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Empires: Infiltration
This groundbreaking collaboration between two Gollancz authors tells of the invasion of Earth by two different alien races - at the same time. Two men become aware of the threat, and must work to sabotage the invasion plans and see off the aliens.Each book follows one hero, uncovering the threat to humanity and the world from their point of view. Each book can be read on its own, and will give the reader a complete, kinetic, fast-paced military SF story. But read both books and the reader gets something else - another view of (some of) the same events and crossover points, culminating in a bloody battle at Canary Wharf.The two books can be read in any order, but together they tell the story of humanity caught in the crossfire between two deadly alien races, who have made Earth their battleground...
- GenresScience Fiction
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 13, 2014
115 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 3, 2021
3.5 / 5 for 'Empires: Infiltration' by Gavin Deas
I liked this - it's a well-written sci-fi / military / thriller - but, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as it's counterpoint, 'Empires: Extraction'.
The fact that it's a good sci-fi / military / action / thriller on its own merit is enough, but this is one of two books set at the same time, in roughly the same places, with mainly the same characters, chronicling two different viewpoints of Earths violent contact with 2 different alien races. This book is by GAVIN Smith, and its counterpart is by Stephen SMITH.
'Extraction' was the last book I read before this one, so I was able to enjoy both sides of the story consecutively. Massive kudos to both authors (and their editor) for the immensely complex job they must have faced, in writing these two interweaving tales. To be fair, Smith and Deas both deserve a hearty round of applause for pulling this off, as does their poor editor.
'Infiltration' tells a tense, thrilling and violent tale, mainly from the POV of Noel, a seasoned marine, with black-ops experience, along with a couple of others, mainly a DI (Sam) and his drug-dealer brother (Nick). The story is told in a 3rd person narrative, though it seems to lack the personality of 'Extraction' - this narrator feels slightly colder, distanced and more level-headed.
The set-pieces are brilliant, with blood flying all over the place and certain London landmarks taking a beating. Despite this being sci-fi, nothing is ever implausible and the sciency bits are pretty well explained. There isn’t a lot of characterisation, but there's just enough to get a feeling for Noel, Sam and Nick. The dialogue is pretty good, but again, it pales slightly compared to the dialogue in 'Extraction'.
The interludes that show us Rex and Bad Trip, their plans, progress and conversations felt a little flat, especially with Rex. I found the parts of the book detailing Rex's activities quite colourless and boring. Bad Trip's parts were better, but again, these sections were rather poor when compared to the activities / conversations of the sentient space-ships in 'Extraction'.
I suppose that's my main negative, and it feels a little harsh saying it, but I felt this book just wasn't as good as it's counterpart. The narration, dialogue and the alien interludes all felt much poorer and slightly spoilt the overall experience of reading these 2 sides of one massive story.
This dual book set is a daunting experiment by two English authors, and this half of it as a good - albeit with some negatives - sci-fi thriller. It's a good book, just not as good as it's counterpart. I look forward to future books in this series, but I do wish they wouldn't leave the endings so open.
Overall, both parts add together to make 'Empires' an exciting read - a sci-fi thriller in a military style, with some stunning action sequences and imaginative violence. Recommended.
3.5 / 5
I liked this - it's a well-written sci-fi / military / thriller - but, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as it's counterpoint, 'Empires: Extraction'.
The fact that it's a good sci-fi / military / action / thriller on its own merit is enough, but this is one of two books set at the same time, in roughly the same places, with mainly the same characters, chronicling two different viewpoints of Earths violent contact with 2 different alien races. This book is by GAVIN Smith, and its counterpart is by Stephen SMITH.
'Extraction' was the last book I read before this one, so I was able to enjoy both sides of the story consecutively. Massive kudos to both authors (and their editor) for the immensely complex job they must have faced, in writing these two interweaving tales. To be fair, Smith and Deas both deserve a hearty round of applause for pulling this off, as does their poor editor.
'Infiltration' tells a tense, thrilling and violent tale, mainly from the POV of Noel, a seasoned marine, with black-ops experience, along with a couple of others, mainly a DI (Sam) and his drug-dealer brother (Nick). The story is told in a 3rd person narrative, though it seems to lack the personality of 'Extraction' - this narrator feels slightly colder, distanced and more level-headed.
The set-pieces are brilliant, with blood flying all over the place and certain London landmarks taking a beating. Despite this being sci-fi, nothing is ever implausible and the sciency bits are pretty well explained. There isn’t a lot of characterisation, but there's just enough to get a feeling for Noel, Sam and Nick. The dialogue is pretty good, but again, it pales slightly compared to the dialogue in 'Extraction'.
The interludes that show us Rex and Bad Trip, their plans, progress and conversations felt a little flat, especially with Rex. I found the parts of the book detailing Rex's activities quite colourless and boring. Bad Trip's parts were better, but again, these sections were rather poor when compared to the activities / conversations of the sentient space-ships in 'Extraction'.
I suppose that's my main negative, and it feels a little harsh saying it, but I felt this book just wasn't as good as it's counterpart. The narration, dialogue and the alien interludes all felt much poorer and slightly spoilt the overall experience of reading these 2 sides of one massive story.
This dual book set is a daunting experiment by two English authors, and this half of it as a good - albeit with some negatives - sci-fi thriller. It's a good book, just not as good as it's counterpart. I look forward to future books in this series, but I do wish they wouldn't leave the endings so open.
Overall, both parts add together to make 'Empires' an exciting read - a sci-fi thriller in a military style, with some stunning action sequences and imaginative violence. Recommended.
3.5 / 5
February 18, 2015
When is a book, not a book? When it is an experiment of course! Empires: Infiltration is one part of a two book series that explores the same story from differing points of view. I started reading the other half, Empire: Infiltration, first, but can now fill in some of the narrative gaps as I start again. This time we view an alien threat by the race known as The Pleasure, through the eyes of Corporal Noel Barnes. By book’s end, will I have an appreciation of this daring literary experiment, or will I conclude that narrative has been the same for hundreds of years for a reason?
The first thing I must say that it was brave of Gavin Smith and Stephen Deas to combine their writing to try and make a new type of reading experience. Unfortunately, as this review will attest, the experiment had some varied results. Of the two books on offer, Empires: Infiltration is the stronger, not only because I read it last, but also because it had the better characters.
I am wary of being overly critical of one title over the other, as they must be read as a whole to make sense. The events of Empires: Extraction felt slightly disjointed, but this was because much of the motives behind the action take place in Empires: Infiltration. With over 300 pages covered by the time I read the second in the series, I was far more aware of what was going on and why it was happening. The very nature of the books assure that no matter in which order you read them, the second is always going to feel like the more rounded story.
Even with this in mind, there are still elements of Empires: Infiltration that makes it the superior outing. Firstly, the characters are far more rounded and relatable. Noel Burman is a solider, but also a brother and an uncle. It is his sense of family that drives his motivation. His actions are far more believable than the coin flip that is SAS member Rees. Rees is a far more bland character whose motivations are far from clear, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The second time reading about The Weft and The Pleasure is also helped by concentrating on the far more interesting The Pleasure. Gone are the overly analytical conversations of The Weft, replaced with two creatures that seek only pleasure and destruction. In a strange way, their love of anarchy makes The Pleasure are far more interesting and relatable foe. They act like David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth, but with more perversion and disintegration of bodies.
With the simple addition of an alien race you can understand and a hero you can root for, Empires: Infiltration feels like a far better novel then the mirror outing. The excellent military science fiction is still present as before, but this time it is grounded in a motivation a reader can understand. What would you do to save your family?
As a combination, Extraction and Infiltration are interesting, but do not really need to be separated. It would have made far more sense to combine all four elements of the story into one book; The Weft, The Pleasure, Rees and Burman. Many fantasy and science fiction novels balance several perspectives without the need of telling the story more than once. All this really does is leave massive hole in the first book you read; no matter in which order you read them. I would suggest a more conventional style with any follow up adventures for Rees and Burman. Or at least a duo of narratives that take a truly different look at events, rather than overlapping so readily. Original review on bookbag.co.uk
The first thing I must say that it was brave of Gavin Smith and Stephen Deas to combine their writing to try and make a new type of reading experience. Unfortunately, as this review will attest, the experiment had some varied results. Of the two books on offer, Empires: Infiltration is the stronger, not only because I read it last, but also because it had the better characters.
I am wary of being overly critical of one title over the other, as they must be read as a whole to make sense. The events of Empires: Extraction felt slightly disjointed, but this was because much of the motives behind the action take place in Empires: Infiltration. With over 300 pages covered by the time I read the second in the series, I was far more aware of what was going on and why it was happening. The very nature of the books assure that no matter in which order you read them, the second is always going to feel like the more rounded story.
Even with this in mind, there are still elements of Empires: Infiltration that makes it the superior outing. Firstly, the characters are far more rounded and relatable. Noel Burman is a solider, but also a brother and an uncle. It is his sense of family that drives his motivation. His actions are far more believable than the coin flip that is SAS member Rees. Rees is a far more bland character whose motivations are far from clear, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The second time reading about The Weft and The Pleasure is also helped by concentrating on the far more interesting The Pleasure. Gone are the overly analytical conversations of The Weft, replaced with two creatures that seek only pleasure and destruction. In a strange way, their love of anarchy makes The Pleasure are far more interesting and relatable foe. They act like David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth, but with more perversion and disintegration of bodies.
With the simple addition of an alien race you can understand and a hero you can root for, Empires: Infiltration feels like a far better novel then the mirror outing. The excellent military science fiction is still present as before, but this time it is grounded in a motivation a reader can understand. What would you do to save your family?
As a combination, Extraction and Infiltration are interesting, but do not really need to be separated. It would have made far more sense to combine all four elements of the story into one book; The Weft, The Pleasure, Rees and Burman. Many fantasy and science fiction novels balance several perspectives without the need of telling the story more than once. All this really does is leave massive hole in the first book you read; no matter in which order you read them. I would suggest a more conventional style with any follow up adventures for Rees and Burman. Or at least a duo of narratives that take a truly different look at events, rather than overlapping so readily. Original review on bookbag.co.uk
May 19, 2015
(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Although alien invasions aren't exactly a unique idea, I thought that the idea of having the two different alien races, along with the opportunity to see both sides, quite a cool one.
I'm not really sure I understood what the Pleasure were trying to accomplish. Their enmity with the Weft was interesting to read about, but I would have liked to see a bit more detail about the history with the other race.
I found Noel to be quite an intriguing character, even though I kept getting him mixed up at first. I liked learning about his past... and I especially liked seeing his relationship with his brother. It was good to see two men, with vastly different jobs and goals, connected together as family.
The idea about the Face and the Enforcer were pretty intriguing ones... though both gave me the creeps, in slightly different ways. What was unclear was if they were the only two of that kind in the Pleasure... or if there were other Faces and Enforcers.
There was a lot of violence in this book... a lot more than I was really expecting, to be honest. I found a lot of the supporting characters to be really interesting ones... but I didn't see a lot of the more minor characters. In a way, this book seemed to take place behind the scenes... which I actually think worked for the plot.
I did think it was good that the content of this book didn't shy away from the violence... but I had to wonder at why the Pleasure were working a more subtle angle, considering just how physically powerful they were.
I liked the relationship between Sam and Noel and it was pretty cool to see them interacting. I wasn't sure what angle Charlotte was playing. Even by the end, I'm still not certain what her whole purpose was.
I thought using the whole drug angle in this book was an interesting idea and I found myself caring about the characters throughout. I have the second half of this book to read... but if there's a sequel to one or both, I would be interested in seeing more of the characters and how they deal with what's happened.
(This review may contain spoilers).
Although alien invasions aren't exactly a unique idea, I thought that the idea of having the two different alien races, along with the opportunity to see both sides, quite a cool one.
I'm not really sure I understood what the Pleasure were trying to accomplish. Their enmity with the Weft was interesting to read about, but I would have liked to see a bit more detail about the history with the other race.
I found Noel to be quite an intriguing character, even though I kept getting him mixed up at first. I liked learning about his past... and I especially liked seeing his relationship with his brother. It was good to see two men, with vastly different jobs and goals, connected together as family.
The idea about the Face and the Enforcer were pretty intriguing ones... though both gave me the creeps, in slightly different ways. What was unclear was if they were the only two of that kind in the Pleasure... or if there were other Faces and Enforcers.
There was a lot of violence in this book... a lot more than I was really expecting, to be honest. I found a lot of the supporting characters to be really interesting ones... but I didn't see a lot of the more minor characters. In a way, this book seemed to take place behind the scenes... which I actually think worked for the plot.
I did think it was good that the content of this book didn't shy away from the violence... but I had to wonder at why the Pleasure were working a more subtle angle, considering just how physically powerful they were.
I liked the relationship between Sam and Noel and it was pretty cool to see them interacting. I wasn't sure what angle Charlotte was playing. Even by the end, I'm still not certain what her whole purpose was.
I thought using the whole drug angle in this book was an interesting idea and I found myself caring about the characters throughout. I have the second half of this book to read... but if there's a sequel to one or both, I would be interested in seeing more of the characters and how they deal with what's happened.
August 9, 2015
Oh dear.
There's nothing wrong with hollywood style indestructible aliens, that slowly reveal weakness as the story progresses, allowing their eventual defeat (to be fair, we are only just into this series, so they are still pretty insanely strong). There's nothing wrong with explosions and guns and SAS and exploding planets.
There is a lot wrong with inconsistent motivations and bad writing. Really, Did no one proof read this? One paragraph contained 3 or 4 different repetitions. In that paragraph, the author used words repeatedly. The repetitions in the paragraph were stylistically bad. As bad as that example, in fact, although the story did advance a bit more than in my bad effort to explain it.
Back to the aliens. They can near instantaneously turn solid matter into whatever they like, feeding off the ' background energy of the universe' , yet they have to harvest humans for their neurotransmitters, TO SELL?
I forget the lame explanation for it in the other book about this book (and why two books? did he just get bored of trying to lace the stories together, or did the endless descriptions of SMp7 carbines, or whatever they were, grate on him too?). It is nonsense though. A FTL capable species, that has beaten entropy at its own game and can manipulate matter at the level of quantum foam, cycling through dimensions, no less, at a thought; has no need of commerce or human farms producing physical product.
Perhaps building the big bad guys (the angel/demon duo of 'the pleasure') to be bored hedonists might have been more believable and less jarring , who knows. Paltry human level motivations normally associated with the less enlightened amongst us really don't sit well with alien gods.
the explosions were good. ish. Although i'd already read them.
Overall, this story adds very little to its twin, beyond a look at the very badly conceived motivations of the Weft's alien foe, and bringing in alien 3.
There's nothing wrong with hollywood style indestructible aliens, that slowly reveal weakness as the story progresses, allowing their eventual defeat (to be fair, we are only just into this series, so they are still pretty insanely strong). There's nothing wrong with explosions and guns and SAS and exploding planets.
There is a lot wrong with inconsistent motivations and bad writing. Really, Did no one proof read this? One paragraph contained 3 or 4 different repetitions. In that paragraph, the author used words repeatedly. The repetitions in the paragraph were stylistically bad. As bad as that example, in fact, although the story did advance a bit more than in my bad effort to explain it.
Back to the aliens. They can near instantaneously turn solid matter into whatever they like, feeding off the ' background energy of the universe' , yet they have to harvest humans for their neurotransmitters, TO SELL?
I forget the lame explanation for it in the other book about this book (and why two books? did he just get bored of trying to lace the stories together, or did the endless descriptions of SMp7 carbines, or whatever they were, grate on him too?). It is nonsense though. A FTL capable species, that has beaten entropy at its own game and can manipulate matter at the level of quantum foam, cycling through dimensions, no less, at a thought; has no need of commerce or human farms producing physical product.
Perhaps building the big bad guys (the angel/demon duo of 'the pleasure') to be bored hedonists might have been more believable and less jarring , who knows. Paltry human level motivations normally associated with the less enlightened amongst us really don't sit well with alien gods.
the explosions were good. ish. Although i'd already read them.
Overall, this story adds very little to its twin, beyond a look at the very badly conceived motivations of the Weft's alien foe, and bringing in alien 3.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2014
The companion piece to Exiles: Extraction, though there's no suggested reading order, I think I made the right decision leaving this title til last, as this book elaborates on a lot of the material suggested in it's sister title. There's an element of familial strife that gives this title it's own flavour & serves as a nice addition to the sci fi weirdness & gun play. The action is regular & exciting to read. The Pleasure, the antagonistic alien species are wonderfully depraved & are more clear cut in terms of their antagonism than the logical Weft of Extraction, which is once again a nice contrast. If I were to choose between the two, I'd say Infiltration has the slight edge, though I think the two titles do compliment each other wonderfully to the extent that I honestly don't think they'd work as standalone entities. In the end I think it's an interesting concept very well executed. Hopefully the story will continue.
January 7, 2015
This is an action packed fun read, way better than the review in SFX, already have the next book, hopefully the two authors who are Gavin Deas will write more.
June 14, 2015
Drug dealers battle well ard soldiers, with fist fights. Old fashioned fun.
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