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Imperial Dawn
Two small star nations separated by thousands of light years are all that remains of the First Empire. Yet both are growing again, each racing to reclaim former human worlds left devastated by the Mad Empress and her Retribution Fleet. But what began as a friendly competition between them soon takes a dark turn as suspicions about motives arise and the once powerful find themselves dispossessed.
Who will be the first to rise from the ashes of empire and claim the mantle of humanity’s renewed ambitions, ushering in an imperial dawn? The Wyvern Hegemony or the Republic of Lyonesse?
Who will be the first to rise from the ashes of empire and claim the mantle of humanity’s renewed ambitions, ushering in an imperial dawn? The Wyvern Hegemony or the Republic of Lyonesse?
396 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2024
42 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 7, 2024
Well, this started to look like a better book than the other ones in this series. The author even had a credible and well-written espionage sequence. Bravo! And then the dude went and whimped the bad guy out AGAIN, just like he has for the whole series. I ditched this book half-way through. Absolutely NO reason to continue reading it. Probably won't read anything more from this author. Yikes. What twaddle.
September 21, 2024
Who am I supposed to root for here?
So the republic of Lioness falls into a fascist dictatorship, an excellent development and a great twist to the story considering we begin this series rooting for lioness.
Unfortunately this book also sets up the Hegemony as the “lesser evil” of these two options and the novel just doesn’t do a good enough job of justifying that to me.
Oh the book goes into great detail about how the Republic has become a police state, freedom of speech curtailed, elections rigged in favor of cronies of the current president. But the Hegemony, by contrast, is literally the same system and makes no effort to change itself in any substantial sense. Oh it claims to adopt the old imperial constitution to prevent the rise of a new Tyrant emperor which killed humanity’s first interstellar empire but it never bothers to elaborate what those safeguards are other than they certainly will NOT include democracy.
I don’t understand the political theory being preached here, because how am I suppose to oppose the Republic of Lyoness for being an undemocratic police state filled with career politicians when the Hegemony is unapologetically the same system except it’s a MILITARY state? There are multiple chapters in this book were perspective characters from BOTH polities make the same argument that the Fascist Lyoness will spiral into stagnation because it’s politicians will inevitably become vapid career politicians who will only promote their fellow political elites, which is RICH coming from a state who’s an oligarchy who also functions in the same way except they take them from military ranks. There is nothing inherently better about the Hegemony’s system other than the current heads of state happen to be more competent , that is when they aren’t currently being manipulated by the invisible hand of a powerful and psychic.
I want to believe that the Hegemony being a politically fraught house of cards behaving living on delusions of grandeur equal to that of the very Republic they claim superiority over is the intent of the author. But since both perspective characters from both nations keep repeating the same diatribes against democracy I am forced to assume that this is the author’s true thoughts on the matter. Which is a shame because genuinely want to like the Hegemony, but other than the author wanting them to be the good guys, Thompson doesn’t do enough to assuage my skepticism of the supposed superiority of the Hegemony’s political system, especially since all his criticisms on the weaknesses of democracy are equally present in the Hegemony except it is even more entrenched. I mean really, he talks big about how political dynasties infecting democratic governments is bad thing and then tries to convince me that MONARCHY is the way an interstellar nation should be run.
So the republic of Lioness falls into a fascist dictatorship, an excellent development and a great twist to the story considering we begin this series rooting for lioness.
Unfortunately this book also sets up the Hegemony as the “lesser evil” of these two options and the novel just doesn’t do a good enough job of justifying that to me.
Oh the book goes into great detail about how the Republic has become a police state, freedom of speech curtailed, elections rigged in favor of cronies of the current president. But the Hegemony, by contrast, is literally the same system and makes no effort to change itself in any substantial sense. Oh it claims to adopt the old imperial constitution to prevent the rise of a new Tyrant emperor which killed humanity’s first interstellar empire but it never bothers to elaborate what those safeguards are other than they certainly will NOT include democracy.
I don’t understand the political theory being preached here, because how am I suppose to oppose the Republic of Lyoness for being an undemocratic police state filled with career politicians when the Hegemony is unapologetically the same system except it’s a MILITARY state? There are multiple chapters in this book were perspective characters from BOTH polities make the same argument that the Fascist Lyoness will spiral into stagnation because it’s politicians will inevitably become vapid career politicians who will only promote their fellow political elites, which is RICH coming from a state who’s an oligarchy who also functions in the same way except they take them from military ranks. There is nothing inherently better about the Hegemony’s system other than the current heads of state happen to be more competent , that is when they aren’t currently being manipulated by the invisible hand of a powerful and psychic.
I want to believe that the Hegemony being a politically fraught house of cards behaving living on delusions of grandeur equal to that of the very Republic they claim superiority over is the intent of the author. But since both perspective characters from both nations keep repeating the same diatribes against democracy I am forced to assume that this is the author’s true thoughts on the matter. Which is a shame because genuinely want to like the Hegemony, but other than the author wanting them to be the good guys, Thompson doesn’t do enough to assuage my skepticism of the supposed superiority of the Hegemony’s political system, especially since all his criticisms on the weaknesses of democracy are equally present in the Hegemony except it is even more entrenched. I mean really, he talks big about how political dynasties infecting democratic governments is bad thing and then tries to convince me that MONARCHY is the way an interstellar nation should be run.
July 6, 2024
we need more books in this series
This is book 6 in the series and it was a great read but I wouldn’t suggest it as an entry point into the series - start with book 1 or even book 4 which was a soft reboot set 200 years further into the future. This book sees the democracy of Lyonesse become a fascist dictatorship and the Hegemony of Wyvern become the best hope for the recovery of humanity going forward.
This is book 6 in the series and it was a great read but I wouldn’t suggest it as an entry point into the series - start with book 1 or even book 4 which was a soft reboot set 200 years further into the future. This book sees the democracy of Lyonesse become a fascist dictatorship and the Hegemony of Wyvern become the best hope for the recovery of humanity going forward.
June 30, 2024
outstanding as always
Excellent continuation of the 3rd arc of the series about the development of the human Empire, its rise (not fully fleshed out yet), fall and rebirth. Very well written, outstanding storytelling, and fascinating characters in the series, and this book is no exception.
Highly recommended!
Excellent continuation of the 3rd arc of the series about the development of the human Empire, its rise (not fully fleshed out yet), fall and rebirth. Very well written, outstanding storytelling, and fascinating characters in the series, and this book is no exception.
Highly recommended!
July 14, 2024
good series
this is an amazing series with so much political and military action it justvstands out
I heartily recommend this series
this is an amazing series with so much political and military action it justvstands out
I heartily recommend this series
August 1, 2024
Methinks the author was really impacted by the return of fascism to modern politics, and I'm really wondering where the Republic will go in the future books
August 15, 2025
Thoroughly enjoyable.
I wasn't sure where the story was going, but it keeps hold of you. It was hard to put down.
I wasn't sure where the story was going, but it keeps hold of you. It was hard to put down.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews