The rebels have won a great victory, shattering the Empire’s grip on Sector 117. Starships are mutinying, the Empire’s power and authority are crumbling and the rebels are making their way towards Earth. Their victory seems inevitable.
But, as news of the rebellion finally reaches Earth, the Thousand Families start preparing for all-out war. The Empire has a war leader, a colossal advantage in firepower and the determination to do whatever it takes to destroy the rebels before they can win.
As both sides rush towards a titanic confrontation, they know that whoever wins will inherit the Empire. But, with humanity’s mighty civilisation threatening to collapse, they may only inherit a desert called peace.
[As always, my eBooks are DRM-free. You can do anything you like with them that you can do with a normal paperback book. Download a large sample from my website (www.chrishanger.net) before you buy.]
Wow. I wrote a stellar review of the first book before reading the second book in just two days. I said the first book was a story well told before moving on to book two. Nuttall finished this book just as well as the first completing a great story. He foreshadowed some ideas that never came into play keeping the reader thinking. At times you could feel for both sides of the battle.
I never write (anymore) reviews that contain spoilers. This story unfolded easily and wonderfully. Both the heroes and antagonists at times could be liked. A few characters could be hated and as a story of revolution, many seemingly changed.
I read one review that said the story was jumbled and told from too many points of view. I completely disagree. The various views provided insight into both sides of the struggle. I believe this will be the last book in the series, although it could go on, I doubt it will or should.
Nuttall did a terrific job between the two books in the series to unfold any background or history the reader needed to know while telling the story. It was a masterful piece of writing in my opinion. I primarily read Science Fiction, with occasional forays into other genres. I said this in my review of the first book, which is really the first half of the story, if a person only occasionally reads Sci-Fi novels, this would be an excellent choice.
Everything was nearly believable in the way of technology. The one thing that all space-based Science Fiction has to have is a way to travel faster than light. Warp drive for Star Trek and various other ideas in other constructed universes. Since a the massively award-winning book "A Wrinkle in Time" (now celebrating its 50th anniversary and being made into a new movie) Science Fiction has had to depend on some way to get around Einstein's Speed of Light "speed limit" to have any way of going to other solar systems. Beyond that, much of the technology seemed quite believable.
The characters in this story even struggled, unlike many such novels, because they did not have faster-than-light communications. News about what happened on the rim of known space in this created universe would take 9 months to a year to reach Earth. Adds nicely to the plot as the story unfolds.
I highly recommend the story, which means buying two books. There is a two-book set for sale by some retailers. If you like military Sci-Fi with a good story well told, this is a book set not to miss.
Great entertainment with broad movements of the space epic. Never one to let his stories wander from the subtext of individual freedom and self determination, Nuttall delivers his homily wrapped in Sci-fi goodness. Buy this book, he earned the support!
Apparently the author didn't like his work enough to tease that there be more, but never bothered to finish it. Publishers should be ashamed to market unfinished works. Shame Amazon for listing these books for sale.
A trilogy that does not allow you to read any other novels between books. Once started, it could not be put down. I am pushing on to the final book now.
This is the direct continuation of Democracy’s Right and it is a fairly good one. I have to be honest and say that I liked the first book slightly better but then that was a 10 out of 10 star for me and it had gotten my hopes up pretty much for this book. Still, this one is only a notch lower on the wow-scale than the first one was.
All the characters from the previous instalment are back. Well, the characters that should be back at least. Admiral Percival is still enjoying his well-earned vacation at the adventure resort where Admiral Walker so kindly made a VIP reservation for him. The book does take some time to get the action going though. There are a lot of political debate and behind the scenes discussions in the first part of the book. We are also introduced to Admiral Wachter who is put in charge of shaping up the defences of the Empire. Admiral Wachter is character that I really liked from the start. He has only one major flaw. He is on the wrong bloody side! Quite a lot of time is spent on Admiral Wachter and his assistant Penny who are brought over from the previous book and the preparations to withstand the rebel advance. Actually during the first half of the book it almost felt like the book had kind of switched sides and had more become a story about the Empire than about the rebels. This is one of the things that made me feel slightly less happy with this book.
On the second half the book switched back more to the rebels again and we start to get some action while the rebels move forwards. I have to say that there was not as much space combat in the book as I had hoped though. Most of the combat was done rather quickly and a lot of the book was about the political aspects both during the campaign and the ramifications afterwards that various strategies and outcomes might have. Still, there is a fair amount of action, that has to said.
I was not sure whether or not the rebels would actually achieve their goals or if there would be a third book. Well it turned out that the author do plan to write a third book but it will not be exactly what one might have expected. Mr. Nuttall managed to make the rebels achieve their primary goals and still make the book end in somewhat of a surprise cliffhanger. I have to say that I am not sure about the cliffhanger since it hints more in the direction of political machinations than actual military action. However, the author have surprised me before, in a positive way, so we will just we what comes out.
As you can see from my rating, this is still a great book regardless of my minor gripes and I enjoyed it very much.
I don't think that book would stand alone so well; Nuttall left most of the character development to the first book of the series to leave more room for HUGE space battles in this one. This is a very good book on its own, but in conjunction with "Democracy's Right" it is GREAT.
An enjoyable sequel. Solid world/universe building. Main issue was lack of truly liking or rooting for the main characters or really caring who wins the war.