Emancipation

Blaise Maximillian #2

by Matthew Sylvester

For 8 long years the Great War has raged. Blaise Maximillian has been there from the start. A bright-eyed and fearful young 2nd Lieutenant, the realities of war change him into a hard-bitten soldier and an even harder policeman. Leading men and women into battle, he confronts a German army that becomes ever stronger, ever more advanced.

Britain needs heroes. Heroes like Laura Miles and Wez Broglino, armour hunter-killers during the Siege of Paris, then agents of the resistance group called the 'Department of Accidents'.

This is alternative history as you'd never have thought.

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 9

About the author

Matthew has been reading and writing fantasy and science fiction since he first read the Hobbit at the age of 7.

Since starting writing, Matthew has created the LitRPG/LitFPS Permadeath Series, the alternative history dieselpunk Blaise Maximillian: Bitter Defeat series, Shadow Company - a military fiction series, and is currently working on the Devil's Run RPG with Red Scar Publishing.

He is also the author of the critically acclaimed 'Practical Taekwondo: Back to the Roots'.

Reviews

[John Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

My god this was brutal! And bloody brilliant! The same black british humour is more pronounced in this second book, with Blaise Maximillian and his ever-present Colour Sergeant Bill Thatcher by his side, fighting an alternate World War One, where the Germans are winning, and bizarre dieselpunk devices are slowly making their way to the battlefield, but with typically horrific results. The action is solid, on a par with the Black Library's Warhammer 40,000 novels, the plot is harsh (to the characters) and brutal, with enough surprises to make you wonder if the protagonists will survive, even halfway through the book. Maximillian and Thatcher themselves are as foul-mouthed and brilliantly executed as ever, with even some of the cracks showing through at their circumstances. This is a gritty, realistic look at an alternate timeline, and like the first book you truly feel like you're in there with the British soldiers fighting against the Germans! Can't recommend this and the author highly enough. I need to go lie down.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book, gripping visceral action and very realistic, I was particularly fond of the mission in Paris which was a highlight for me.

[Harry L Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good tales

Great selection of short stories melded together to make a good alternate history. Needs some editing, but is otherwise a good read.

[David Guymer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the sequel to Blaise Maximillian: Bitter Defeat, and everything that I loved about that first instalment (the grit, the guts, the bit where Blaise accidentally tips off a German's head and makes me, a grimdark fantasy writer myself, feel ill) is still here. It's just better. While Bitter Defeat read as a collection of connected shorts spread across a period of time this book felt more like a single uninterrupted narrative and was stronger for that. Also, there's just the general sense that an author whose really getting to grips with his craft had moved things up a gear. A great read.