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Psi-Tech #1
Empire of Dust
Mega corporations, more powerful than any one planetary government, use their agents to race each other for resources across the galaxy. The agents, or psi-techs, are implanted with telepath technology. The psi-techs are bound to the mega-corps -- that is, if they want to retain their sanity.
Cara Carlinni is an impossible thing – a runaway psi-tech. She knows Alphacorp can find its implant-augmented telepaths, anywhere, anytime, mind-to-mind. So even though it’s driving her half-crazy, she's powered down and has been surviving on tranqs and willpower. So far, so good. It’s been almost a year, and her mind is still her own.
She’s on the run from Ari van Blaiden, a powerful executive, after discovering massive corruption in Alphacorp. Cara barely escapes his forces, yet again, on a backwater planet, and gets out just in time due to the help of straight-laced Ben Benjamin, a psi-tech Navigator for Alphacorp’s biggest company rival.
Cara and Ben struggle to survive a star-spanning manhunt, black-ops raids, and fleets of resource-hungry raiders. Betrayal follows betrayal, and friends become enemies. Suddenly the most important skill is knowing whom to trust.
Cara Carlinni is an impossible thing – a runaway psi-tech. She knows Alphacorp can find its implant-augmented telepaths, anywhere, anytime, mind-to-mind. So even though it’s driving her half-crazy, she's powered down and has been surviving on tranqs and willpower. So far, so good. It’s been almost a year, and her mind is still her own.
She’s on the run from Ari van Blaiden, a powerful executive, after discovering massive corruption in Alphacorp. Cara barely escapes his forces, yet again, on a backwater planet, and gets out just in time due to the help of straight-laced Ben Benjamin, a psi-tech Navigator for Alphacorp’s biggest company rival.
Cara and Ben struggle to survive a star-spanning manhunt, black-ops raids, and fleets of resource-hungry raiders. Betrayal follows betrayal, and friends become enemies. Suddenly the most important skill is knowing whom to trust.
532 pages, Paperback
First published November 4, 2014
30 people are currently reading
1101 people want to read
About the author
Jacey Bedford
27 books101 followersJacey Bedford is an English writer who is published by DAW in the USA. She lives and works behind a desk in Pennine Yorkshire. She's had stories published on both sides of the Atlantic. She has seven novels out now. Her newest is The Amber Crown, published by DAW inJanuary 2022. Previous books are: Empire of Dust, Crossways, and Nimbus, science fiction (space opera) which make up the Psi-Tech trilogy. Winterwood, Silverwolf and Rowankind make up the Rowankind trilogy. These are historical fantasy, set in 1800, with a cross-dressing privateer captain, the jealous ghost of her dead husband, and a sexy wolf shapechanger.
Jacey is secretary of the UK Milford Writers' Conference, a peer-to-peer workshopping week for published SF writers. She also hosts Northwrite SF, a critique group based in Yorkshire.
She's been a librarian, a postmistress and member of internationally touring a cappella trio, Artisan (and still occasionally is for reunion gigs www.artisan-harmony.com). When not writing she arranges UK gigs for folk artists from all over the world.
Jacey is secretary of the UK Milford Writers' Conference, a peer-to-peer workshopping week for published SF writers. She also hosts Northwrite SF, a critique group based in Yorkshire.
She's been a librarian, a postmistress and member of internationally touring a cappella trio, Artisan (and still occasionally is for reunion gigs www.artisan-harmony.com). When not writing she arranges UK gigs for folk artists from all over the world.
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January 22, 2016Here are the basic elements that appeal to me in space opera:
* Interesting aliens, weird cultures and larger than life characters, which must include interesting women.
* Space ships in action
* Emotional complexity
* Big ideas—including glimpses of the numinous—without anything being dogmatic
* Layered or polysemous surprises
*An interesting blend of real science and the handwavium that allows for FTL and Psi, but examines the consequences of both.
Any combination of these, with complex characters, is sure to grab me, and Empire of Dust definitely met those demands.
The future here is less about empires and space battles than it is about amoral, greedy megacorporations. These ones trade in planets the way the present day ones trade in companies. The similarity is the (depressingly) realistic greed and utter disregard for the people at the bottom of the power pyramid.
Cara Carlini is on the run from a powerful Alphacorps executive. She’s a psi-tech, but trying to keep from using her talents as she knows that those chasing her will catch up for certain. Meanwhile, she cannot be certain she can trust her own head: have they messed with her, or not?
She ends up begging a ride from Raske (Ben) Benjamin, a psi-tech navigator for Alphacorps’ main rival, the Trust. He’s on the lam after his own disasters, but gets pulled in by the one executive at the Trust he is loyal to, in order to shepherd a bunch of colonists to a new world.
The catch? The colonists, led by a visionary named Lorient, want to go back to human life in the pre-tech days, working with their hands . . . and they really hate psi-techs.
Second catch? Cara and Ben have to pretend they are married.
The book begins with a bang. Cara is on the run. It slows some when they reach the colonists’ planet, but the focus is now on character development, clashing paradigms, and emotional turmoil. The reader is gradually introduced to a lot of new characters—every one of whom we need to know by the second half, when things began to happen. The pacing is kept brisk by the readers knowing certain things that the characters don't, so we've got the tension of waiting for the gun on the mantel to go off.
After that, the tension builds and keeps building, with no slack moments until the powerful end. During that first half, I was able to lay it aside when other things claimed my attention, always looking forward to picking it up, but the second half? I had to read straight through in one day, ending very late at night.
Are there problems? There are what might be considered debut novel issues (like at the beginning, characters being introduced by sitting alone in rooms as their history is given us by the narrative voice in a quad-flashback, but in all cases the data was interesting); one small eyebrow raiser occurred when Carla, asked her age, responded that that was an inappropriate question to ask a woman, and I thought, really? We’re not past that in the far future? There was also the (now) problematical use of the word “exotic” to describe one of the most profoundly enigmatic, and interesting, characters in the entire book (one I really hope will get her own story), but these are such tiny creebs.
Overall this book fulfilled my craving for good space opera, and I am so glad that it will be a series. I look forward to rereading it before the next one comes out, which I plan to grab as soon as it is available.
* Interesting aliens, weird cultures and larger than life characters, which must include interesting women.
* Space ships in action
* Emotional complexity
* Big ideas—including glimpses of the numinous—without anything being dogmatic
* Layered or polysemous surprises
*An interesting blend of real science and the handwavium that allows for FTL and Psi, but examines the consequences of both.
Any combination of these, with complex characters, is sure to grab me, and Empire of Dust definitely met those demands.
The future here is less about empires and space battles than it is about amoral, greedy megacorporations. These ones trade in planets the way the present day ones trade in companies. The similarity is the (depressingly) realistic greed and utter disregard for the people at the bottom of the power pyramid.
Cara Carlini is on the run from a powerful Alphacorps executive. She’s a psi-tech, but trying to keep from using her talents as she knows that those chasing her will catch up for certain. Meanwhile, she cannot be certain she can trust her own head: have they messed with her, or not?
She ends up begging a ride from Raske (Ben) Benjamin, a psi-tech navigator for Alphacorps’ main rival, the Trust. He’s on the lam after his own disasters, but gets pulled in by the one executive at the Trust he is loyal to, in order to shepherd a bunch of colonists to a new world.
The catch? The colonists, led by a visionary named Lorient, want to go back to human life in the pre-tech days, working with their hands . . . and they really hate psi-techs.
Second catch? Cara and Ben have to pretend they are married.
The book begins with a bang. Cara is on the run. It slows some when they reach the colonists’ planet, but the focus is now on character development, clashing paradigms, and emotional turmoil. The reader is gradually introduced to a lot of new characters—every one of whom we need to know by the second half, when things began to happen. The pacing is kept brisk by the readers knowing certain things that the characters don't, so we've got the tension of waiting for the gun on the mantel to go off.
After that, the tension builds and keeps building, with no slack moments until the powerful end. During that first half, I was able to lay it aside when other things claimed my attention, always looking forward to picking it up, but the second half? I had to read straight through in one day, ending very late at night.
Are there problems? There are what might be considered debut novel issues (like at the beginning, characters being introduced by sitting alone in rooms as their history is given us by the narrative voice in a quad-flashback, but in all cases the data was interesting); one small eyebrow raiser occurred when Carla, asked her age, responded that that was an inappropriate question to ask a woman, and I thought, really? We’re not past that in the far future? There was also the (now) problematical use of the word “exotic” to describe one of the most profoundly enigmatic, and interesting, characters in the entire book (one I really hope will get her own story), but these are such tiny creebs.
Overall this book fulfilled my craving for good space opera, and I am so glad that it will be a series. I look forward to rereading it before the next one comes out, which I plan to grab as soon as it is available.
March 22, 2016
This was probably one of the funnest Space Operas I've read. Cara is on the run from Ari, who is trying to squash her like a bug from his (figurative) throne. She manages to persuade Ben to help her and before you know it, they're on a colony planet with a charismatic cult leader and a group of people who want to go back to the basics and live a no-tech, farming lifestyle. Cara and Ben and the team members with them are Psi-techs, which are tech enhanced psychics. There are some very interesting abilities among the members. I frankly loathed the leader of the group with his Psi-phobic ways.
I really enjoyed the colony pieces because I'm kind of a crazy fun of stories about pioneers, settlers, striking it out on your own, etc. Love 'em. In this case, what I felt could have gotten quite boring since this was at least half the book, the boredom and idiocy was punctuated by enough action to keep me going through the next slower piece. It was fun and action packed and it had psychics and pioneers. A recipe for success!
Complaints: Ben Benjamin and Cara Carlinni? Gag. Also, there were two bad guys that held up pretty well until near the end, when the psychopathology seemed to break down and the motives got a bit hazy. But for a 550 page book, the complaints were relatively few and I really enjoyed it.
Psychopathology
I really enjoyed the colony pieces because I'm kind of a crazy fun of stories about pioneers, settlers, striking it out on your own, etc. Love 'em. In this case, what I felt could have gotten quite boring since this was at least half the book, the boredom and idiocy was punctuated by enough action to keep me going through the next slower piece. It was fun and action packed and it had psychics and pioneers. A recipe for success!
Complaints: Ben Benjamin and Cara Carlinni? Gag. Also, there were two bad guys that held up pretty well until near the end, when the psychopathology seemed to break down and the motives got a bit hazy. But for a 550 page book, the complaints were relatively few and I really enjoyed it.
Psychopathology
November 10, 2014
I come away from this one with a very bland feeling. The characters are very one-dimensional, and their dialogue is very on-the-nose in a way that feels blocked and unnatural. The pacing is weird as well - basically, it's as though the dialogue was written to service a very specific goal in the scene, and then characters shuffle onstage just in time to say their line. That results in characters being very fortuitously present to say exactly what moves the thought along, even if they have absolutely no business being in that area. "Where the hell did you come from?!" was a frequent thought as I reread paragraphs, and one with no good answer. It feels very unformed and amateur.
And then there are the sex scenes, and the sexual violence scenes. These are similarly written in a very surface, tell-don't-show way that actually led me to skim over some of them because I just found them embarrassing to read. Not because the acts themselves scandalize me, but because it was like reading bad porn. And by that I mean taking a scene from a low-budget porn film, then faithfully describing it in text. Unpleasant, especially when these are characters you'd actually like to see make a connection. The writing style in general had little finesse, so maybe it's just this area where it was most needed and I found it most lacking.
There's also a huge missed opportunity that I'm going to throw under the header of Spoilers:
This book was very long and not at all complex. Everyone showed up, did their thing and barely changed at all. The main antagonist was slightly more interesting than everyone else, but - look, there's just nothing there with most of these characters. They're shallow and even their thoughts are just rehashing the obvious. The plot is too linear to carry such flat characters, and the writing not complex enough to add depth. Skip it.
And then there are the sex scenes, and the sexual violence scenes. These are similarly written in a very surface, tell-don't-show way that actually led me to skim over some of them because I just found them embarrassing to read. Not because the acts themselves scandalize me, but because it was like reading bad porn. And by that I mean taking a scene from a low-budget porn film, then faithfully describing it in text. Unpleasant, especially when these are characters you'd actually like to see make a connection. The writing style in general had little finesse, so maybe it's just this area where it was most needed and I found it most lacking.
There's also a huge missed opportunity that I'm going to throw under the header of Spoilers:
This book was very long and not at all complex. Everyone showed up, did their thing and barely changed at all. The main antagonist was slightly more interesting than everyone else, but - look, there's just nothing there with most of these characters. They're shallow and even their thoughts are just rehashing the obvious. The plot is too linear to carry such flat characters, and the writing not complex enough to add depth. Skip it.
October 3, 2015
Highly enjoyable science fiction adventure with romantic elements. In fact, compulsively readable.
Cara is a Psi-1 telepath (interstellar range at that level) who is on the run from her former lover Ari. Ari is a corrupt official of one of the enormous corporate entities that seem to have all the power in this future. She comes across Rakesh Benjamin, a Psi-1 navigator who rescues her from a nasty situation. In an effort to lay low they are signed up to spend a year on a colony planet with a large group of psi-hating luddites. That's dangerous enough, but the colony leader is an unbalanced incredibly charismatic man with paranoid tendencies.
There's a large cast of supporting characters and there's some nuance there. The colony leader is one of the putative villains, but he's a bit more complex than that. The supporting cast of Benjamin's Psi-Tech team are excellent as well, as is the young and stupid colonist Max Constant who is one of the point of view characters. Cara herself is an interesting character as she struggles with tampering in her brain from her time with Ari, something that's well written here. Also the world-building, both in the FPA worlds and on the colony world is quite excellent. Lots of crunchy little details and it all seems to be well thought out, from the basic gist of the platinum economy to the differing social mores across the different locale.
The book also resolves itself well while leaving plenty of meat for a sequel.
So that's all that's great with the book. It has two main problems though, the first of which is that it's very long for what it is. And there's stuff that could obviously come out. The tendency for UK SF though is towards huge self-indulgent tomes as in Peter F. Hamilton or Gary Gibson (both of which are good comparisons for this book) so I don't expect it's out of place. The other more serious flaw, is the central coincidence of Cara and Benjamin meeting. It would be a massive spoiler to explain that coincidence, but it's probably not too much to say that they have similar and slightly overlapping histories.
Ultimately, I forgive those things, because it's a cracking good book and I'm really looking forward to the sequel.
Cara is a Psi-1 telepath (interstellar range at that level) who is on the run from her former lover Ari. Ari is a corrupt official of one of the enormous corporate entities that seem to have all the power in this future. She comes across Rakesh Benjamin, a Psi-1 navigator who rescues her from a nasty situation. In an effort to lay low they are signed up to spend a year on a colony planet with a large group of psi-hating luddites. That's dangerous enough, but the colony leader is an unbalanced incredibly charismatic man with paranoid tendencies.
There's a large cast of supporting characters and there's some nuance there. The colony leader is one of the putative villains, but he's a bit more complex than that. The supporting cast of Benjamin's Psi-Tech team are excellent as well, as is the young and stupid colonist Max Constant who is one of the point of view characters. Cara herself is an interesting character as she struggles with tampering in her brain from her time with Ari, something that's well written here. Also the world-building, both in the FPA worlds and on the colony world is quite excellent. Lots of crunchy little details and it all seems to be well thought out, from the basic gist of the platinum economy to the differing social mores across the different locale.
The book also resolves itself well while leaving plenty of meat for a sequel.
So that's all that's great with the book. It has two main problems though, the first of which is that it's very long for what it is. And there's stuff that could obviously come out. The tendency for UK SF though is towards huge self-indulgent tomes as in Peter F. Hamilton or Gary Gibson (both of which are good comparisons for this book) so I don't expect it's out of place. The other more serious flaw, is the central coincidence of Cara and Benjamin meeting. It would be a massive spoiler to explain that coincidence, but it's probably not too much to say that they have similar and slightly overlapping histories.
Ultimately, I forgive those things, because it's a cracking good book and I'm really looking forward to the sequel.
September 13, 2016
The book cover looks medieval and very nice. I give this book 5 stars.
August 6, 2017
Engaging planet hopping read. There is a lot to love in this first book in the series: the gates, Folded Space, the concept of psychically prone people being enhanced and used by the Bigs to further their nefarious profiteering ends. Cara is a good shero, Ben is a good sidekick. The villains are too familiar. We could use a new method of depicting evil without it being a grinning deviant who likes to hurt things. The secondary characters are superb. The Lorients et al, Ronan, Gen, Max Constant. Backstory is given us via dialogue, reflection, character interaction. I put a hold on the second book after Chapter 1 of this book. One star goes away for repetitive phrases. Unfortunately that's probably on the editors, not the author. Excellent debut!
November 2, 2017
Really nice SiFi story. Good story line and characters. Interesting universe the story is set in. This would be a great book for a new SiFi reader starting to read SiFi stories or a younger reader. Recommended
March 9, 2015
This is the debut novel of Jacey Bedford. I always try to read debut novels ASAP, since I've been there and know what it's like to have a new book go out into the harsh, harsh world. This is the first of the Psi-Tech novels, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
The premise: Cara Carlinni is a psi-tech who's running from the Alphacorp corporation who technically owns her, since it funded the Telepath technology implanted in her head. Escaping is supposed to be impossible, but she's managed to elude those hunting her and keep the secrets she's stolen from Alphacorp safe . . . and to herself. But they've finally caught up to her, and only the intervention and help of Ben Benjamin, another psi-tech, a Navigator, who takes her to a new colony that supposed to go tech-free . . . and perfect place to hide. Or so they both think.
The main premise is great, and the idea of a future in which there are no governments, only megacorporations running everything, is shockingly easy to believe. And also heartbreaking. The world--or should I say universe?--is well thought out and the characters are engaging. In particular, I liked the world in which they run to in order to hide, and the backwater waystation that they use to get there. Perhaps that's because I like the darker, grittier underside of everything, and that's exactly what the waystation is, but I also like the idea of the complete unknown, like the new planet they are helping to colonize. Cara and Ben are interesting and they're relationship isn't the standard relationship you'd expect. It starts out with lies on both sides--since they both have something to hide--and awkward sex. It has to recover from both of those before it can grow into something else, and the stress of running, hiding, and the new colony and its rather fractious settlers may not give it the chance to grow.
So, a slightly new take on the relationship makes it interesting. Also the universe in which it's set, and the characters themselves, outside of the their own tumultuous affair. The science is cool and can be played with and used in many different ways, although it does have its limits, which create their own problems. The only real issue I had with the book is that the beginning is a little rough and perhaps a touch too long. I can't see any easy way to take what's there and cut it down without adversely affecting everything that comes after, but the book doesn't really kick into high gear until the two characters reach the waystation and then the new planet. But I think if you trust me and bear with the book at the beginning, you'll really enjoy what follows.
In any case, as I said, I'm looking forward to the second book coming out later this year called Crossways. This is definitely a book that I'd suggest sci-fi lovers take a look at.
The premise: Cara Carlinni is a psi-tech who's running from the Alphacorp corporation who technically owns her, since it funded the Telepath technology implanted in her head. Escaping is supposed to be impossible, but she's managed to elude those hunting her and keep the secrets she's stolen from Alphacorp safe . . . and to herself. But they've finally caught up to her, and only the intervention and help of Ben Benjamin, another psi-tech, a Navigator, who takes her to a new colony that supposed to go tech-free . . . and perfect place to hide. Or so they both think.
The main premise is great, and the idea of a future in which there are no governments, only megacorporations running everything, is shockingly easy to believe. And also heartbreaking. The world--or should I say universe?--is well thought out and the characters are engaging. In particular, I liked the world in which they run to in order to hide, and the backwater waystation that they use to get there. Perhaps that's because I like the darker, grittier underside of everything, and that's exactly what the waystation is, but I also like the idea of the complete unknown, like the new planet they are helping to colonize. Cara and Ben are interesting and they're relationship isn't the standard relationship you'd expect. It starts out with lies on both sides--since they both have something to hide--and awkward sex. It has to recover from both of those before it can grow into something else, and the stress of running, hiding, and the new colony and its rather fractious settlers may not give it the chance to grow.
So, a slightly new take on the relationship makes it interesting. Also the universe in which it's set, and the characters themselves, outside of the their own tumultuous affair. The science is cool and can be played with and used in many different ways, although it does have its limits, which create their own problems. The only real issue I had with the book is that the beginning is a little rough and perhaps a touch too long. I can't see any easy way to take what's there and cut it down without adversely affecting everything that comes after, but the book doesn't really kick into high gear until the two characters reach the waystation and then the new planet. But I think if you trust me and bear with the book at the beginning, you'll really enjoy what follows.
In any case, as I said, I'm looking forward to the second book coming out later this year called Crossways. This is definitely a book that I'd suggest sci-fi lovers take a look at.
December 29, 2016
My brain came close to liquefying and dripping out of my ears, but I managed to force my way through Jacey Bedford's "Empire of Dust" (the first of the two books in her "Psi-Tech" series). The first half of the book is very well-written and interesting, though it's definitely slow (and the sex scenes sure aren't appreciated (though they're mercifully short)). But, the second half just devolves into a horrible soap opera of drivel. Why an author would spend so much time and effort writing a book one way at the start and then just throwing it all away at the end, I don't know. I'll give her a star for the good technical writing and the fact that it's reasonably tied-up at the end. But, overall, the best I can do is rate it at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5. Don't bother.
November 24, 2021
I got about a quarter of the way through it before abandoning. I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for the characters, the setting... I couldn't tell you what the central conflict was. A lot of sci-fi tropes were trotted out, so there were some familiar-feeling elements there -- and while I could see how they fit together ... I couldn't get into it.
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March 2, 2020
Well, mostly read it. About two-thirds away in I gave up and skimmed the rest. I found the plethora of characters one-dimensional. The bad guys were too bad, the good guys too good, with an idiotic zealot thrown in for good measure. The psi skill that was central to this book read like magic in a bad fantasy novel - pretty much you can do anything with it, especially if it gets you through a plot hole.
It's really rare for me to not finish a book that I start. But after 300 plus pages vainly hoping it would get better, I just couldn't force myself to read the remaining 200.
It's really rare for me to not finish a book that I start. But after 300 plus pages vainly hoping it would get better, I just couldn't force myself to read the remaining 200.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2017
quite superficial novel: noticeable imbalance of the technology level in the different parts of the pictured world, the psi-tech main idea is pretty good, but very weak in depth, way too simple characters and dialogs, incoherent behaviour/thought of characters - one moment they are hard as rock, next one they are full of tears. and the worst - large part of plot revolves around Ben and Cara feelings to each other and their digging in it (ацтоїщє).
oh, and the happy-end is like cheap hollywood movie.
don't ask me why I started reading this book, I don't know:)
oh, and the happy-end is like cheap hollywood movie.
don't ask me why I started reading this book, I don't know:)
February 6, 2022
I can't believe I didn't review this right when I finished this... so it's been a couple years since I read the book. Luckily, I do remember it well enough that I feel I can say something about the story, the fact I've just started the second book helps as well.
I didn't really know what to expect from Empire of Dust, it was a random purchase at a book store. I liked the cover and the synopsis seemed interesting, so imagine my delight to find that such a thick book wound up being quite the page turner. Jacey Bedford masterfully brings us into her world extremely fast. This is something I really appreciated, there's no pages upon pages discussing tech and politics so that readers can get to the real meat of the story. I find such things quite a slog anytime they show up. Sometimes it is necessary, but I prefer books that introduce us to the world as the characters are doing things as well. Bedford did this throughout the book and I highly appreciated it. I won't say Bedford brought any new ideas to the table sci-fi speaking, but at the end of the day she told a really fun and excellent story, which is all I ask for.
One of the strongest aspects of this story is the characters. Bedford has created some of the more life-like characters I've found in sci-fi. They really are like real people and they're truly living in this universe Bedford has carefully designed. I loved it! I think the part I really enjoyed was that care was clearly put into the side characters as well as the main characters. We learn about all the people through their interactions, not just some data dump of who they are like in a lot of other books I've read. No, we get to see these people in action and hear their opinions about things because they say them! Bedford wrote in this sort of effortless way where the story just flowed through the pages. It takes me a long time to read books, but when a book flows really well, I can usually get through them pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was 200 pages into this book! That's the real mark of a good book to me. It also kept me wanting to return to this world, because the characters and tech were all quite interesting.
Bedford's universe and 'tech were a really good blend. She didn't go overboard in the creation and she never bogs us down with too much hard sci-fi. Basically her expansion of humans ran somewhat similar to a franchise like BattleTech. It's really humans expanding into space with their technology. There are no alien species being encountered, instead it's just humans and their ill-formed political systems being hampered by Megacorporations. She definitely takes a piece of these ideas from the Cyberpunk genre along with the neural implants that she needs, and just expands humans into the universe. She creates a scenario where the space ships can jump through the folds of space, which is nothing new at all, but there is a hint at a bit of a mystery to what the folds are and what happens in them. I'm hoping that she tugs on this thread a bit and we get an interesting reveal by the end of the trilogy.
Empire of Dust brings us the story of Cara Carlinni and Ben Benjamin, his first name isn't really Ben, it's his nickname. Having that be his actual first name would have been rather ridiculous and I probably would have had a hard time taking the book seriously. Cara and Ben cross paths in a rather chance encounter, which launches our tale into the stratosphere to space opera proportions. At first the story felt like it would be more about Cara, but then Cara gets caught up in Ben's world, then it felt like it was more about him. Ben is sort of a retired soldier, but gets caught up in one more mission to help a group of settlers move to a new planet. Amidst all this the story shifts and starts to be about Cara again, because her past begins to catch up with her at this point. The way Bedford moved around these two characters was so well done, because they're both the main character equally. As someone who massively enjoys the power couple story, Bedford is absolutely delivering it. I loved this aspect of the story more than anything else. Cara isn't some Damsel in distress that Ben needs to save all the time, no, sometimes Ben needs saving and Cara is there to save him! They definitely trade off these sort of details and it was a very enjoyable ride. The fact that Bedford brings us characters with real depth makes it all the more enjoyable.
I, honestly, can't praise this novel enough and the fact that I remember so much of the story two years later is a true testament to how good this book was. I really look forward to diving into Ben and Cara's world again in the next novel! Even if I read these years a part, it's on purpose, because I know this story will end eventually so I want to parse it out slowly. If you like space opera styled sci-fi this is an excellent trilogy to dive into. Highly recommended.
I didn't really know what to expect from Empire of Dust, it was a random purchase at a book store. I liked the cover and the synopsis seemed interesting, so imagine my delight to find that such a thick book wound up being quite the page turner. Jacey Bedford masterfully brings us into her world extremely fast. This is something I really appreciated, there's no pages upon pages discussing tech and politics so that readers can get to the real meat of the story. I find such things quite a slog anytime they show up. Sometimes it is necessary, but I prefer books that introduce us to the world as the characters are doing things as well. Bedford did this throughout the book and I highly appreciated it. I won't say Bedford brought any new ideas to the table sci-fi speaking, but at the end of the day she told a really fun and excellent story, which is all I ask for.
One of the strongest aspects of this story is the characters. Bedford has created some of the more life-like characters I've found in sci-fi. They really are like real people and they're truly living in this universe Bedford has carefully designed. I loved it! I think the part I really enjoyed was that care was clearly put into the side characters as well as the main characters. We learn about all the people through their interactions, not just some data dump of who they are like in a lot of other books I've read. No, we get to see these people in action and hear their opinions about things because they say them! Bedford wrote in this sort of effortless way where the story just flowed through the pages. It takes me a long time to read books, but when a book flows really well, I can usually get through them pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was 200 pages into this book! That's the real mark of a good book to me. It also kept me wanting to return to this world, because the characters and tech were all quite interesting.
Bedford's universe and 'tech were a really good blend. She didn't go overboard in the creation and she never bogs us down with too much hard sci-fi. Basically her expansion of humans ran somewhat similar to a franchise like BattleTech. It's really humans expanding into space with their technology. There are no alien species being encountered, instead it's just humans and their ill-formed political systems being hampered by Megacorporations. She definitely takes a piece of these ideas from the Cyberpunk genre along with the neural implants that she needs, and just expands humans into the universe. She creates a scenario where the space ships can jump through the folds of space, which is nothing new at all, but there is a hint at a bit of a mystery to what the folds are and what happens in them. I'm hoping that she tugs on this thread a bit and we get an interesting reveal by the end of the trilogy.
Empire of Dust brings us the story of Cara Carlinni and Ben Benjamin, his first name isn't really Ben, it's his nickname. Having that be his actual first name would have been rather ridiculous and I probably would have had a hard time taking the book seriously. Cara and Ben cross paths in a rather chance encounter, which launches our tale into the stratosphere to space opera proportions. At first the story felt like it would be more about Cara, but then Cara gets caught up in Ben's world, then it felt like it was more about him. Ben is sort of a retired soldier, but gets caught up in one more mission to help a group of settlers move to a new planet. Amidst all this the story shifts and starts to be about Cara again, because her past begins to catch up with her at this point. The way Bedford moved around these two characters was so well done, because they're both the main character equally. As someone who massively enjoys the power couple story, Bedford is absolutely delivering it. I loved this aspect of the story more than anything else. Cara isn't some Damsel in distress that Ben needs to save all the time, no, sometimes Ben needs saving and Cara is there to save him! They definitely trade off these sort of details and it was a very enjoyable ride. The fact that Bedford brings us characters with real depth makes it all the more enjoyable.
I, honestly, can't praise this novel enough and the fact that I remember so much of the story two years later is a true testament to how good this book was. I really look forward to diving into Ben and Cara's world again in the next novel! Even if I read these years a part, it's on purpose, because I know this story will end eventually so I want to parse it out slowly. If you like space opera styled sci-fi this is an excellent trilogy to dive into. Highly recommended.
Read
March 10, 2021Dnf@10%
March 29, 2017
I gave this a 3. With just a little more effort (or cleverness) it could have been a four, whereas the ending yanked it almost down to a two.
I did enjoy this book for the most part. The basic plot is this: in the future there are people with implants that give them various degrees and types of PSI abilities, and these people are basically owned by the megacorps and do work on their behalf including providing services new planetary colonies. Cara, our heroine, has escaped (with the help of hunky PSI navigator Ben) from an evil megacorp exec who did terrible things to her including messing with her mind and memories. They wind up on one of these colony missions under an assumed identity, with a PSI-tech team that's helping a group of "normals" who are prejudiced against PSIs but nevertheless need their help to get set up on their new planet.
It's pretty well paced though a bit uneven, with plenty of fun space opera material -- from the big politics of world and empire-building to the nitty gritty of how to get things done on the ground on a new planet. Underlying it all is the ambiguous relationship between Ben and Cara -- how exactly do they feel about each other, and will they ever work out and express those feelings?
So all that was pretty interesting, but I wish Bedford had put as much effort into the logical continuity of the story as she did with the relationship part, because unfortunately there were a lot of logical flaws. For example, Cara's nemesis has this terrible secret and will go to any lengths to keep it from getting out. Similarly, the tension between the PSIs and the colonists is compelling, but the extent to which it goes bad is kind of hard to swallow. Sure, this stuff drives the plot. But there need to be reasons why people don't do the most obvious things.
In spite of those flaws, the book kept my interest and I enjoyed the read -- until about the last 20 pages or so, when it fell apart into a horrible icky mishmash.
I did enjoy this book for the most part. The basic plot is this: in the future there are people with implants that give them various degrees and types of PSI abilities, and these people are basically owned by the megacorps and do work on their behalf including providing services new planetary colonies. Cara, our heroine, has escaped (with the help of hunky PSI navigator Ben) from an evil megacorp exec who did terrible things to her including messing with her mind and memories. They wind up on one of these colony missions under an assumed identity, with a PSI-tech team that's helping a group of "normals" who are prejudiced against PSIs but nevertheless need their help to get set up on their new planet.
It's pretty well paced though a bit uneven, with plenty of fun space opera material -- from the big politics of world and empire-building to the nitty gritty of how to get things done on the ground on a new planet. Underlying it all is the ambiguous relationship between Ben and Cara -- how exactly do they feel about each other, and will they ever work out and express those feelings?
So all that was pretty interesting, but I wish Bedford had put as much effort into the logical continuity of the story as she did with the relationship part, because unfortunately there were a lot of logical flaws. For example, Cara's nemesis has this terrible secret and will go to any lengths to keep it from getting out. Similarly, the tension between the PSIs and the colonists is compelling, but the extent to which it goes bad is kind of hard to swallow. Sure, this stuff drives the plot. But there need to be reasons why people don't do the most obvious things.
In spite of those flaws, the book kept my interest and I enjoyed the read -- until about the last 20 pages or so, when it fell apart into a horrible icky mishmash.
December 23, 2014
Space Opera isn't dead; instead, delightfully, it has grown up. Empire of Dust, the debut novel from Jacey Bedford, published by DAW, is a fine example of a novel which has its roots in the sub-genre, but grows beyond it.
Cara Carlini is a woman with a past, and she's running away from it as fast as she can. She'll take whatever help she can get, though always with her eyes open. She's also a psi-tech, one of the significant minority in Bedford's universe whose innate psionic talents have been enhanced with technology to make them indispensable to the corporate and criminal organisations who call the shots. Cara throws her lot in with Ben Benjamin because he's in the right place at the right time, but this turns out to be a life-changing decision for them both.
The skill of this book lies in Bedford's ability to seamlessly combine intrigue-heavy, multi-viewpoint plotting with human stories featuring characters you care about - a rare feat in this genre. The main 'love' triangle is handled particularly well. Note the quotation marks – this is anything but a standard romance, because we're dealing with people who can alter memories and plant compulsions.
As well as the central relationships, and the questions they raise about free will, trust and loyalty, the book deals with themes of prejudice, and idealism vs pragmatism. Cara and Ben find themselves thrust into the close company of the anti-psi-tech Ecolibrians whose utopian dreams are set to come into conflict with the market forces in this highly capitalist future. Bedford is carefully non-judgemental in her handling of moral issues – even her antagonists are given their say – and the book has a pleasing weight and balance as a result.
Bedford's punchy, readable style propels the reader easily through the complexities of the well-paced plot, and her world-building, whilst utilising some tropes, also displays interesting and original touches which bode well for future novels.
The book is not without flaws – the opening is somewhat loaded with backstory, and there are a couple of coincidences driving parts of the plot – but these are small and forgivable, especially bearing in mind this is a first novel. It'll be interesting to see where the story goes next.
Cara Carlini is a woman with a past, and she's running away from it as fast as she can. She'll take whatever help she can get, though always with her eyes open. She's also a psi-tech, one of the significant minority in Bedford's universe whose innate psionic talents have been enhanced with technology to make them indispensable to the corporate and criminal organisations who call the shots. Cara throws her lot in with Ben Benjamin because he's in the right place at the right time, but this turns out to be a life-changing decision for them both.
The skill of this book lies in Bedford's ability to seamlessly combine intrigue-heavy, multi-viewpoint plotting with human stories featuring characters you care about - a rare feat in this genre. The main 'love' triangle is handled particularly well. Note the quotation marks – this is anything but a standard romance, because we're dealing with people who can alter memories and plant compulsions.
As well as the central relationships, and the questions they raise about free will, trust and loyalty, the book deals with themes of prejudice, and idealism vs pragmatism. Cara and Ben find themselves thrust into the close company of the anti-psi-tech Ecolibrians whose utopian dreams are set to come into conflict with the market forces in this highly capitalist future. Bedford is carefully non-judgemental in her handling of moral issues – even her antagonists are given their say – and the book has a pleasing weight and balance as a result.
Bedford's punchy, readable style propels the reader easily through the complexities of the well-paced plot, and her world-building, whilst utilising some tropes, also displays interesting and original touches which bode well for future novels.
The book is not without flaws – the opening is somewhat loaded with backstory, and there are a couple of coincidences driving parts of the plot – but these are small and forgivable, especially bearing in mind this is a first novel. It'll be interesting to see where the story goes next.
October 17, 2017
I really loved Cara – she is desperate and frightened when we first meet her. Clearly used to dealing with the sleazier side of life, she doesn’t hesitate to sleep with Ben, the pilot who offers to take her off-planet, thinking it’s part of the deal. But over the length of the book, which includes chases, murders and helping establish a colony on a new world, Cara begins to find herself again. Bedford effectively depicts a woman struggling to put an abusive past behind her and build a new life for herself – and I really enjoyed the fact that it certainly isn’t all plain sailing just because she finds someone who cares for her.
I’m aware I may have given the impression this book is all about the romance, and while it is an element, it certainly isn’t the driving force or main theme of the book, which is far more mainstream epic space opera – that of corruption and the ruthlessness of big corporations. Once again, we have a future where it is huge capitalist corporations driving colonisation of planets. Inevitably, it comes down to profit – and you won’t be surprised to learn that when eye-watering sums of money are involved, the people running those corporations regard those in the way as expendable. It doesn’t help that they are a poorly regarded, eccentric cult with relatively few resources…
I loved the growing friction between the team of experts all with brain implants to boost their telepathic, empathetic and healing talents and the colonists who wish to establish an agrarian idyll where technology is replaced by horse and bullock power and industry is severely restricted. Bedford is very good at keeping the pace going with a series of adventures that keep the narrative ticking along at a fair clip, all the while steadily ramping up the stakes. While I love this genre, all too often I find the characterisation suffers in the middle of establishing all the world-spanning action – but it is the characters and what happens to them that is firmly at the heart of this one, which leads to an action-packed finale.
All in all, this is a cracking read and I shall be looking out for the next one in the series, just as soon as I manage to find some space on my bulging book shelves. Highly recommended for fans of entertaining epic space opera.
9/10
I’m aware I may have given the impression this book is all about the romance, and while it is an element, it certainly isn’t the driving force or main theme of the book, which is far more mainstream epic space opera – that of corruption and the ruthlessness of big corporations. Once again, we have a future where it is huge capitalist corporations driving colonisation of planets. Inevitably, it comes down to profit – and you won’t be surprised to learn that when eye-watering sums of money are involved, the people running those corporations regard those in the way as expendable. It doesn’t help that they are a poorly regarded, eccentric cult with relatively few resources…
I loved the growing friction between the team of experts all with brain implants to boost their telepathic, empathetic and healing talents and the colonists who wish to establish an agrarian idyll where technology is replaced by horse and bullock power and industry is severely restricted. Bedford is very good at keeping the pace going with a series of adventures that keep the narrative ticking along at a fair clip, all the while steadily ramping up the stakes. While I love this genre, all too often I find the characterisation suffers in the middle of establishing all the world-spanning action – but it is the characters and what happens to them that is firmly at the heart of this one, which leads to an action-packed finale.
All in all, this is a cracking read and I shall be looking out for the next one in the series, just as soon as I manage to find some space on my bulging book shelves. Highly recommended for fans of entertaining epic space opera.
9/10
August 29, 2016
Starting this one, it quickly caught my attention, I really like science fiction that goes in a linear path, one that doesn't try to explain all the nuances of that universes' technology and etc. i.e a particular engine how it runs, how it is built, who built it and etc.
Story, story, story............ok as simple as it is, this universes' foundation rest solely on individual having the psi ability whether it is psi tech/mech/engineer and all forms of ability and profession....it further classify you according to your strength in that particular ability (ie psitech 1 the best and psitech 5 the lowest but it also has its strength and weakness ie. {Lord help me this review definitely taxes my ability to repeat the word ie} you might be a psitech 1 but your empathy level is nonexistent......bah sci-fi how can I love it, yet can't write properly about it........
Anyway got a bit side tracked, (dang ie's), aside from the psi ability, the story is straight forward colonizing planets for megacorporations and how it's characters interact, of course not all characters are goody two shoes, there will always be the greedy boss.......
Why do you need to read it??? Well aside from the story running in a straight line and no explanations of the more mundane techs, it's a space drama on how humans no matter how high their technology, no matter how numerous the planets colonized, It will never be enough to satisfy human need and greed!!!
I will not recommend this one to those who are looking for the more serious stuff, it's like reading a tv series with a low budget!!
Story, story, story............ok as simple as it is, this universes' foundation rest solely on individual having the psi ability whether it is psi tech/mech/engineer and all forms of ability and profession....it further classify you according to your strength in that particular ability (ie psitech 1 the best and psitech 5 the lowest but it also has its strength and weakness ie. {Lord help me this review definitely taxes my ability to repeat the word ie} you might be a psitech 1 but your empathy level is nonexistent......bah sci-fi how can I love it, yet can't write properly about it........
Anyway got a bit side tracked, (dang ie's), aside from the psi ability, the story is straight forward colonizing planets for megacorporations and how it's characters interact, of course not all characters are goody two shoes, there will always be the greedy boss.......
Why do you need to read it??? Well aside from the story running in a straight line and no explanations of the more mundane techs, it's a space drama on how humans no matter how high their technology, no matter how numerous the planets colonized, It will never be enough to satisfy human need and greed!!!
I will not recommend this one to those who are looking for the more serious stuff, it's like reading a tv series with a low budget!!
May 11, 2015
This is the debut novel of Jacey Bedford.
I always try to read debut novels ASAP, since I've been there and know what it's like to have a new book go out into the harsh, harsh world. This is the first of the Psi-Tech novels, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
The premise: Cara Carlinni is a psi-tech who's running from the Alphacorp corporation who technically owns her, since it funded the Telepath technology implanted in her head. Escaping is supposed to be impossible, but she's managed to elude those hunting her and keep the secrets she's stolen from Alphacorp safe . . . and to herself. But they've finally caught up to her, and only the intervention and help of Ben Benjamin, another psi-tech, a Navigator, who takes her to a new colony that supposed to go tech-free . . . and perfect place to hide. Or so they both think.
The main premise is great, and the idea of a future in which there are no governments, only megacorporations running everything, is shockingly easy to believe. And also heartbreaking. The world -- or should I say universe? -- is well thought out and the characters are engaging.
Read more are SFReader.com: Empire of Dust, by Jacey Bedford
I always try to read debut novels ASAP, since I've been there and know what it's like to have a new book go out into the harsh, harsh world. This is the first of the Psi-Tech novels, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
The premise: Cara Carlinni is a psi-tech who's running from the Alphacorp corporation who technically owns her, since it funded the Telepath technology implanted in her head. Escaping is supposed to be impossible, but she's managed to elude those hunting her and keep the secrets she's stolen from Alphacorp safe . . . and to herself. But they've finally caught up to her, and only the intervention and help of Ben Benjamin, another psi-tech, a Navigator, who takes her to a new colony that supposed to go tech-free . . . and perfect place to hide. Or so they both think.
The main premise is great, and the idea of a future in which there are no governments, only megacorporations running everything, is shockingly easy to believe. And also heartbreaking. The world -- or should I say universe? -- is well thought out and the characters are engaging.
Read more are SFReader.com: Empire of Dust, by Jacey Bedford
January 24, 2015
Jacey Bedford's promising debut novel is a pacey thriller about colonisation and corruption. The world-building is strong: the economics of space exploration and colonisation mesh well with large corporations (who else could afford to bankroll these expeditions?) and the lack of regulation permits corruption to develop. And the idea of particular groups wanting to step outside society to live consistently with their beliefs is worth exploring.
But the novel is very clearly a first novel. The plot hinges on the coincidence of rogue telepath Cara and space explorer Ben meeting in a bar and having (it turns out later) mutual connections. The villains are a little too sadistic and the heroes too perfect. There are some rough spots that a good edit would iron out (we're told twice in the space of ten pages that Victor Lorient never prepares his speeches). But there's a great story in there and I look forward to the next one.
Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of the novel from the author via my book club. My policy on review copies is that I will do the author the courtesy of reading the book and providing a fair review in exchange for the courtesy of a review copy.
But the novel is very clearly a first novel. The plot hinges on the coincidence of rogue telepath Cara and space explorer Ben meeting in a bar and having (it turns out later) mutual connections. The villains are a little too sadistic and the heroes too perfect. There are some rough spots that a good edit would iron out (we're told twice in the space of ten pages that Victor Lorient never prepares his speeches). But there's a great story in there and I look forward to the next one.
Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of the novel from the author via my book club. My policy on review copies is that I will do the author the courtesy of reading the book and providing a fair review in exchange for the courtesy of a review copy.
April 7, 2016
When I first read the back-cover blurb for 'Empire of Dust', I looked forward to reading as it appeared to tick a lot of boxes: cyberpunk-ish space opera with a definite thrilleristic edge. And indeed, during the first few chapters, the plot seemed to deliver on this promise. The main issue I had was that the book transformed into something very different: a complex look at the often antagonistic relationship between psi-tech and settler on a new colony planet. In itself, there wasn't anything objectionable with this approach, and Bedford maintains a reasonably good grip on her vast, multi-perspective cast of characters. However, I was left unconvinced that this book 'did what it said on the tin'. The book was so focussed on the sociological side of things that this diluted a lot of the thrilleristic edginess I was expecting.
April 12, 2015
A good first novel, the romance bit seemed a bit forced but it wasn't a large part of the story. Other than that , most of the character conceptions are decent. The discrimination theme is done well, it wasn't just a collection of good and evil characters. The evil corporation bit was over the top, since this universe has FTL communications, it's hard for me to believe some of the acts left unpunished. I have that problem with modern news nowadays, so perhaps it's more credible than it feels. I will read the follow on novel when it's available.
November 19, 2022
Finally finished. I have a problem with sci-fi, I like the idea but feel uncomfortable with the experience. This was a hard book to get into. Not because of any fault of the author's but because I have not spent much time working out my sci-fi muscles. However, I took the time and was richly rewarded. Jacey has a knack for characterisation and dialogue that carries you along the stream I'd the narrative. True, there were some clunky patches which should be expected for a first novel but all in all a satisfying read and I shall be seeking out the rest of the series.
December 20, 2015
3.5 rating. Decent story that got me hooked early on! I liked all of the characters except for Max Constant, who was a selfish, boring prick. The writing could have been much tighter, an issue that was highlighted by the fact the author found it necessary to repeat basic facts throughout the story. I'm not an idiot! Don't treat me like one!
I even liked the romantic sub-plot! It was cute, & Ben is adorable. I think I'll stick with this series.
I even liked the romantic sub-plot! It was cute, & Ben is adorable. I think I'll stick with this series.
September 3, 2016
Incredibly intriguing premise aside, I should have known better than to break my nearly inviolate never-read-books-rated-less-than-4-stars rule. This had a very strong first act - quick pacing, inventive premise, deft method of bringing the main characters together. That was followed by a reasonable but weaker and slower paced second act, and then a third act that was so boring I barely finished the book. A waste of a good novel. Don't read.
July 6, 2016
I like the meme of badass tough heroine fighting back against the system. This one was pretty well done, but the denouement was disappointing. In particular, the characters appeared to start acting in ways that were inconsistent with how they had been established. They did not ring true. It spoiled the book for me. The end was much less triumphant than it might have been, as the protagonists got goofy while the antagonists started acting stupid. Blech!
November 29, 2014
I loved this book. The world building was engaging and believable. I particularly liked the big picture politics of the mega corporations, and the existence of the equally powerful Crossways criminal conglomerate. But best of all was the developing relationship between the two main characters, Ben and Cara, as they struggle to save both themselves and the colony.
December 5, 2014
Good, old-fashioned SF. I thought the psi might put me off, but it was like putting on an old shoe. It’s all here: psi, wormholes, evil megacorps, raving religious loonies, treachery, sadism, heroism, heroine-ism and romance. A ripping good yarn! I can’t wait for the sequel.
July 8, 2016
Otherwise well-written novel in an interesting world is dragged down by a one-dimensional Gary Stu hero who is never really punished for his naivete or poor leadership. Seriously, he shouldn't be in charge of a lemonade stand.
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