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The Masks of Janus
507 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2026
About the author
Travis Starnes
46 books96 followersTravis writes science fiction, fantasy, and thriller novels (and the occasional coming-of-age story), with the hope of transporting and enthralling readers. Publishing novels since 2015, Travis’s passion is creating worlds and characters that live and breathe, and experiencing the joy of those stories with his readers.
When not writing, Travis enjoys connecting with readers and other writers, managing the popular Complete Marvel Reading Order website, where he works on his other passion for comics and graphic novels, and spending time with his family.
When not writing, Travis enjoys connecting with readers and other writers, managing the popular Complete Marvel Reading Order website, where he works on his other passion for comics and graphic novels, and spending time with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 18, 2026
Every time you see the word Sardinia written in this book, just be aware that you're actually seeing the word Sarmatia. That is important to make any sense of the geography of the conflict. I know I've brought this point up before, but in this book it reaches the peak of ridiculousness. Sardinia is an island in the western Mediterranean. Sarmatia is a rather vaguely defined region generally associated with modern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. To give context, the frontlines of the conflict in this book are in far eastern Europe, Anatolia, and in Egypt/Canaan. You'll note that none of those places are anywhere near the western Mediterranean, ergo despite the fact that he uses the word Sardinia to refer to the northern front (and particularly to a major enemy encampment near said front) a few dozen times in this book and uses the word Sarmatia once, all of those are actually referring to Sarmatia. I don't know if this is an autocorrect problem or an editor issue, but it's annoying.
Fortunately, the rest of the book is mostly what I enjoy from the series, an alternate history world war set 1500ish years ago between Romans (ish) and the Chinese (ish) employing essentially late 19th/early 20th century technology supplied to them by (or copied from) a time traveler. After the Easterners nearly overthrew the frontlines with their sudden deployment of gas weapons in the prior book, the Allies have responded by attempting to bring pressure to bear on the Easterners' territory by mounting an amphibious invasion of Anatolia, jumping past the frontlines, while also pushing to resolve things in Egypt with the turncoat Ptolemies (Turncoat Ptolemies needs to be a band name (I'm thinking a Greco-Egyptian themed hair metal rock), except definitely spell it Pturncoat Ptolemies) in hopes of also threatening the Easterners' control of the Levant. At the same time, after discovering disaffected elements within the Eastern Empire, the West has undertaken a pair of efforts to develop and support insurgent elements within the Eastern Empire's vast territory, including an ambitious mission to establish a base in the western Pacific to directly support a rebellion in southern China. Despite being on the current upswing of technological advantage, things aren't going great in the West, war-weariness is setting in amongst the allied powers and the West is hard-pressed to fill its manpower needs. The secret trading mission in the Americas faces growing difficulties as hostile tribes pillage them and their allies, threatening the vital supply of niter needed for Allied weapons production. Furthermore, the Allied-occupied regions of Egypt are restive with rebellion led by priests seeking to seize power for themselves. All in all, there's a lot going on.
Again, mostly I enjoyed the volume. Other than the Sardinia-Sarmatia issue, I was a little... confused by how quickly the gas weapons basically disappeared. I get that gas masks make such weapons way less effective, but gas masks in and of themselves make it harder for soldiers to function, not to mention that if the gas weapons are at all obscuring, they would be very valuable to the Easterners to decrease the Western armies' range advantage, so it would seem reasonable that they'd keep using them, but... after the first few chapters, *poof* no more gas. I did like that Starnes finally addressed the elephant of why the timeline was different in the first place and unveiled the enemy Emperor, and I totally called it. Overall, I give it a solid (if not exceptional) 7/10 and rounded up for my review score.
Fortunately, the rest of the book is mostly what I enjoy from the series, an alternate history world war set 1500ish years ago between Romans (ish) and the Chinese (ish) employing essentially late 19th/early 20th century technology supplied to them by (or copied from) a time traveler. After the Easterners nearly overthrew the frontlines with their sudden deployment of gas weapons in the prior book, the Allies have responded by attempting to bring pressure to bear on the Easterners' territory by mounting an amphibious invasion of Anatolia, jumping past the frontlines, while also pushing to resolve things in Egypt with the turncoat Ptolemies (Turncoat Ptolemies needs to be a band name (I'm thinking a Greco-Egyptian themed hair metal rock), except definitely spell it Pturncoat Ptolemies) in hopes of also threatening the Easterners' control of the Levant. At the same time, after discovering disaffected elements within the Eastern Empire, the West has undertaken a pair of efforts to develop and support insurgent elements within the Eastern Empire's vast territory, including an ambitious mission to establish a base in the western Pacific to directly support a rebellion in southern China. Despite being on the current upswing of technological advantage, things aren't going great in the West, war-weariness is setting in amongst the allied powers and the West is hard-pressed to fill its manpower needs. The secret trading mission in the Americas faces growing difficulties as hostile tribes pillage them and their allies, threatening the vital supply of niter needed for Allied weapons production. Furthermore, the Allied-occupied regions of Egypt are restive with rebellion led by priests seeking to seize power for themselves. All in all, there's a lot going on.
Again, mostly I enjoyed the volume. Other than the Sardinia-Sarmatia issue, I was a little... confused by how quickly the gas weapons basically disappeared. I get that gas masks make such weapons way less effective, but gas masks in and of themselves make it harder for soldiers to function, not to mention that if the gas weapons are at all obscuring, they would be very valuable to the Easterners to decrease the Western armies' range advantage, so it would seem reasonable that they'd keep using them, but... after the first few chapters, *poof* no more gas. I did like that Starnes finally addressed the elephant of why the timeline was different in the first place and unveiled the enemy Emperor, and I totally called it. Overall, I give it a solid (if not exceptional) 7/10 and rounded up for my review score.
June 3, 2026
Another great book!
As always, a treat for me to find the next book in this series. Very interesting twist in the story while continuing the story across globe.My only complaint is the time between volumes - wishing they were closer together. Congratulations on another winner!
As always, a treat for me to find the next book in this series. Very interesting twist in the story while continuing the story across globe.My only complaint is the time between volumes - wishing they were closer together. Congratulations on another winner!
June 20, 2026
Very good author and storyteller!
Travis Starnes grabbed my interest with the very first of his Imperium series. It has been worth my time and effort to continue this series and look forward to the continuing journey. Highly recommend this series!
Travis Starnes grabbed my interest with the very first of his Imperium series. It has been worth my time and effort to continue this series and look forward to the continuing journey. Highly recommend this series!
June 7, 2026
So good but
How are the eastern troops getting weapons in sardina? I thought we controlled the med. Am I over thinking this?
How are the eastern troops getting weapons in sardina? I thought we controlled the med. Am I over thinking this?
June 22, 2026
Another fantastic read
Every time I finish one of the novels in this series I can't wait to start the next one. It's the evolution of warfare in fast forward.
Every time I finish one of the novels in this series I can't wait to start the next one. It's the evolution of warfare in fast forward.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews