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Empire of Bones Saga #8
The Terra Gambit
Sent on a mission critical to the survival of the New Terran Empire, Jared Mertz must travel deep into the AI-dominated Rebel Empire on an operation of deception.
Only there are games afoot that no one could foresee and players at the table that no one could expect. The stakes couldn't be higher.
When unexpected enemies deal themselves in, Jared must bet everything on a single hand. Bluffing might get him killed but folding isn't an option.
If you love military science fiction and grand adventure on a galaxy-spanning scale, grab “The Terra Gambit” and the rest of The Empire of Bones Saga today!
Only there are games afoot that no one could foresee and players at the table that no one could expect. The stakes couldn't be higher.
When unexpected enemies deal themselves in, Jared must bet everything on a single hand. Bluffing might get him killed but folding isn't an option.
If you love military science fiction and grand adventure on a galaxy-spanning scale, grab “The Terra Gambit” and the rest of The Empire of Bones Saga today!
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 22, 2018
427 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Terry Mixon
87 books298 followers#1 Bestselling Military Science Fiction author Terry Mixon served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. He later worked alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center supporting the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects.
He now writes full time while living in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.
He now writes full time while living in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 6, 2018
Too short
This is another fine mess you've gotten us into. And now another shoe is about to drop. I love this series and can't wait for the next installment.
This is another fine mess you've gotten us into. And now another shoe is about to drop. I love this series and can't wait for the next installment.
March 4, 2018
A Great Story!
I've read allot of sci-fi and can honestly state that this guy is my favorite author. My only gripe is being left hanging with nothing complete in the story line. I just wish for a conclusion to something before the end of the book.
I've read allot of sci-fi and can honestly state that this guy is my favorite author. My only gripe is being left hanging with nothing complete in the story line. I just wish for a conclusion to something before the end of the book.
March 3, 2018
Great read.
I binge read this entire series in 3 days, and this new novel was a great addition! I can’t wait for the next one!
I binge read this entire series in 3 days, and this new novel was a great addition! I can’t wait for the next one!
February 26, 2018
Another great read
I enjoyed this book though there is a plot element introduced that I am not sure about and will have to wait to see how it plays out
A word of warning the book ends in a bit of a cliff hanger so you will be screaming for book 9 as soon as you finish
I enjoyed this book though there is a plot element introduced that I am not sure about and will have to wait to see how it plays out
A word of warning the book ends in a bit of a cliff hanger so you will be screaming for book 9 as soon as you finish
February 28, 2018
Another great installment in a fun series!
As always a great book with in expected twists and the required cliff hanger! The on negative is waiting for the next book!
As always a great book with in expected twists and the required cliff hanger! The on negative is waiting for the next book!
February 25, 2018
More NOW
Great book. Great series. Author needs to publish faster and stop leaving us on cliffhangers. Worse is the time between book releases.
Great book. Great series. Author needs to publish faster and stop leaving us on cliffhangers. Worse is the time between book releases.
March 26, 2018
This book when a little into the left field, I was hoping to see what Kelsey and her people was upto making their way back to safe space. But we find a different one wanting help from Jered, and the his team. She needs help to defeat the empire in a completely different universe. I am sure that Terry will be updating us on both Kelsey soon.
August 26, 2018
As a whole, I have enjoyed this science fiction series. However, we've all read various series with other books where, after a time, the series just should have stopped and the last book should not have been written: you become attached to the characters and the storyline, and you want to remember the good parts and not have your lasting memory be something bad. As someone who has enjoyed the series, this book was very disappointing on many fronts.
This book was all over the place and jumped from scene to scene. One of the better qualities of other books in the series was the technology and events in most of the series was believable from a layman's standpoint but rather than science fiction, the book right at the beginning really took a hard left into more of a fantasy book where you wanted to call "b.s." on some of the technological happenings as well as the storyline. In summary, this episode was a disaster to the series.
The ending was rather abrupt and felt incomplete as it just stops right in the middle of a scene – there was no conclusion to this episode, just a hard stop. I read this with my Kindle Unlimited subscription vs. its regular price of $4.99. If I had paid the $4.99, I would have felt robbed of my money; instead, I feel robbed of my time spent reading it and this is the end of the series for me.
This book was all over the place and jumped from scene to scene. One of the better qualities of other books in the series was the technology and events in most of the series was believable from a layman's standpoint but rather than science fiction, the book right at the beginning really took a hard left into more of a fantasy book where you wanted to call "b.s." on some of the technological happenings as well as the storyline. In summary, this episode was a disaster to the series.
The ending was rather abrupt and felt incomplete as it just stops right in the middle of a scene – there was no conclusion to this episode, just a hard stop. I read this with my Kindle Unlimited subscription vs. its regular price of $4.99. If I had paid the $4.99, I would have felt robbed of my money; instead, I feel robbed of my time spent reading it and this is the end of the series for me.
February 25, 2019
With being book eight, we use what we've come across in the universe. As many things move forward, somethings go backward. Jared and many others are moving forward in the battle against AI's and preparing. They need the scepter to open vaults, as do others in another universe. They move forward with living their lives and against the AI's, but something Jared dealt with before has surfaced to be his obstacle again, along with the dangers they face in their battle.
Ugh. We end on a cliffhanger ending. Things aren't resolved at the end and there are several huge things happening here. It feels like there is so much more to happen, and it'll be all action. I want it!! I've seen the next book is out, so I'll have to get to it to resolve what we have here. I'm hoping it ties in with this ending as I really want to know!
****FULL REVIEW TO FOLLOW****
Ugh. We end on a cliffhanger ending. Things aren't resolved at the end and there are several huge things happening here. It feels like there is so much more to happen, and it'll be all action. I want it!! I've seen the next book is out, so I'll have to get to it to resolve what we have here. I'm hoping it ties in with this ending as I really want to know!
****FULL REVIEW TO FOLLOW****
June 30, 2019
Not My Favorite
I have enjoyed the series immensely ... Until this book. This alternate universe stuff has put me off especially with the continuous distrust of people working to help them. Also it seems that Jared and his team have taken a huge step backwards in military strategy and using the Old Empire technology. Most of this book takes place in destroyer for goodness sake!
I have enjoyed the series immensely ... Until this book. This alternate universe stuff has put me off especially with the continuous distrust of people working to help them. Also it seems that Jared and his team have taken a huge step backwards in military strategy and using the Old Empire technology. Most of this book takes place in destroyer for goodness sake!
August 19, 2025
Another great read from a Master Space Opera writer. Really great to see Jared getting in over his head. Then Omega throws him a curve ball with a person from a "Mirror universe" showing up.
This series is soooo great I am on my 5th time reading it all as of Sept8 2018
This series is soooo great I am on my 5th time reading it all as of Sept8 2018
February 24, 2018
Felt like a transportation to another story, not as an interesting story in of itself.
The next one might be something remarkable due to the groundwork here, but this was "just ok".
The next one might be something remarkable due to the groundwork here, but this was "just ok".
May 2, 2019
least favorite book of the series
December 11, 2019
Meh
The adventure story is still fun until as it happens in every volume, the personal relationships are trotted out. The sexism is muted until women of the major character variety are in the scene and then it's so in my face that I can only skip over a page or two or stop reading.
The story isn't world class literature, so those sanity breaks that I need really hurt the story flow. Fortunately like any soap opera, it's easy to pick up the story again past the break but it causes me to stay alert for the next cringe worthy section or chapter.
The security protocols and the interactions with enemies or foreign allies is so collegial that the feel of a life and death struggle peters out repeatedly. If it's life and death, be hardnosed, establish the limits at the outset and get it done.
Who shows up on your doorstep, desperate for help, then insults you and behaves like an entitled asshat who's doing you a favor. The writer gives this free pass to all characters that are nobility or nobility adjacent which annoys the hell out of me. The unimportant people behave differently but have no life outside of following orders. The husband-to-be being ambushed into a wedding is tired and the female characters are so grateful to get married that it's nauseating. On any page, the female characters are normal decision makers who can lose their self respect when marriage is in the table within 2 pages. Their male counterparts react as if they never had a girlfriend before this relationship and can't get the "courage" to actually propose? These are the big, bad military types? Undercut the adventure story, why don't you?
Putting aside the personal and intimate relationships, there are some other problem areas. No character development, a total 2D character landscape, some background universe questions, repetitious dialogue are all magnified by the 19th century relationships. Read for twenty or twenty-five pages, skip 5 to 10 and repeat.
The series plot is fun but the story that should carry me away to another universe can really become a slog.
The adventure story is still fun until as it happens in every volume, the personal relationships are trotted out. The sexism is muted until women of the major character variety are in the scene and then it's so in my face that I can only skip over a page or two or stop reading.
The story isn't world class literature, so those sanity breaks that I need really hurt the story flow. Fortunately like any soap opera, it's easy to pick up the story again past the break but it causes me to stay alert for the next cringe worthy section or chapter.
The security protocols and the interactions with enemies or foreign allies is so collegial that the feel of a life and death struggle peters out repeatedly. If it's life and death, be hardnosed, establish the limits at the outset and get it done.
Who shows up on your doorstep, desperate for help, then insults you and behaves like an entitled asshat who's doing you a favor. The writer gives this free pass to all characters that are nobility or nobility adjacent which annoys the hell out of me. The unimportant people behave differently but have no life outside of following orders. The husband-to-be being ambushed into a wedding is tired and the female characters are so grateful to get married that it's nauseating. On any page, the female characters are normal decision makers who can lose their self respect when marriage is in the table within 2 pages. Their male counterparts react as if they never had a girlfriend before this relationship and can't get the "courage" to actually propose? These are the big, bad military types? Undercut the adventure story, why don't you?
Putting aside the personal and intimate relationships, there are some other problem areas. No character development, a total 2D character landscape, some background universe questions, repetitious dialogue are all magnified by the 19th century relationships. Read for twenty or twenty-five pages, skip 5 to 10 and repeat.
The series plot is fun but the story that should carry me away to another universe can really become a slog.
September 23, 2020
Reads like a different series
I did not manage to finish this book and as a result of the changes in book 8 have ended my relationship with this series. This book twists the plot into incompatible realms by adding characters from alternate universes (multiverse threads) and then bending the characters in the current main universe we have been reading about into unreasonable caricatures of their previous personalities. When adding in the "new" cast from the multiverse, the story just became untenable for me and I finished at less than 50%.
I am disheartened and sad that what started as such an interesting a fascinating series managed to "jump the shark" so completely in book 8. I am most definitely finished with the series and depressed that several other more recent books by this author which I dismissed as one-off failed attempts are mirrored in this earlier book. It seems the author has altered his writing style in a direction that I just don't care to follow.
I did not manage to finish this book and as a result of the changes in book 8 have ended my relationship with this series. This book twists the plot into incompatible realms by adding characters from alternate universes (multiverse threads) and then bending the characters in the current main universe we have been reading about into unreasonable caricatures of their previous personalities. When adding in the "new" cast from the multiverse, the story just became untenable for me and I finished at less than 50%.
I am disheartened and sad that what started as such an interesting a fascinating series managed to "jump the shark" so completely in book 8. I am most definitely finished with the series and depressed that several other more recent books by this author which I dismissed as one-off failed attempts are mirrored in this earlier book. It seems the author has altered his writing style in a direction that I just don't care to follow.
March 20, 2022
"The Terra Gambit", or something similar, has been in the offing ever since Omega and alternate worlds were discovered several books ago.
As Jared heads off on a mission to Terra to find the code which may finally end the war things get complicated when alternate Kelsey shows up. She's basically on the same mission, but in her reality Jared has gone rogue so she needs this Jared to find the code and hope that it is the same one she needs.
It sounds complicated but it is not as Terry Mixon doesn't handle complexity or depth very well. Both the plot and the characters are tissue thin.
This episode is again a scene setter for the next in the series and comes to a very sudden end for no particular reason other than, as far as I can see, it has to end somewhere.
2.5 Stars.
As Jared heads off on a mission to Terra to find the code which may finally end the war things get complicated when alternate Kelsey shows up. She's basically on the same mission, but in her reality Jared has gone rogue so she needs this Jared to find the code and hope that it is the same one she needs.
It sounds complicated but it is not as Terry Mixon doesn't handle complexity or depth very well. Both the plot and the characters are tissue thin.
This episode is again a scene setter for the next in the series and comes to a very sudden end for no particular reason other than, as far as I can see, it has to end somewhere.
2.5 Stars.
March 18, 2021
First, this is the fifth time I've listened to this series and I still love every second of it. This novel is another winner from Terry Mixon and Veronica Giguere! This series one I love and revisit like an old friend, if you haven't checked it out, you're missing out! I can't wait to read the next book in this series, Terry is one of my auto-buy authors and he could be yours too if you give him a chance! Hopefully the author can give up sleeping and eating so I can read the next one! It has a lot of action, and adventure and some cool plot twists I didn't see coming!
October 20, 2018
I haven't listened to most of the series before this one but, with that said, I really liked this story. It was fun, very entertaining, and had lots of action and plot twists.
I think it's really well done, both writing and narration, and I'll be grabbing some more of the books in the series in the future to listen to :) Enjoyed it!!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I think it's really well done, both writing and narration, and I'll be grabbing some more of the books in the series in the future to listen to :) Enjoyed it!!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Read
May 21, 2021Have enjoyed the previous 7 books; however bringing in characters from an alternate universe just didn't make sense to me and I had a hard time finishing this book. I suspect the story line will continue with these alternate characters and I will probably continue reading but would prefer to have the author stick with the original characters. On the other hand it does add another story line which some might find interesting but it just isn't something I enjoyed.
March 7, 2018
Too much of a cliffhanger for my taste. Mixon, as always, continued to grow the relationships among the characters, and kept the tension at a high level. But the plot seemed to just stop when it was convenient for him. Readers shouldn't expect resolution of any problems in this installment. I wouldn't accept this from most authors, but I'm hooked on this series and am bound to stay with it.
March 19, 2018
Excellent story
I would highly recommend this book, as with all the other Terry Mixon books I've read. The only thing I don't like about it is waiting for the next installment. I gave it 5 stars because it's one of the few stories that has really caused me to be anxious, it's a great story.
I would highly recommend this book, as with all the other Terry Mixon books I've read. The only thing I don't like about it is waiting for the next installment. I gave it 5 stars because it's one of the few stories that has really caused me to be anxious, it's a great story.
April 2, 2018
New twist in a great series
I liked the book, this one lacks some of the military element most of the series features and goes more espionage based. I enjoy the characters and plot development but it is definitely part 1 of a larger story arc and left me with a lot of questions for the next book to answer.
I liked the book, this one lacks some of the military element most of the series features and goes more espionage based. I enjoy the characters and plot development but it is definitely part 1 of a larger story arc and left me with a lot of questions for the next book to answer.
August 24, 2018
It was great to get back to what was going on with Jared and the crew after the previous book. In some ways, the addition of other-universe copies of main characters was a little annoying, but in some ways, it was also intriguing. We got to see how the same people can change. And I do love how the crux of the series seems to be heading. I'm ready for book 9!
May 26, 2020
So much opportunity lost. The first six books were pretty good. It seems the last book and this one are just being 'phoned-in' by Mixon. The plot is simplistic, the twists are outlandish, and the dialogue is boringly predictable.
I've already purchased book nine and now I'm starting to wish that I waited. I'll probably regret it even more in a couple days.
I've already purchased book nine and now I'm starting to wish that I waited. I'll probably regret it even more in a couple days.
July 3, 2021
Mixon delivers again
Mixon continues his mastery of sci-fi once again.
I lost my Kindle for several weeks and when I found it again, I picked the story back up half way through as if I hadn't missed a day. Not many authors can burn their their stories into your head like Terry does.
Mixon continues his mastery of sci-fi once again.
I lost my Kindle for several weeks and when I found it again, I picked the story back up half way through as if I hadn't missed a day. Not many authors can burn their their stories into your head like Terry does.
March 26, 2018
Lite or did I just fly thru this book?
I got totally engrossed in reading this book. I flew thru the characters. The ending leaves me hanging on for the next installment of the series. Come on Terry Mixon and get that puppy to print. Great series!
I got totally engrossed in reading this book. I flew thru the characters. The ending leaves me hanging on for the next installment of the series. Come on Terry Mixon and get that puppy to print. Great series!
July 15, 2018
Need more, have found this series very entertaining.
Character development is good
however wish to have fewer introduced and stay with main characters. It's good space opera and military action is as well.
Character development is good
however wish to have fewer introduced and stay with main characters. It's good space opera and military action is as well.
September 13, 2020
Excellent
Another good story from the author. This is the second time I 've read this series, one of the advantages in being old is that after a year or so, it's all new again. And it's still good writing.
Another good story from the author. This is the second time I 've read this series, one of the advantages in being old is that after a year or so, it's all new again. And it's still good writing.
September 15, 2021
Train wreck
A complete disappointment. It's like Mixon turned over writing the series to a teenager. There was no need for the stupid and silly plot twists. If this had been the first book in the series, I would stopped reading about halfway through.
A complete disappointment. It's like Mixon turned over writing the series to a teenager. There was no need for the stupid and silly plot twists. If this had been the first book in the series, I would stopped reading about halfway through.
March 19, 2018
One of my favorite series! Terry is a fabulous author, who is incredibly talented! You will love this series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews