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Armada Wars #1
Steal from the Devil
War is coming. Fleet Command seems to know it already, and representatives of the Empire’s intelligence bureau have made it clear that they most certainly know it too.
But when it comes to identifying the true threat, special operative Elm Caden has the nauseating feeling that nobody is looking in the right place. Trained to meet the demands of his Empress at all costs, no matter where the evidence might lead, a large part of him has to wonder just how accidental this error actually is.
While the Imperial Combine of Earth prepares to move against the Viskr — old enemies now believed to be covertly orchestrating attacks in human territory — Caden looks outwards to the Deep Shadows, the vast areas of unexplored space between the bright, spiral arms of the galaxy.
And he can feel true malevolence staring back at him.
Acclaimed by readers for its detailed world-building, engaging characters, and fresh, modern feel, this extraordinary debut novel is an immersive and multi-layered story. It slams open the door to a rich, new universe; a universe as vast as it is disturbingly real.
But when it comes to identifying the true threat, special operative Elm Caden has the nauseating feeling that nobody is looking in the right place. Trained to meet the demands of his Empress at all costs, no matter where the evidence might lead, a large part of him has to wonder just how accidental this error actually is.
While the Imperial Combine of Earth prepares to move against the Viskr — old enemies now believed to be covertly orchestrating attacks in human territory — Caden looks outwards to the Deep Shadows, the vast areas of unexplored space between the bright, spiral arms of the galaxy.
And he can feel true malevolence staring back at him.
Acclaimed by readers for its detailed world-building, engaging characters, and fresh, modern feel, this extraordinary debut novel is an immersive and multi-layered story. It slams open the door to a rich, new universe; a universe as vast as it is disturbingly real.
- GenresScience Fiction
388 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 21, 2013
18 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
R. Curtis Venture
15 books13 followersR. Curtis Venture was born in the United Kingdom in the late Seventies. His first great passion was for science fiction, both in books and on the screen, and he spent his childhood years imagining other worlds. A graduate of Applied Biology, he is — through an unlikely but plausible series of circumstances — now employed full-time in the legal sector.
When not consumed in a creative binge, his free time is mostly spent hiking up mountains or through forests, camping in the wilderness, reading widely, or working towards the current goal of 2,000 films watched.
When not consumed in a creative binge, his free time is mostly spent hiking up mountains or through forests, camping in the wilderness, reading widely, or working towards the current goal of 2,000 films watched.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 10, 2021
This is a new author to me and the book was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. There were a number of different concepts and ideas to figure out which didn't distract from the story, but made it a little more difficult to navigate through the book. At least the number of main characters really boiled down to only four.
Elm Caden, Shard of the Empress, is a dark operative who, as stated, works for the Empress and only the Empress. As such, he has unlimited resources and authority to carry out his mission, whatever that may be. We do read a little about his background, but not enough to understand just what a "Shard" is or how he came to be. He is a warrior, though, but also a thinker. He gets the job done, but does it in his own way. He's also got something going on that is never really explained. I don't know if he's haunted by something of if the Empires new enemy knows about him from some previous encounter.
Shard Caden is not alone in his mission endeavors. He has a couple of side-kicks, one of which is Rendir Throam, who happens to be a Captain in the Imperial Military, but doesn't go by his rank much. He's the muscles for Shard Caden, although the Shard doesn't really need that kind of help. Still, Throam is around to basically protect the Shard and make sure he can complete his mission. Then there's Euryce Eilentes, designated pilot for the Shard. While the Shard and his team do fly around the empire in starships, they occasionally have to land on planets or take off in a shuttle to do certain things. This is where Eilentes comes into the story as she is the eminently skilled pilot that can fly just about anything. She can also fight which helps her fit in well with the team. She and Throam appear to have had a previous relationship and seem to pickup where they left off after a ten year separation. That's not a large part of the story and I'm not sure why it was even included.
So, as I said, the Shards team has to be conveyed from place to place by starship in order to accomplish their mission. The time it happens to be the ICS Hammer with Captain Aker Santani, commanding, which has drawn this particular mission. Captain Santani isn't all that impressed with carrying a Shard aboard her starship and believes it's necessary to explain to Shard Caden that it is still her ship and she it the Captain. Shard Caden doesn't react to Captain Santani's demonstation of command because he's seen it before and he knows that he answers to no one but the Empress. Captain Santani also knows this, but she doesn't like the idea of doing something because a Shard says so. Apparently, not all Shards are as competent as they should be nor do they worry much about the ships and personnel that are aiding in their missions.
Shard Caden is very competent and he knows exactly what his mission is. There have be numerous small incursions along the Empire and Viskr border. The Empress wanted to know why after all these years of peace this is now happening. One initial attack had been an an isolated research facility which at first seemed kind of strange. When Shard Caden went to investigate he found nothing. That is he found no sign of an enemy and no indication that anyone had attacked the facility other than all the people, mostly scientist were gone. There were no bodies and no apparent damage to the entire place. Who or what had attacked the place and why. As for the why, Shard Caden would soon learn that this facility was not only isolated, but it was also a very secret research base looking into biochemical weapons. Those weapons and all the people were missing! Shard Caden had to get them back and very soon.
The story takes a pretty long time to get started. It's also kind of hard to understand what a "Shard" is supposed to be and why this term was introduced. Still, once you figure that out, then you just understand that you're dealing with a special forces operative and he is on a very deadly mission. The writing was fine and the editing was very good. I'm just not sure there was enough interest in this story for me to continue with the series. I might, but it just depends on what else I have to read.
Elm Caden, Shard of the Empress, is a dark operative who, as stated, works for the Empress and only the Empress. As such, he has unlimited resources and authority to carry out his mission, whatever that may be. We do read a little about his background, but not enough to understand just what a "Shard" is or how he came to be. He is a warrior, though, but also a thinker. He gets the job done, but does it in his own way. He's also got something going on that is never really explained. I don't know if he's haunted by something of if the Empires new enemy knows about him from some previous encounter.
Shard Caden is not alone in his mission endeavors. He has a couple of side-kicks, one of which is Rendir Throam, who happens to be a Captain in the Imperial Military, but doesn't go by his rank much. He's the muscles for Shard Caden, although the Shard doesn't really need that kind of help. Still, Throam is around to basically protect the Shard and make sure he can complete his mission. Then there's Euryce Eilentes, designated pilot for the Shard. While the Shard and his team do fly around the empire in starships, they occasionally have to land on planets or take off in a shuttle to do certain things. This is where Eilentes comes into the story as she is the eminently skilled pilot that can fly just about anything. She can also fight which helps her fit in well with the team. She and Throam appear to have had a previous relationship and seem to pickup where they left off after a ten year separation. That's not a large part of the story and I'm not sure why it was even included.
So, as I said, the Shards team has to be conveyed from place to place by starship in order to accomplish their mission. The time it happens to be the ICS Hammer with Captain Aker Santani, commanding, which has drawn this particular mission. Captain Santani isn't all that impressed with carrying a Shard aboard her starship and believes it's necessary to explain to Shard Caden that it is still her ship and she it the Captain. Shard Caden doesn't react to Captain Santani's demonstation of command because he's seen it before and he knows that he answers to no one but the Empress. Captain Santani also knows this, but she doesn't like the idea of doing something because a Shard says so. Apparently, not all Shards are as competent as they should be nor do they worry much about the ships and personnel that are aiding in their missions.
Shard Caden is very competent and he knows exactly what his mission is. There have be numerous small incursions along the Empire and Viskr border. The Empress wanted to know why after all these years of peace this is now happening. One initial attack had been an an isolated research facility which at first seemed kind of strange. When Shard Caden went to investigate he found nothing. That is he found no sign of an enemy and no indication that anyone had attacked the facility other than all the people, mostly scientist were gone. There were no bodies and no apparent damage to the entire place. Who or what had attacked the place and why. As for the why, Shard Caden would soon learn that this facility was not only isolated, but it was also a very secret research base looking into biochemical weapons. Those weapons and all the people were missing! Shard Caden had to get them back and very soon.
The story takes a pretty long time to get started. It's also kind of hard to understand what a "Shard" is supposed to be and why this term was introduced. Still, once you figure that out, then you just understand that you're dealing with a special forces operative and he is on a very deadly mission. The writing was fine and the editing was very good. I'm just not sure there was enough interest in this story for me to continue with the series. I might, but it just depends on what else I have to read.
February 7, 2016
found this gem on the Kindle lending library. great space saga. will read second book soon.
One of you big publishers out there should pick this guy up if he'll have you. With a little marketing and a good spot on the shelf at the local book seller this book would be a hit. I don't even particularly like this genre and I really enjoyed this book. As soon as my son finishes reading it we will pick up the second book.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Venture. Oh, one more thing; you misspelled "realized". Just kidding.
One of you big publishers out there should pick this guy up if he'll have you. With a little marketing and a good spot on the shelf at the local book seller this book would be a hit. I don't even particularly like this genre and I really enjoyed this book. As soon as my son finishes reading it we will pick up the second book.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Venture. Oh, one more thing; you misspelled "realized". Just kidding.
February 14, 2018
Took a punt on this novel based on the author's self-promotion on Reddit. I admit I didn't have high expectations, but was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. It's a well written story with memorable characters and excellent world-building. The story avoids the usual tropes we see in military sci-fi; feeling both fresh and modern. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series and would like to congratulate the author on an excellent debut novel.
December 21, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed this world created by the author. What better compliment is there than to say it has left me looking forward to the next instalment.
June 15, 2014
Reviewing this book fully would be a tad unfair because I picked it up, read about half, became embroiled in change in my job and resumed it about a month and a half down the road.
Although I lost track of it a bit during this interim period, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I think it has a great introduction to a wider world. The pacing is perfect too, each chapter and 'change of scene' well timed, building tension wonderfully (particularly towards the end's great set piece). The book also introduced a larger galaxy in a way which didn't seem overbearing on the reader, by which i mean it was written in a manner that wasn't condescending, but still explained the wider concepts that we were introduced to. Truly excellent stuff.
I picked up some nods to other genres of writing and cultural references.... Particularly the Hitchhikers Guide. Bioshock. Battlestar Galactica etc. I saw the late, great Ian Banks reflected in the writing of Mr. Venture at times too. I can also tell that the author's career choice has had a profound effect on some of his phraseology.
There were even some black comedy elements here that I loved, and some satirical elements too. - one such quote that particularly stood out for me: "Sometimes the most effective idea was just so simple nobody could slow down their brain enough to think it up".
Hardly a in depth review then, but definitely a book I would recommend to scifi fans. Though perhaps not as an introduction to the genre, but I'm pretty sure the author never intended it to be one anyway.
I leave reiterating the comments i have seen from Amazon re this instalment in the series... I'm really looking forward to the next one, and will definitely be picking it up.
Although I lost track of it a bit during this interim period, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I think it has a great introduction to a wider world. The pacing is perfect too, each chapter and 'change of scene' well timed, building tension wonderfully (particularly towards the end's great set piece). The book also introduced a larger galaxy in a way which didn't seem overbearing on the reader, by which i mean it was written in a manner that wasn't condescending, but still explained the wider concepts that we were introduced to. Truly excellent stuff.
I picked up some nods to other genres of writing and cultural references.... Particularly the Hitchhikers Guide. Bioshock. Battlestar Galactica etc. I saw the late, great Ian Banks reflected in the writing of Mr. Venture at times too. I can also tell that the author's career choice has had a profound effect on some of his phraseology.
There were even some black comedy elements here that I loved, and some satirical elements too. - one such quote that particularly stood out for me: "Sometimes the most effective idea was just so simple nobody could slow down their brain enough to think it up".
Hardly a in depth review then, but definitely a book I would recommend to scifi fans. Though perhaps not as an introduction to the genre, but I'm pretty sure the author never intended it to be one anyway.
I leave reiterating the comments i have seen from Amazon re this instalment in the series... I'm really looking forward to the next one, and will definitely be picking it up.
May 13, 2017
I'm always looking for a really good military science fiction series and so when I saw this book and saw that it was averaging right around a four star rating on Amazon and Goodreads I figured I'd give it a shot. I am not disappointed. The space battles in here are not as detailed as Jack Campbell's but they're there and they're good. What Venture brings to the table that Campbell does not is a healthy dose of Space Marine Style good ol' ground combat with androids, explosions, power armor, drop ships, alien commandos, and urban warfare.
Steal from the Devil was a great read, one that I would recommend to anyone who likes the genre, and one that I'll definitely be finding the second book for in the near future.
Steal from the Devil was a great read, one that I would recommend to anyone who likes the genre, and one that I'll definitely be finding the second book for in the near future.
April 25, 2025
found this gem on the Kindle lending library. great space saga. will read second book soon.
One of you big publishers out there should pick this guy up if he'll have you. With a little marketing and a good spot on the shelf at the local book seller this book would be a hit. I don't even particularly like this genre and I really enjoyed this book. As soon as my son finishes reading it we will pick up the second book.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Venture. Oh, one more thing; you misspelled "realized". Just kidding.
One of you big publishers out there should pick this guy up if he'll have you. With a little marketing and a good spot on the shelf at the local book seller this book would be a hit. I don't even particularly like this genre and I really enjoyed this book. As soon as my son finishes reading it we will pick up the second book.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Venture. Oh, one more thing; you misspelled "realized". Just kidding.
February 11, 2021
This has to be one of the best if not the best self published books I've read and I've been reading a lot of those lately.
I really liked it, the characters were 3-dimensional and realistic, their dialogue was realistic and at times, very funny.
This story has a lot of... depth and soul that I found to be lacking from a lot of self published books which seem to come off of as... squeaky clean with nothing to offend anyone, not even any sex. What I mean is, a lot of self-published books I've come across are very "corporate" and "family friendly," it makes em seem like they came off an assembly line for mass consumption, I did not at all have that problem with this one and it was extremely refreshing! It's not like this was explicit it didn't show any of the sex in it but it was there, that's all I ask for haha. This has actual passion put into it, I can tell!
The other end of self publishing is that the quality and skill of the author is lacking, it's usually one or the other and this one has neither of those problems.
The one character I loved the most was Castigon, the bad guy. He had this this bit where he was first released from prison that had me laughing my ass off, to the Author: seriously that scene was pure brilliance. "I just work here"
You'll get it when you get to it!
The lore and world-building of this universe was amazingly done, like, I'm impressed. I was also fond of how we're thrown right in the deep end, and than we're elegantly shown and sometimes explained how everything works and where everything is. I somehow have a rather limited grip on this universe he's created, and it's a very large universe with a lot of shit going on! This is a compliment. I mean that I did not feel lost, despite the vastness of it all.
That brings me to the plot, oh boy, the plot was bizarre. There's a lot of shit going on all at once and I was invested in everything bar the parts with Elm Caden as a kid, every time I got to parts of the story with him I'd just "urrrrrghhhhhh" through it.
Sorry man but when you have this highly trained govt agent spec ops guy goin on awesome adventures as an adult, this comical yet endearing military grunt/rifleman fireteam who come with a giant alligator alien named "Bruiser," a bunch of spy stuff going on, a fun, intelligent and empathetic ship captain (Santani) a huge galaxy spanning empire on the brink of war, a mystery which has woven it's threads into all of these with the empires worlds under siege, I find it hard to give a shit about some snot nosed spoiled rich kid with daddy issues.
That's my only complaint, and the only reason I knocked a star off besides like, I think you did some head hopping that threw me, so like, minor noobish mistakes I expected to find in a self published novel and have made myself but to your credit there weren't a lot of them at all.
Overall "I really liked it!" sums up my thoughts so it's an enthusiastic four stars from me man, I hope you enjoyed my review please don't take the criticisms too harshly! Sorry it took me so long to finish! I'll be jumping onto book 2 shortly!
I really liked it, the characters were 3-dimensional and realistic, their dialogue was realistic and at times, very funny.
This story has a lot of... depth and soul that I found to be lacking from a lot of self published books which seem to come off of as... squeaky clean with nothing to offend anyone, not even any sex. What I mean is, a lot of self-published books I've come across are very "corporate" and "family friendly," it makes em seem like they came off an assembly line for mass consumption, I did not at all have that problem with this one and it was extremely refreshing! It's not like this was explicit it didn't show any of the sex in it but it was there, that's all I ask for haha. This has actual passion put into it, I can tell!
The other end of self publishing is that the quality and skill of the author is lacking, it's usually one or the other and this one has neither of those problems.
The one character I loved the most was Castigon, the bad guy. He had this this bit where he was first released from prison that had me laughing my ass off, to the Author: seriously that scene was pure brilliance. "I just work here"
You'll get it when you get to it!
The lore and world-building of this universe was amazingly done, like, I'm impressed. I was also fond of how we're thrown right in the deep end, and than we're elegantly shown and sometimes explained how everything works and where everything is. I somehow have a rather limited grip on this universe he's created, and it's a very large universe with a lot of shit going on! This is a compliment. I mean that I did not feel lost, despite the vastness of it all.
That brings me to the plot, oh boy, the plot was bizarre. There's a lot of shit going on all at once and I was invested in everything bar the parts with Elm Caden as a kid, every time I got to parts of the story with him I'd just "urrrrrghhhhhh" through it.
Sorry man but when you have this highly trained govt agent spec ops guy goin on awesome adventures as an adult, this comical yet endearing military grunt/rifleman fireteam who come with a giant alligator alien named "Bruiser," a bunch of spy stuff going on, a fun, intelligent and empathetic ship captain (Santani) a huge galaxy spanning empire on the brink of war, a mystery which has woven it's threads into all of these with the empires worlds under siege, I find it hard to give a shit about some snot nosed spoiled rich kid with daddy issues.
That's my only complaint, and the only reason I knocked a star off besides like, I think you did some head hopping that threw me, so like, minor noobish mistakes I expected to find in a self published novel and have made myself but to your credit there weren't a lot of them at all.
Overall "I really liked it!" sums up my thoughts so it's an enthusiastic four stars from me man, I hope you enjoyed my review please don't take the criticisms too harshly! Sorry it took me so long to finish! I'll be jumping onto book 2 shortly!
July 24, 2017
Try One More
I don't know what makes a good mystery type novel. This was confusing and unclear from the start. It didn't start to gel, for me, until halfway through and couldn't help to think this could have been excellent if author was clearer from get-go.
The POV switching didn't help either and then author threw in extra subplots that confused further and didn't really add anything to overall story.
The action, battle was done well enough and the overall storyline of Shard, Counterpart working for Empire -- I enjoyed. When I thought I knew the mystery that was being followed by MC, story switched POV with a subplot that was only loosely tied into story. And this reader, maybe being thicker than most, didn't figure out tie ins until late into story.
Disappointed, frustrated and I'll try one more hoping author doesn't try to bury me in meaningless subplots and stays on point. Would be a decent read.
I don't know what makes a good mystery type novel. This was confusing and unclear from the start. It didn't start to gel, for me, until halfway through and couldn't help to think this could have been excellent if author was clearer from get-go.
The POV switching didn't help either and then author threw in extra subplots that confused further and didn't really add anything to overall story.
The action, battle was done well enough and the overall storyline of Shard, Counterpart working for Empire -- I enjoyed. When I thought I knew the mystery that was being followed by MC, story switched POV with a subplot that was only loosely tied into story. And this reader, maybe being thicker than most, didn't figure out tie ins until late into story.
Disappointed, frustrated and I'll try one more hoping author doesn't try to bury me in meaningless subplots and stays on point. Would be a decent read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews