important and they all have a part and that is why I love reading her books. When you move from one character to another and a different scenario you would not get confused or lost. This is definitely a book that I would keep in my shelf and pick up to read again in future.
