What do you think?
Rate this book
Imperium: Mech #3
The Empress
A new form of alien, a human feudal society and an army of mech rebels clash in the fourth story of the Mech series.
Ignis Glace is a war-torn world of fire and ice. Tidally-locked to its tiny red sun, one side of the planet bakes while the other side is forever frozen. Known as Sunside and Nightside, these two wastelands are bordered by a narrow inhabitable region known as Twilight.
Humans and mechs battle for control of their world, even while a third player approaches the game: the Skaintz Imperium. Once the aliens strike, no world is ever the same.
MECH 3 is the longest book of the series. A grim novel of Alien Invasion by bestselling author B. V. Larson.
Ignis Glace is a war-torn world of fire and ice. Tidally-locked to its tiny red sun, one side of the planet bakes while the other side is forever frozen. Known as Sunside and Nightside, these two wastelands are bordered by a narrow inhabitable region known as Twilight.
Humans and mechs battle for control of their world, even while a third player approaches the game: the Skaintz Imperium. Once the aliens strike, no world is ever the same.
MECH 3 is the longest book of the series. A grim novel of Alien Invasion by bestselling author B. V. Larson.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2012
92 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
B.V. Larson
134 books1,529 followersBrian Larson is an American science fiction and fantasy author
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 20, 2017
This author never fails to impress!
Another great series! Well written and full of great characters. I hope this series continues with more from the Droads, Aldo, and the more humanized Mechs!
Another great series! Well written and full of great characters. I hope this series continues with more from the Droads, Aldo, and the more humanized Mechs!
May 4, 2017
Human or not Human traits are universal
It seems that in the universe aliens, mechs and humans all have the same asset and fault; they all hAve human traits.
It seems that in the universe aliens, mechs and humans all have the same asset and fault; they all hAve human traits.
February 7, 2018
Best of the series.
This book showed good depth and complexity. Many competing groups and undertones made it quite enjoyable. Keep up the good work.
This book showed good depth and complexity. Many competing groups and undertones made it quite enjoyable. Keep up the good work.
May 25, 2019
Very enjoyable
The usual great interwoven plots. Enough personal interaction among the characters to hold one’s interest and enough sci-fi to make the premises believable.
The usual great interwoven plots. Enough personal interaction among the characters to hold one’s interest and enough sci-fi to make the premises believable.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
September 20, 2020
Not his vest series of books but still word to read
April 14, 2013
I love the mech series because it's the closest I've seen to what actual Zerg (you know, from Starcraft) would be like. The aliens are truly alien and unapologetic about their evil. To them, our sentience and the challenge we provide just makes us all that much tastier when they do finally get us on their dinner table. And yet, they are still a complex and quite intelligent species with their own set of foibles and problems.
In this book, we're introduced to a new kind of Skaintz - an Empress. And we find out that Skaintz can indeed be just as stupid as humans at times. At the same time, we are introduced to a new world and a wonderful new conflict between humans and the creations of their own stupid and amoral greed. As is usual with Larson, the characters are well done, with both good and bad traits, and always interesting. We see more of our old friends Aldo and Garth and they each cut a swath through the story in their unique and interesting ways. Aldo finds that humans are, as always, a more insoluble problem than aliens - sticking a sword in humans, unlike aliens, is not always the correct decision, and he has to fight his desire to solve his problems by doing do so a number of times. I love Aldo. We're introduced to a new character, Nina Droad, a wonderfully morally ambiguous heroine with shades of Captain Ahab in her complex personality.
As usual, the short sighted humans ignore the truly deadly threat of the Skaintz and fight each other until the Skaintz arrive and start eating them regardless of which side they belong to. It's sad, darkly amusing, and worrisome how spot-on Larson is with his treatment of how nations act.
This time, however, it looks as if our own stupidity is going to be our doom and the aliens truly will win the day, despite how we finally get our act together and unite against the common enemy. Surprisingly, it's Garth who ends up saving the day in a very moving display of personal heroism and sacrifice. And we learn a bit more about the mysterious Tulk - and that even they can be the unlikeliest of heroes at times.
My only real gripe about this book is that the ending was a bit too abrupt and contrived. The term Deus Ex Machina comes to mind, but it's not quite as cut and dried as that. Almost, but not quite. Still, despite the heroism and sacrifice, it felt contrived and abrupt. Oh well, can't always be perfect, I suppose.
In this book, we're introduced to a new kind of Skaintz - an Empress. And we find out that Skaintz can indeed be just as stupid as humans at times. At the same time, we are introduced to a new world and a wonderful new conflict between humans and the creations of their own stupid and amoral greed. As is usual with Larson, the characters are well done, with both good and bad traits, and always interesting. We see more of our old friends Aldo and Garth and they each cut a swath through the story in their unique and interesting ways. Aldo finds that humans are, as always, a more insoluble problem than aliens - sticking a sword in humans, unlike aliens, is not always the correct decision, and he has to fight his desire to solve his problems by doing do so a number of times. I love Aldo. We're introduced to a new character, Nina Droad, a wonderfully morally ambiguous heroine with shades of Captain Ahab in her complex personality.
As usual, the short sighted humans ignore the truly deadly threat of the Skaintz and fight each other until the Skaintz arrive and start eating them regardless of which side they belong to. It's sad, darkly amusing, and worrisome how spot-on Larson is with his treatment of how nations act.
This time, however, it looks as if our own stupidity is going to be our doom and the aliens truly will win the day, despite how we finally get our act together and unite against the common enemy. Surprisingly, it's Garth who ends up saving the day in a very moving display of personal heroism and sacrifice. And we learn a bit more about the mysterious Tulk - and that even they can be the unlikeliest of heroes at times.
My only real gripe about this book is that the ending was a bit too abrupt and contrived. The term Deus Ex Machina comes to mind, but it's not quite as cut and dried as that. Almost, but not quite. Still, despite the heroism and sacrifice, it felt contrived and abrupt. Oh well, can't always be perfect, I suppose.
December 15, 2012
It was so blah … not even a blah-blah. Easily the worst of an already bland series. I was so happy when I saw there wasn’t far to go so kept at it out of sheer idiocy. There was very little story, long boring 4/5th’s book lead up, fast predictable deus ex machina ending with totally unlikeable main characters, including a stupid snobby aristocracy (never seen this before), rich spoilt brat who of course is super good looking, super good at combat and command skills etc, and a leeching, womanising fool of a professional duellist who believes all womankind was meant to worship at his knees and be grateful for the use of his prodder. You didn’t want to give any of them a hug, the bugs got far better character development and thinking about it now if I was going to hug any character it would have been two of the bugs. All in all it had the feel of a freeware formula book recipe with no surprises, twists or anything remotely eyebrow twisting. Would make a far better 30m weekly television show where effects trump literary skills. I did enjoy the first book.
I have read quite a lot of BV’s books so there must be some guilty pleasure somewhere, BV to me would be a far better screen writer than author. I started with the Star Force series and found them highly entertaining whilst knowing no literary awards are forthcoming. This doesn’t matter much as you need a light read more often than War & Peace, and I enjoyed them, buggar what others think! BV’s fantasy foray (Haven series) is definitely sub-par on all levels, oh God they are terrible! I unfortunately downloaded the lot from audible.com at once after ok’ing the first book, because at year end audible.com don’t let you roll over all your credits. Terrible decision, I cannot get thru the 3rd book, the 2nd was bad enough.
I don’t know if BV still self-edits? I did read on his site he was going to stop doing so (I think?). I hope so, seems self-editing is as dangerous as the proliferation of personal weapons in America.
I have read quite a lot of BV’s books so there must be some guilty pleasure somewhere, BV to me would be a far better screen writer than author. I started with the Star Force series and found them highly entertaining whilst knowing no literary awards are forthcoming. This doesn’t matter much as you need a light read more often than War & Peace, and I enjoyed them, buggar what others think! BV’s fantasy foray (Haven series) is definitely sub-par on all levels, oh God they are terrible! I unfortunately downloaded the lot from audible.com at once after ok’ing the first book, because at year end audible.com don’t let you roll over all your credits. Terrible decision, I cannot get thru the 3rd book, the 2nd was bad enough.
I don’t know if BV still self-edits? I did read on his site he was going to stop doing so (I think?). I hope so, seems self-editing is as dangerous as the proliferation of personal weapons in America.
May 7, 2012
Very Fun and Entertaining Read!
I strongly suggest you read the previous books in the series (Mech 1: The Parent and Mech 2: The Savant) prior to reading this installment.
Deeper character development and the disparate of intricate plots delicately blended together from one protagonist to another, makes this book by far, my favorite book of the entire series.
The world depiction was so vivid it was effortless to envision the fiery and ferocious Sunside, and icy and glacial Nightside with a cool Twilight-haven sandwiched in-between. The author did a great job of describing the dilemma of each protagonist and what motivations fueled their plights. The abundance of mystery, intrigue and action with plenty of twists and turns, balanced out the story.
Unfortunately, as of 5/1/12, the author is still on the fence in regards to continuing this series. Fans of the series, at least we have a 50/50 chance of receiving more Skaintz Imperium mayhem in the future (hopefully the near future).
I highly recommend this book fellow SF readers and also recommend to fellow dark urban fantasy readers who are looking for a good space opera but do not want to end up with a space romance. I will be reading the series prequel novella Mech Zero: The Dominant
I also recommend:
Children of Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus, Book 2)
Castle Vroman (A Galaxy Unknown, Book 6)
The Hour of Dust and Ashes (Charlie Madigan, Book 3)
Hellforged (A Deadtown Novel)
Black Night (Black Wings, Book 2)
I strongly suggest you read the previous books in the series (Mech 1: The Parent and Mech 2: The Savant) prior to reading this installment.
Deeper character development and the disparate of intricate plots delicately blended together from one protagonist to another, makes this book by far, my favorite book of the entire series.
The world depiction was so vivid it was effortless to envision the fiery and ferocious Sunside, and icy and glacial Nightside with a cool Twilight-haven sandwiched in-between. The author did a great job of describing the dilemma of each protagonist and what motivations fueled their plights. The abundance of mystery, intrigue and action with plenty of twists and turns, balanced out the story.
Unfortunately, as of 5/1/12, the author is still on the fence in regards to continuing this series. Fans of the series, at least we have a 50/50 chance of receiving more Skaintz Imperium mayhem in the future (hopefully the near future).
I highly recommend this book fellow SF readers and also recommend to fellow dark urban fantasy readers who are looking for a good space opera but do not want to end up with a space romance. I will be reading the series prequel novella Mech Zero: The Dominant
I also recommend:
Children of Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus, Book 2)
Castle Vroman (A Galaxy Unknown, Book 6)
The Hour of Dust and Ashes (Charlie Madigan, Book 3)
Hellforged (A Deadtown Novel)
Black Night (Black Wings, Book 2)
May 14, 2013
I felt like the author wasted my time. The first two installments had an element of seriousness, of looming danger. This one feels mush more like a joke, as if he hot tired of the series and chose to go out with a personal laugh, without considering that some readers would be irritated at the silliness that he assigned to the alien motivations, In this one the aliens are completely humanized, down to some of their most basic motivations. I found myself hating the main human protagonist, which is arguably a victory for the author, but i suspect not one of his actual goals.
It wasn't a particularly deep series to begin with, and after this installment i won't be picking up anymore.
It wasn't a particularly deep series to begin with, and after this installment i won't be picking up anymore.
July 26, 2015
A pleasant departure
This book, in fact the entire Imperium series, is very different than Larson's other series. I stress different only because it is indicative of his growing skill at story telling. The aliens in this series quite disgusted me and I cheered when doom came upon them. There are memorable characters at every turn and the action sequences are devastating. In short, it is well worth picking up and reading. Start with the Novella "Mech 0". It's a great introduction to this universe. Then rinse and repeat with the remaining books.
This book, in fact the entire Imperium series, is very different than Larson's other series. I stress different only because it is indicative of his growing skill at story telling. The aliens in this series quite disgusted me and I cheered when doom came upon them. There are memorable characters at every turn and the action sequences are devastating. In short, it is well worth picking up and reading. Start with the Novella "Mech 0". It's a great introduction to this universe. Then rinse and repeat with the remaining books.
November 19, 2016
This was a pretty good read but I do wonder about the reality of 'knights' in science fiction. Really? OK, they have electronic swords, but that doesn't cut it for me sorry :). Why if we can't imagine forward, scifi authors like to dredge up the past? Anyway, the storyline was good with the implacable aliens replicating like crazy to destroy another planet - only to be beaten by stupidity and an unlikely coalition of the willing. A number of improbable scenarios made it a tad undigestibel in places. Sorry, but I'm a scientist and can't suspend logic that much.
October 3, 2015
The swordsman bares a strikingly similar personality trait, as one rash mercenary who dislikes being regrown.
People are now pets for robots.
"I will show youthe world.... they way."
People being like steaks..... what's scary about that, is that it's wholly possible.
I wonder what would happen, if the golems and A.Is from Neal Asher series, met up with the Imperium....
3.5/5 Stars
People are now pets for robots.
"I will show you
People being like steaks..... what's scary about that, is that it's wholly possible.
I wonder what would happen, if the golems and A.Is from Neal Asher series, met up with the Imperium....
3.5/5 Stars
March 7, 2014
Enjoyed how it tried the characters together.
Enjoyed how it tried the characters together.
Said that some of the heroes died, but (spoiler) all the villains died. The end happened a little to fast for me. I wish it would have filled out more +50 pages. So where will those nasty aliens pop up next?
Enjoyed how it tried the characters together.
Said that some of the heroes died, but (spoiler) all the villains died. The end happened a little to fast for me. I wish it would have filled out more +50 pages. So where will those nasty aliens pop up next?
September 30, 2014
More, please.
I've read all four books in the Imperium series. Although the multitude of aliens is sometimes confusing and the plots saved at the last moment by contrivance, I'll read more. the story has pulled me in, and I want to know what happens next!
I've read all four books in the Imperium series. Although the multitude of aliens is sometimes confusing and the plots saved at the last moment by contrivance, I'll read more. the story has pulled me in, and I want to know what happens next!
February 3, 2014
good reading
March 14, 2014
More of the same as the previous two books. It's pretty good, but not outstanding.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews