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Hegemony
The Hegemony of Suns is the greatest of the empires of mankind that have spread out through space from an abandoned and dying Earth. The Hegemony's vast warships dominate the skies over a hundred worlds, protecting its subjects and enforcing its will.
The interceptor pilots of the Hegemonic Fleet are the cutting edge of the Hegemony's military might, the tip of the spear. In a split second, they can decide the outcome of a battle that can affect the fates of whole star systems. The life expectancy of an interceptor pilot is measured in minutes. It's debatable if they're still human. It's debatable if they're even alive to begin with.
Alekzandra Neel has attained what she sought; a place among the stars, a chance to be an interceptor pilot of the Hegemonic Fleet. She doesn't expect it to be safe or easy. But as war clouds gather and billions look to the skies with nervous fear, she has no idea what the real cost could be.
The interceptor pilots of the Hegemonic Fleet are the cutting edge of the Hegemony's military might, the tip of the spear. In a split second, they can decide the outcome of a battle that can affect the fates of whole star systems. The life expectancy of an interceptor pilot is measured in minutes. It's debatable if they're still human. It's debatable if they're even alive to begin with.
Alekzandra Neel has attained what she sought; a place among the stars, a chance to be an interceptor pilot of the Hegemonic Fleet. She doesn't expect it to be safe or easy. But as war clouds gather and billions look to the skies with nervous fear, she has no idea what the real cost could be.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2012
23 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 26, 2012
A solid read given the 99-cent purchase price. Most of the novel is spent describing a series of space battles in spectacular detail, but the ideas are new and the pace is good. Plus there's enough of a personal story to keep things going. The writing can be a little clunky at times, and there probably needs to be illustrations to highlight the differences between "swift ships" and "lance ships", but overall a decent effort.
July 23, 2014
as i did not have enough asap books to read, bought this one too; could be a quick engaging read but will see
- finished the book as it was a relatively short, fast and generally engaging read which promises a lot if the author will continue the story
- it reminded me to a large extent of the early Honorverse books especially when the shift moved from the character in the blurb to the other main character, who is a young ship captain, not originally from the aristocracy but with protectors there (and now of course a member of it as all ship officers and pilots are), up and coming etc etc
- there are some major differences in so far the Hegemony is completely dominated by the aristocracy who are all neural net humans (there is a good setup explaining the one way transition from flesh to quantum state which can be embodied but not duplicated, the way the Church treats it etc)
- the opposition are a sort of atheist People's Republic with (generally dumb but powerful) commissars on board and set on conquest and on mischief
- there are pirates and corrupt hegemony officials as well as some that believe that the power structure that prefers the 'zombies" not the flesh humans is wrong..
- the info dumps are Weberian on occasion too and the author does not quite have (yet) the narrative pull but there is a lot of promise so I really hope the series gets continued
- the book itself solves its main storyline and ends at a good point though of course there is a huge TBC
The full FBC rv below (pretty much the above but done coherently)
INTRODUCTION: "The Hegemony of Suns is the greatest of the empires of mankind that have spread out through space from an abandoned and dying Earth. The Hegemony's vast warships dominate the skies over a hundred worlds, protecting its subjects and enforcing its will.
The interceptor pilots of the Hegemonic Fleet are the cutting edge of the Hegemony's military might, the tip of the spear. In a split second, they can decide the outcome of a battle that can affect the fates of whole star systems. The life expectancy of an interceptor pilot is measured in minutes. It's debatable if they're still human. It's debatable if they're even alive to begin with.
Alekzandra Neel has attained what she sought; a place among the stars, a chance to be an interceptor pilot of the Hegemonic Fleet. She doesn't expect it to be safe or easy. But as war clouds gather and billions look to the skies with nervous fear, she has no idea what the real cost could be."
On looking through recent Smashwords novels, I encountered Mark Kalina's debut, Hegemony, which attracted me by its blurb and then by the sample. As I did not have enough asap books to read, I bought this one too expecting a quick engaging read and while it indeed proved to be such, it was also more as the book starts a series with an extremely compelling universe.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: From the way it started - freighters making FTL transit to an important but isolated location and an all around sense of quiet menace, Hegemony strongly reminded me of the early Honorverse books, while later when the novel's center of gravity shifted from Alekzandra (Zandy), to Demi-Captain Freya Tralk, a young up and coming ship captain, not originally from the aristocracy but with powerful protectors there and now of course a member of it as all ship officers and pilots are, the similarities deepened.
However, there are also some major differences in so far the Hegemony (the Polity here, not the novel of course) is completely dominated by the aristocracy who in a quite original twist, are all neural net humans.There is a good explanation of the setup explaining the one way transition from flesh to quantum state which can be embodied in avatars, but not duplicated, the way the Church treats it, the way it works in practice - costs, benefits, reasons and that is one of the major strengths of the novel.
The opposition who so far seem to be all bad guys with no subtlety - though again it is early - are a sort of atheist People's Republic with generally dumb but powerful commissars on board and set on conquest and on mischief. They have a structural disadvantage to the Hegemony as their ideology regards the neural net humans as "missile guidance units with delusions of humanity", so their ships are crewed by flesh humans, hence much lower accelerations, time needed to recover between high-g burns and all that vulnerable flesh implies...
In addition there are pirates and corrupt Hegemony officials as well as some that believe that the power structure that prefers the "zombies" not the flesh humans is wrong. The info dumps are quite Weberian on occasion too and while the author does not quite have (yet) the narrative pull to make one turn the pages through them too, there is a lot of promise so I really hope the series gets continued.
Hegemony solves its main storyline and ends at a good point though of course there is a huge TBC sign and the series has depth for a long run if successful.
Overall Hegemony was a relatively short, fast and quite engaging read set in a very interesting universe, very Weberian in overtones and "philosophy" and with narrative pull that on occasion comes close to the Honorverse and for that it makes the list of my highly recommended novels of 2012.
- finished the book as it was a relatively short, fast and generally engaging read which promises a lot if the author will continue the story
- it reminded me to a large extent of the early Honorverse books especially when the shift moved from the character in the blurb to the other main character, who is a young ship captain, not originally from the aristocracy but with protectors there (and now of course a member of it as all ship officers and pilots are), up and coming etc etc
- there are some major differences in so far the Hegemony is completely dominated by the aristocracy who are all neural net humans (there is a good setup explaining the one way transition from flesh to quantum state which can be embodied but not duplicated, the way the Church treats it etc)
- the opposition are a sort of atheist People's Republic with (generally dumb but powerful) commissars on board and set on conquest and on mischief
- there are pirates and corrupt hegemony officials as well as some that believe that the power structure that prefers the 'zombies" not the flesh humans is wrong..
- the info dumps are Weberian on occasion too and the author does not quite have (yet) the narrative pull but there is a lot of promise so I really hope the series gets continued
- the book itself solves its main storyline and ends at a good point though of course there is a huge TBC
The full FBC rv below (pretty much the above but done coherently)
INTRODUCTION: "The Hegemony of Suns is the greatest of the empires of mankind that have spread out through space from an abandoned and dying Earth. The Hegemony's vast warships dominate the skies over a hundred worlds, protecting its subjects and enforcing its will.
The interceptor pilots of the Hegemonic Fleet are the cutting edge of the Hegemony's military might, the tip of the spear. In a split second, they can decide the outcome of a battle that can affect the fates of whole star systems. The life expectancy of an interceptor pilot is measured in minutes. It's debatable if they're still human. It's debatable if they're even alive to begin with.
Alekzandra Neel has attained what she sought; a place among the stars, a chance to be an interceptor pilot of the Hegemonic Fleet. She doesn't expect it to be safe or easy. But as war clouds gather and billions look to the skies with nervous fear, she has no idea what the real cost could be."
On looking through recent Smashwords novels, I encountered Mark Kalina's debut, Hegemony, which attracted me by its blurb and then by the sample. As I did not have enough asap books to read, I bought this one too expecting a quick engaging read and while it indeed proved to be such, it was also more as the book starts a series with an extremely compelling universe.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: From the way it started - freighters making FTL transit to an important but isolated location and an all around sense of quiet menace, Hegemony strongly reminded me of the early Honorverse books, while later when the novel's center of gravity shifted from Alekzandra (Zandy), to Demi-Captain Freya Tralk, a young up and coming ship captain, not originally from the aristocracy but with powerful protectors there and now of course a member of it as all ship officers and pilots are, the similarities deepened.
However, there are also some major differences in so far the Hegemony (the Polity here, not the novel of course) is completely dominated by the aristocracy who in a quite original twist, are all neural net humans.There is a good explanation of the setup explaining the one way transition from flesh to quantum state which can be embodied in avatars, but not duplicated, the way the Church treats it, the way it works in practice - costs, benefits, reasons and that is one of the major strengths of the novel.
The opposition who so far seem to be all bad guys with no subtlety - though again it is early - are a sort of atheist People's Republic with generally dumb but powerful commissars on board and set on conquest and on mischief. They have a structural disadvantage to the Hegemony as their ideology regards the neural net humans as "missile guidance units with delusions of humanity", so their ships are crewed by flesh humans, hence much lower accelerations, time needed to recover between high-g burns and all that vulnerable flesh implies...
In addition there are pirates and corrupt Hegemony officials as well as some that believe that the power structure that prefers the "zombies" not the flesh humans is wrong. The info dumps are quite Weberian on occasion too and while the author does not quite have (yet) the narrative pull to make one turn the pages through them too, there is a lot of promise so I really hope the series gets continued.
Hegemony solves its main storyline and ends at a good point though of course there is a huge TBC sign and the series has depth for a long run if successful.
Overall Hegemony was a relatively short, fast and quite engaging read set in a very interesting universe, very Weberian in overtones and "philosophy" and with narrative pull that on occasion comes close to the Honorverse and for that it makes the list of my highly recommended novels of 2012.
August 18, 2013
In movie and TV science fiction, such as Battlestar Galatica and Star Wars, we see a lot of small, single-pilot combat vessels zipping about. These are usually portrayed as running rings around larger and more ponderous vessels, while these small ships can be deadly to the big boys. The setup bears more than a little resemblance to modern-day fighter carrier-based fighter pilots, and allows for lots of screen time for attractive pilots with good teeth.
Yet, in reality, modern carrier aviation works because even a slow military plane travels ten times as fast as a fast warship, and moves in a different medium. Space ships all move in the same medium, and not only is there no reason for a small ship to be faster than a big one, the small ship will run out of fuel before the big guy does. So space fighters don’t work.
Except when somebody makes a real effort to make them work, which is what we have in Mark Kalina’s case. His space fighters draw power from the mother ship’s lasers, allowing greater acceleration and acting to enhance the mother ship’s weapons range. Mark also addresses the problem of humans being able to withstand high G-forces by having humans upload into computers, and he invokes quantum theory to ensure a human can only be in one computer at a time. If you die, we don’t just go to the backup – you’re dead.
This is all rather deftly explained in the opening chapters of Hegemony. Humanity has long since fled Earth, and two multi-planet groups of humans, the Hegemony and the Coalition, are in a (currently cold) war with each other. Into this mix steps Alekzandra “Zandy” Neel, interceptor pilot and former commoner. Her ship gets tasked to investigate what looks like a bit of piracy, but the situation proves exceptionally more complex.
I find myself liking a lot of Kalina’s world-building. Zandy’s character is rather well-developed for the genre, and I found the worlds created fascinating. In the Hegemony, the aristocrats (referred to by the Greek aristokratía) are permanently uploaded into computers, and download into biomechanical avatars. This is not-well-regarded either by the common people of the Hegemony (including Zandy’s mother) nor the Coalition. Actually, even Zandy’s a bit conflicted about the idea.
On the subject of world-building, one of my pet peeves in space opera is to map wet-water Navy traditions and ship types onto a space force. Not so in Hegemony – Kalina rolls his own fleet. But this is not just a world-builder’s novel. Space opera is not known for character development, but there’s a fair bit of that for even the secondary characters. Hegemony is a short book at 298 pages, but it packs a strong punch. Highly recommended.
Yet, in reality, modern carrier aviation works because even a slow military plane travels ten times as fast as a fast warship, and moves in a different medium. Space ships all move in the same medium, and not only is there no reason for a small ship to be faster than a big one, the small ship will run out of fuel before the big guy does. So space fighters don’t work.
Except when somebody makes a real effort to make them work, which is what we have in Mark Kalina’s case. His space fighters draw power from the mother ship’s lasers, allowing greater acceleration and acting to enhance the mother ship’s weapons range. Mark also addresses the problem of humans being able to withstand high G-forces by having humans upload into computers, and he invokes quantum theory to ensure a human can only be in one computer at a time. If you die, we don’t just go to the backup – you’re dead.
This is all rather deftly explained in the opening chapters of Hegemony. Humanity has long since fled Earth, and two multi-planet groups of humans, the Hegemony and the Coalition, are in a (currently cold) war with each other. Into this mix steps Alekzandra “Zandy” Neel, interceptor pilot and former commoner. Her ship gets tasked to investigate what looks like a bit of piracy, but the situation proves exceptionally more complex.
I find myself liking a lot of Kalina’s world-building. Zandy’s character is rather well-developed for the genre, and I found the worlds created fascinating. In the Hegemony, the aristocrats (referred to by the Greek aristokratía) are permanently uploaded into computers, and download into biomechanical avatars. This is not-well-regarded either by the common people of the Hegemony (including Zandy’s mother) nor the Coalition. Actually, even Zandy’s a bit conflicted about the idea.
On the subject of world-building, one of my pet peeves in space opera is to map wet-water Navy traditions and ship types onto a space force. Not so in Hegemony – Kalina rolls his own fleet. But this is not just a world-builder’s novel. Space opera is not known for character development, but there’s a fair bit of that for even the secondary characters. Hegemony is a short book at 298 pages, but it packs a strong punch. Highly recommended.
October 21, 2012
A nice quick read from a self-published author, definitely a good value for the money. Since I like hard sci-fi, I appreciate a well reasoned universe for travel and military tactics. There are attempts to flesh out the social and political contexts as well, and while they serve as an attempt to flesh out the back story of several characters, the background seems like distractions. I would definitely try another book from the universe, if it comes out.
September 24, 2012
Took a while to get into, but once I did quite an interesting book. I really like his take on what war in space would be like. Very realistic I think.
September 30, 2022
5 stars, a favorite
100% finished in two days
This was a very enjoyable science fiction novel. The science is great because it enables some very novel space battles. There are a lot of space battles. If you like the sound of that, read this.
Disclaimer: My ratings reflect my enjoyment of the book unless stated otherwise. The scale from 1 through 5 is disliked, okay, liked, greatly liked, and loved. The scale is not set with 3 as 'okay' because preserving a normal distribution and "using the whole scale" while reviewing is more important to me than aesthetics (also Goodreads recommends this scale). (webnovels aren't normally distributed, and center closer to 2/5 instead of 3/5. oh well.)
Characters: 3/5 liked
The characters were varied. They acted mostly human. There wasn't a lot of depth, but that's fine. The characters are not really what drew me to this. They are likable though. They do fall into generic categories, but that's fine.
Main character characterization: multiple perspectives, all important.
World: 5/5 a favorite
The science is really good. There's a reason this is an "Atomic Novel" which is near the top of the list on Atomic Rockets (projectrho.com). The science is impeccable. The space battles are wonderful. It is a whole package, as well. It's not the usual 'one new technology and otherwise pretty standard' space opera. This is real science fiction.
Story: 3/5 liked
It was entertaining. Once again, nothing high-brow, but I was not expecting anything. I'm coming off of reading webnovels, remember? This was fun, solid, and had a lot of space battles. I couldn't ask for more. The multiple perspectives made the battles a lot more entertaining as well. Usually I would say that frequent references to sex are unnecessary, but here I think they really contributed to the feeling of the whole setting. Kind of like Cyberpunk, I guess. That's been on the mind lately as well :)
100% finished in two days
This was a very enjoyable science fiction novel. The science is great because it enables some very novel space battles. There are a lot of space battles. If you like the sound of that, read this.
