Empire

Star Force #6

by B.V. Larson

Kyle Riggs has been away from Earth for a long time…what’s happening back home?

In EMPIRE, the sixth book of the Star Force Series, the story moves in a new direction. Earth falls quiet, and the few reports coming out of the homeworld are increasingly strange. Isolated in the Eden system, Riggs realizes his enemies are forming an alliance against him. Crushed between two monstrous fleets, the last defenders of Star Force must forge their own alliance with the biotic aliens. But which alien race can Riggs truly trust?

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Military Fiction, Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Aliens

317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2012

About the author

Brian Larson is an American science fiction and fantasy author

Reviews

[Arthur]

The long anticipated showdown with Crow begins as Star Force finds that Earth has been converted to an Imperium..with Crow as the emperor. Kyle is forced battle his own kind to rescue the remnants of Star Force fleeing from Earth. And that, in turn, leads to one of the most profound changes I've seen in Kyle since the beginning (and there have been many!). I don't want to spoil things, but what Kyle does in reaction to that made me gasp...and cheer (FINALLY, he does the logical thing instead of "turning the other cheek").

Meanwhile, Marvin is becoming one of my favorite characters. Kyle has such a dilemma with Marvin - he's really an amoral supergenius who thinks nothing of using life for his own ends...but he gets incredible results. This always leaves Kyle with the most interesting problems and the sub-story of how he's teaching Marvin morality (even if it's sometimes at the point of a gun) is fascinating. I'm still not sure whether it will take and Marvin will truly understand and regret his evil actions or whether he'll just continue to get better at being manipulative and sneaky until he finally pushes Kyle too far and one of them kills the other.

As always, the book has just the right pacing - something B.V. Larson is quite good at. We're left at the end on a precipice of a major turning point and the next book will likely be excellent as well.

[Dan]

A good read.

[R]

I've said this series is highly addicting before and I will say it again. This book kept me up until 3 am, until I just couldn't stay awake anymore. Love the concept and the quick story pace. One of my favorite Military SF themed series!

[Sylwka (unserious.pl)]

Ja wiem, że to powoli ociera się o masochizm, ale trochę z ciekawości, a chyba bardziej nawet z przekory brnę dalej w kosmiczną telenowelę z największym erotomanem w tle. ;) Absolutnie gościu jako główny bohater mi nie siedzi, jego odzywki i samcze zapędy sięgają dna Bajkału. Sam jednak pomysł kosmicznej eskapady, nowe światy, problemy, czy intrygi nie są złe, dlatego zdecydowałam się na sięgnięcie po szóstą odsłonę gwiezdnej space opery B.V. Larsona pod tytułem Imperium.

Zagrożenie tu, zagrożenie tam.
"Kyle Riggs od dawna nie odwiedzał Ziemi. Nie ma pojęcia, co tam się dzieje. Nadchodzące raporty są coraz rzadsze i coraz dziwniejsze. Riggs, odizolowany w systemie Eden ze swoimi marines, zaczyna zdawać sobie sprawę, że przeciwko niemu formuje się sojusz. Dwie ogromne floty wkrótce ruszą, by zniszczyć siły pułkownika. Ostatni obrońcy z Sił Gwiezdnych muszą stawić czoła wrogom. Trzeba zawrzeć przymierze z obcymi biotami. Ale które gatunki są naprawdę godne zaufania?"

Niekończące się podchody… ;)
Akcja nie zwalnia od pierwszej do ostatniej minuty „odcinka”. Dzieje się tyle, że nie ma czasu na zaparzenie przysłowiowej herbaty.

Do tego wracamy ponownie myślami do Ziemi, gdzie na scenę wkracza nasz dobry znajomy, który sam się „awansował” na stanowisko dyktatora. Więc poza epickimi walkami w kosmosie, przemyśleniami odnośnie do nowych kosmicznych zobowiązań, możemy obserwować „stroszenie piórek i klasyczną walkę kogucików”. Muszę jeszcze nadmienić, że w tej całej zawierusze Kyle Riggs jak zawsze staje na wysokości zadania i powoli Chuck Norris może mu sznurówki w bucikach wiązać. ;)

Co do czysto erotycznej, tfu romantycznej części tego odcinka pozwolę sobie nie nadużywać klawiatury i oszczędzę Wam komentarza.

Jeżeli lubicie wartką akcję oraz kosmiczną przygodę i nie przeszkadza Wam spłaszczenie postaci, to Imperium B.V. Larsona jest tytułem w sam raz dla Was. I tylko nadmienię, iż audiobooka czyta genialny Roch Siemianowski.

http://unserious.pl/2020/11/imperium/

[Thomas James]

Battle Scenes are Memorable

As always, the action in a Larson story never stops. I actually cannot understand how a leader in war can emotionally function. I can only imagine the forward strides that could be made for everyone, if we were not so concerned about who gets credit and who owns or controls what. Imagine if all the effort put into killing each other went into medical, space, education, or anything but killing more of the enemy. Some speak of pride and honor, others of duty, still others of protecting the homeland. I don't find any honor in war. Still, the question here is did Larson write a great book. Yes, he did. Descriptions are vivid. Characters are interesting and very often the insights on the human condition are monumental.

[Ken Finlay]

“Empire”, sixth in the 'Star Force' series, sees Riggs Pigs facing two space fleets - the Macros and the Crustaceans.
And the haughty Blues (the original troublemakers in the series) are up to their old tricks.
On the plus side Marvin, the autonomous robot, is always to be relied upon to come up with a solution.
Emperor Jack Crow (Earth) has finally decided to up the ante and has sent a fleet to demand his immediate surrender.
The series revolves around Kyle Riggs. Every important decision is his alone and, while he holds regular discussions with senior staff, he usually shrugs off dissenting ideas.
3 Stars.

[John Merrick]

Nothing sophisticated, just an interesting, imaginative space adventure with intriguing characters. Escapist Sci-fi that doesn't strain the brain but also doesn't insult your intelligence. I'm reading all of his series of books.

[Joe Coney]

Tyyuioo

Ttyuu d chk 8o uioo jjjkk fduixj hgjkk fghji
Gghj iiko klop oklp ioopp oopll kkll vhn dtijj
Ghh hjk

[allan graham]

Great

Can't put this series down. Yes it has flaws but a good enough story to keep me hooked. Well worth a read and even better its on kindle unlimited

[Shaft]

Easy military action reader, go check it out from the beginning.

[Gdwallasign]

Weird misogynistic rationalization of Kyle Riggs objectification of Jasmine and cheating crowbarred in there. Otherwise pretty good.

[Chris Dellwo]

currently enjoying all of B.V. Larson books

[Klau]

Nie wiem czemu jeszcze czytam tę serię, ale po 6 tomie głupio zrezygnować.

[Christopher Jones]

Described by one person as "brain candy".

[Taukyrion]

6/10

[Jim]

Colonel Kyle Riggs is running out of people. He's got a bunch of goat people called Centaurs that can be used to fight except they don't take orders very well. He's also got a shortage of ships but inorder to fix both problems, he's got to defeat the Macros that exist right in the galaxy he's in now. He also needs to find out what's going on back on Earth since he would rather not have to go back there right now even though he's been ordered to do just that. He even gets a visit by a Rear Admiral representing the Emperor, telling him to come home with is fleet now! Col. Riggs knows nothing about this Earth Emperor so he knows things have changed drastically back home.

So now he's got to fight a new macro fleet, and a bunch of arrogant Lobster people plus figure out how to teach a bunch of gas clouds to behave.

This is another great book in the series. I still get a little tired of Col Riggs having to figure out absolutely everything even with all the other people standing around. Doesn't seem to be anyone else who can think or plan a darn thing. He's still got this crazy girl friend although she does settle down a little in this book and doesn't act quite so crazy.

These are well written books for Amazon sci-fi books. Very few grammatical errors or anything that distracts from the story being told. And, the series doesn't end here. Col Riggs and his group will someday head back to Earth, Imperial Earth as it's now called and that will be a very interesting story!

[Mike Nemeth]

I plowed through B.V. Larson's books one after another. It's a bad habit. I get lost in the story and have to know what's going to happen. Larson's a master at commandeering the male brain. At least mine. I don't have any insight into the female version. It sure as heck wouldn't be my wife, although she's as protective as protagonist Col. Kyle Riggs' bodyguard and No. 1 lady, Sandra. This novel takes Kyle Riggs into direct contact with the elusive and very different Blues. They're arrogant and not team players. They've been manipulating events behind humans' backs. But Riggs has Marvin, the often devious sentient robot who helps and hinders his plans. Marvin figures out that the Blues have been using the Rings, the huge devices that allow interstellar travel, to communicate. But like usual, Riggs is operating at a disadvantage. The Crustaceans, an arrogant race beyond one of the Rings, has allied with the Macros with devastating effect. Meanwhile, Crow, the devious leader of Star Force, has been busy making himself emperor back on Earth. He's controlling communications on a Stalinesque level and making Riggs out to be a rebel who needs to be put down. Meanwhile he sets out to do the killing himself. As usual, the story direction is hard to predict. Riggs does get himself into trouble again looking at Jasmine Sarin's butt. However, he doesn't accidently slip and create cause for Sandra to kill him.

[Travis]

This installment in the series was good, but it was riddled with typos (testicles instead of tentacles was the most common), but some grammatical errors as well. The author really needs a better editor (or better proof readers). On the other hand, the story was a good one, our hero continues to hand defeat after defeat to the enemy, (regardless of who that enemy might be), and while we learned more about the mysterious entities called the blues, I'm not sure the knowledge gained was anything that contributed to the overall story line. Admittedly, it allowed the avoidance of a battle that was best avoided, but since the machines were up to their typical tactics of pitting biological against biological, the predictable battle ensued anyway, no surprise there. Despite the blurb on the cover of the book, there is little actual news/contact with earth, other than a refugee fleet, and a quick run in with some new emperial forces. Most of this book focused on the lobsters, the blues, and the centaurs. Not a bad section of the story line, and actually well put together, I'm just a little disappointed in the lack of earth information after the blurb promised all sorts of earthly happenings. A good chapter in the series though, and I'm anxiously looking forward to the next installment.

[Zhifei Ge]

Another thrilling and fantastic book. After disappointing me terribly in the last book, Book VI of this Series re-stimulates my interest in going on to Book VII. in Book VI, campaigns are intertwined with politics. It's not a campaign between the Earth and the alien, but between the Earth Empire, the Star Force, the Centar, the Worm, the Lobster, the Blue, and the Macro. Yes, a campaign with seven political groups. There are allies and rebellions. Things going unexpected are things I want to read about. This book is led towards that direction.
However, I do have some reservations. First, the author tends to be biased against China, Russia and Eastern Europe. As a Chinese myself, I feel my country unfairly treated. Second, why in the hell Kyle Riggs can't die? Why can't the author create multiple heroes and just let them die when necessary. Currently, it just seems to me that Kyle Riggs is another Superman. I not only dislike it, I actually hate it.

[Diane]

B V Larson's Star Force series has become the standard by which I judge all military sci-fi.

This is book 6 in the series and if you're not on board yet, YOU ARE REALLY MISSING OUT! I just finished the and I'm sort of in an overwhelmed shocked state of being. SOOO much happened. There wasn't a dull moment. The writing is the best it's ever been and it just keeps getting better and better.

This one was epic as Kyle faces off against enemies both biotic and machine! It's supposed to be the biotics/us and all the other life forms they've discovered against these psycho macro ships right? Well, I can't and won't even tell you what Crowe has managed to do to Earth back home.

I laughed (mostly at Marvin's antics, and the Centaurs), I pumped my fists, I thought about human nature. I can't wait for more!

[Cjpines]

The series is enjoyable overall yet it has massive flaws in its characters.

The same character will jump from blood thirsty to compassionate to bloodthirsty at the slightest shift in the wind...and happen withing a dozen lines of text.

There is no discipline in the ranks, it's pointed out and never addressed over the years the story has spanned so far. The protagonist pulls off miraculous wins in combat over and over yet his crew, command and enlisted alike, have no loyalty. Every order in a live combat situation gets questioned openly by multiple people and he spends time arguing his reasoning rather than the job being done.

Honestly I can't see why 'our hero' wouldn't just build himself a ship and fly away in the night to leave all his doubters to sink or swim.

[BobA707]

Summary: Quite enjoyed this, the premise just doesn't work, the characters are all pretty unpleasant, but the plot moves along briskly and plenty of action. Some 'blues' interaction but otherwise minimum aliens. Some poor editing and some massive plot holes.

Plotline: Not well thought out but moves along very nicely, plenty of action. Some huge weaknesses so best to not think too hard about this plot.

Premise: No, just doesn't make sense, well may be a bit more than it did

Writing: The characters are all too one dimensional. Some poor editing/inconsistencies creeping into this volume.

Ending: Plenty of action

Pace: Never a dull moment!

[Carl Bussema]

Eh, it starts solid with an epic battle that takes up the first 25% of the book (keep that in mind if you choose to start this book just before bed...), and we get a few more battles throughout the book, with at least one interesting development, but by and large, at the end of this book, we're exactly where we were when we started the book, minus a no doubt soon forgotten amount of personnel and material resources.

Riggs also needs to stop letting Marvin manipulate him; it's getting really old.

[John Garmon]

For the most part I have enjoyed this series. However the inconsistencies throughout the storyline are infuriating. This book has been the worst. The early parts of the book are contradicted constantly as you read further along. It almost feels like there was not an editor involved at all. On top of that some of the tactical decisions made by the lead character make absolutely no sense. I suppose if I was a pre-teen when reading this I may not have noticed. I will try and continue with the series but if the remaining books read the same way I may have to give up.

[Alexander Bradley]

Again B.V Larson has created a thrilling action packed sequel that keeps you coming back for more. No more can Kyle Riggs stand by and watch everybody take what they want, finally he's putting his foot down and he's coming for the real bad guys.

Excellent writing with a few slip ups here and there. Progresses the story much better then past books and takes things in a new direction. Can't wait for the next book in the series.

[Christopher]

A stronger entry that has a lot more interaction with the duplicitous robot Martin and more people openly doubting the omniscience of SuperCommander(tm) Kyle Riggs. While finally learning what has happened on Earth, it's a bit of a letdown since we're only TOLD about it. The book (and series) would be a lot more engaging if these developments were SHOWN. Instead it's more an "oh by the way..." which falls flat.

[Lisa Korn]

Simply marvelous...

This was a continuation of the talented B.V. LARSONS STAR FORCE SERIES. He is so gifted, just when I'm sure I know what's gonna happen, the next scene comes from outta left field! The ideas, and descriptions are so detailed, almost like he was really there. I highly recommend this book, I. On to #7 , excited.

[Charles]

Definitely one of the better books of the series but dang give the main character a break assassins left and right the emperor's bd and how the hell that bastard has everyone worshiping his punk ass real good book for sci fi lovers

[Mark]

Pretty on-par for the series. Riggs gets his wake-up call WRT to where he stands with earth and "Emperor" Crow, slogs it out some more with the macros, and comes to some new understandings with the Blues. I'll pick up the next book in the series at some point....

[Will]

Nothing new here. Does not really advance the series. Disappointed.