Disclaimer: My ratings reflect my enjoyment of the book unless stated otherwise. The scale from 1 through 5 is disliked, okay, liked, greatly liked, and loved. The scale is not set with 3 as 'okay' because preserving a normal distribution and "using the whole scale" while reviewing is more important to me than aesthetics (also Goodreads recommends this scale). (webnovels aren't normally distributed, and center closer to 2/5 instead of 3/5. oh well.)
Characters: 3/5 liked
The characters were varied. They acted mostly human. There wasn't a lot of depth, but that's fine. The characters are not really what drew me to this. They are likable though. They do fall into generic categories, but that's fine.
Main character characterization: multiple perspectives, all important.
World: 5/5 a favorite
The science is really good. There's a reason this is an "Atomic Novel" which is near the top of the list on Atomic Rockets (projectrho.com). The science is impeccable. The space battles are wonderful. It is a whole package, as well. It's not the usual 'one new technology and otherwise pretty standard' space opera. This is real science fiction.
Story: 3/5 liked
It was entertaining. Once again, nothing high-brow, but I was not expecting anything. I'm coming off of reading webnovels, remember? This was fun, solid, and had a lot of space battles. I couldn't ask for more. The multiple perspectives made the battles a lot more entertaining as well. Usually I would say that frequent references to sex are unnecessary, but here I think they really contributed to the feeling of the whole setting. Kind of like Cyberpunk, I guess. That's been on the mind lately as well :)
September 1, 2019
Well done! I enjoyed the story a lot. Huge respect to the author for the really hard sci-fi, everything backed by plausible scientific explanation, it feels that author have done great deal of research in physics, astronomy, biology etc.
Views of the social structure of future society is also interesting and original.
Plot is intriguing, characters are lovely and "live" despites sometimes simplified or cliched but anyway compassionable.
Story is intense and action-packed.
Highly recommend this novel, would read another one from the author!
Views of the social structure of future society is also interesting and original.
Plot is intriguing, characters are lovely and "live" despites sometimes simplified or cliched but anyway compassionable.
Story is intense and action-packed.
Highly recommend this novel, would read another one from the author!
August 30, 2020
Just finished it, was absolutely amazed by it. The main strength of the book is the worldbuiding, especially tech, plot that keeps tension high and of course realistic space combat.
Characters are interesting and have interesting backstories and motivations. Wow.
Characters are interesting and have interesting backstories and motivations. Wow.
October 16, 2025
interesting setup and would do for a good movie. At the same time, it is a bit overloaded by battle details
November 6, 2013
Liked the parts in space (quite hard SF), disliked the Authors take on Brain-Uploading although I can understand that fleshing that part out warrants a book with a wholly different focus.
The two Superpowers disappointed though, yet another struggle between a quasi-Monarchy and an USSR expy.
The two Superpowers disappointed though, yet another struggle between a quasi-Monarchy and an USSR expy.
October 2, 2012
Ordnance, not ordinance.
Gawds I hate it when simple words like this make it through proofing.
There was another space opera almost identical to this and that author had the exact problem.
Gawds I hate it when simple words like this make it through proofing.
There was another space opera almost identical to this and that author had the exact problem.
September 24, 2012
For 99 cent this book is 5 star great value for the price.
October 3, 2012
Would give it 3.5. Weel done space-opera but the societal structure has a few twists that keep make it interesting.
January 26, 2013
Slow to start, but had me hooked 10% of the way in.
August 7, 2013
Tīri ok grāmatiņa un man pat patika - par karu starp cilvēkiem, kas izplatījušies visumā. Būtu gatavs lasīt arī turpinājumus.
Read
May 25, 2022Excellent hard scifi. Wish were more. Highly recommended.
May 17, 2017
Excellent quality hard sci fi. I came across a reference to this book while researching the use of pushing lasers in tactical space warfare. This story did not disappoint and the author has gained me as a fan! His use of laser driven, AI guided tactical fightercraft was cutting edge and I've not seen it done before in sci fi. I'll go looking for his other books now.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews