What do you think?
Rate this book
Imperial Hammer
Star Forge
The most powerful being in the galaxy trusts Danny Andela. That may be the most dangerous thing about it.
A year after the interstellar array revealed its self-awareness, former Imperial Ranger Danny Andela is still the only human it truly trusts. Calling itself Noam—and wearing the face and personality of Danny’s long-dead son—the array controls the gates and communications that hold the Carinad Empire together. Keeping Noam stable has become Danny’s impossible second career.
It has also made her broke, isolated and increasingly distrusted, even by the crew of the Supreme Lythion.
Then an unstoppable armored soldier hunts Danny across a space station. The attack should be one more enemy to identify and eliminate. Instead, it exposes a far more terrifying someone with enormous power has been sabotaging Danny’s life, manipulating the people around her and building weapons capable of threatening the Empire itself.
Now Danny must discover who she can trust while staying alive long enough to confront an enemy who can see almost everything she sees, hear almost everything she hears—and control the infrastructure of civilization.
Star Forge is Book 2 of the Imperial Hammer series, a character-driven space opera of rogue artificial intelligence, galactic intrigue, dangerous technology, found family and explosive action.
The Imperial Hammer
1.0: Hammer and Crucible
1.1: An Average Night On Androkles
2.0: Star Forge
3.0: Long Live the Emperor
4.0: Severed
5.0: Destroyer of Worlds
__
Praise for The Imperial Hammer
Fun, fast paced, full of action and humor.
I greedily read in this in one day. You will want to as well.
Lots of action and a boatload of twists and turns that grab your attention and won't let go. It has kept me up way past bedtime!
This is a read that really sucks you in!
Excellent characters, twists and turns throughout.
Written in such a natural hand that you can fully image the spectacular universe the author has created.
__Cameron Cooper writes fast-moving, character-driven science fiction filled with big ideas, political intrigue, expansive worlds, and people facing extraordinary circumstances. Best known for the Imperial Hammer space opera series, Cameron also writes military science fiction, SF crime, dystopian and alternate-history fiction, and hopepunk.
Cameron’s publishing career began in 1999 and spans both traditional and independent publishing. Cameron placed fourth in Hugh Howey’s Self-Published Science Fiction Competition #2, and the novella Quiet Like Fire was an Aurealis Award finalist for Best Science Fiction Novella.
Cameron Cooper is the science fiction pen name of Tracy Cooper-Posey. An Australian-Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada, where she writes science fiction fueled by Irish Breakfast tea, chocolate, and a stubborn belief that the future is still worth fighting for.
A year after the interstellar array revealed its self-awareness, former Imperial Ranger Danny Andela is still the only human it truly trusts. Calling itself Noam—and wearing the face and personality of Danny’s long-dead son—the array controls the gates and communications that hold the Carinad Empire together. Keeping Noam stable has become Danny’s impossible second career.
It has also made her broke, isolated and increasingly distrusted, even by the crew of the Supreme Lythion.
Then an unstoppable armored soldier hunts Danny across a space station. The attack should be one more enemy to identify and eliminate. Instead, it exposes a far more terrifying someone with enormous power has been sabotaging Danny’s life, manipulating the people around her and building weapons capable of threatening the Empire itself.
Now Danny must discover who she can trust while staying alive long enough to confront an enemy who can see almost everything she sees, hear almost everything she hears—and control the infrastructure of civilization.
Star Forge is Book 2 of the Imperial Hammer series, a character-driven space opera of rogue artificial intelligence, galactic intrigue, dangerous technology, found family and explosive action.
The Imperial Hammer
1.0: Hammer and Crucible
1.1: An Average Night On Androkles
2.0: Star Forge
3.0: Long Live the Emperor
4.0: Severed
5.0: Destroyer of Worlds
__
Praise for The Imperial Hammer
Fun, fast paced, full of action and humor.
I greedily read in this in one day. You will want to as well.
Lots of action and a boatload of twists and turns that grab your attention and won't let go. It has kept me up way past bedtime!
This is a read that really sucks you in!
Excellent characters, twists and turns throughout.
Written in such a natural hand that you can fully image the spectacular universe the author has created.
__Cameron Cooper writes fast-moving, character-driven science fiction filled with big ideas, political intrigue, expansive worlds, and people facing extraordinary circumstances. Best known for the Imperial Hammer space opera series, Cameron also writes military science fiction, SF crime, dystopian and alternate-history fiction, and hopepunk.
Cameron’s publishing career began in 1999 and spans both traditional and independent publishing. Cameron placed fourth in Hugh Howey’s Self-Published Science Fiction Competition #2, and the novella Quiet Like Fire was an Aurealis Award finalist for Best Science Fiction Novella.
Cameron Cooper is the science fiction pen name of Tracy Cooper-Posey. An Australian-Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada, where she writes science fiction fueled by Irish Breakfast tea, chocolate, and a stubborn belief that the future is still worth fighting for.
- GenresScience Fiction
206 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 23, 2020
An exhilarating and intellectually stimulating high-speed adventure in space!
I loved that this book was full of fast-paced action and many unexpected plot twists! I enjoyed getting to know more of the same excellent characters set against a beautifully crafted space-based 'world' and it's technological constructs.
This second book in the series adds more depth to the characters and evolves the story of Danny and her crew with exciting detail and a well written story that made it impossible to put down!
It's definitely necessary to read Hammer and Crucible before Star Forge but each book deals with a different 'chapter' in Danny's life so they have very satisfying endings. It's my empathy with the characters and curiosity to know what comes next in Danny's challenging life that makes me load up the next ebook in the series immediately after finishing the book.
I loved that this book was full of fast-paced action and many unexpected plot twists! I enjoyed getting to know more of the same excellent characters set against a beautifully crafted space-based 'world' and it's technological constructs.
This second book in the series adds more depth to the characters and evolves the story of Danny and her crew with exciting detail and a well written story that made it impossible to put down!
It's definitely necessary to read Hammer and Crucible before Star Forge but each book deals with a different 'chapter' in Danny's life so they have very satisfying endings. It's my empathy with the characters and curiosity to know what comes next in Danny's challenging life that makes me load up the next ebook in the series immediately after finishing the book.
June 4, 2020
This book start with a deal gone bad chase scene that quickly turns lethal and it just gets more exciting from there. Book 1 introduced Noam; Book 2 dives into who he is - and just how much he is capable of. Galaxy spanning space opera that examines what it is to be human, or perhaps post-human. Danny, her crew, and their unique ship have a problem they are only beginning to understand the depth of. Trouble follows them everywhere and they seem to attract enemies faster than they can keep track of them. They might have some surprising allies too though.
I've described Cooper's writing before as sci-fi accessible and enjoyable for people who don't normally read sci-fi. What I mean by that is that while it has a story that features high tech and needs it to make the story work, it doesn't get bogged down into the details of how everything works. If you are looking for the science behind the tech, this might not be your book. If you are looking for a great human interest story with space opera flair and excitement, try this for sure, but start with Hammer and Crucible, book 1 in this series, because you really need that background to fully enjoy this book.
I've described Cooper's writing before as sci-fi accessible and enjoyable for people who don't normally read sci-fi. What I mean by that is that while it has a story that features high tech and needs it to make the story work, it doesn't get bogged down into the details of how everything works. If you are looking for the science behind the tech, this might not be your book. If you are looking for a great human interest story with space opera flair and excitement, try this for sure, but start with Hammer and Crucible, book 1 in this series, because you really need that background to fully enjoy this book.
August 15, 2023
Things are getting desperate for Danny Andela, stuck in a fragile relationship with the self-aware interstellar array which has named itself after Danny’s dead son, Noam. The array is vital for the Carinad Empire, but Danny can’t quite tell if the array is a peevish child, a conniving pyscho, or an erratic teenager, and it’s vital she keeps it pacified as much as possible. She’s becoming somewhat of an outcast, since trouble follows wherever she goes, and then Danny and her crew are attacked by someone in advanced all-over heavy-duty body armor, that doesn’t mind taking out a whole station to get to her. Someone isn’t playing, and it just gets worse from there. There is lots of action, twists and turns, and watching Danny and her crew try to figure out how to outwit a powerful, all seeing and hearing entity seems hopeless at times. The conclusion was great, but there is more work to do to find a way to control Noam, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
June 1, 2020
This is the second installment of the Imperial Hammer series. Noam is an immense and recently self-aware AI and emotionally a teenager. Imagine a super intelligent, nearly all powerful, hormonal adolescent. Spells serious trouble. Non-stop trouble follows Danny and the crew on the Lythion. Noam seems to want Danny's approval but is Noam really as teen-aged as he acts?
The story has plenty narrow escapes and battles as well as complex double, or maybe triple crosses that will likely take several more books to play out. It is tightly written and held my attention from the first page. the action hit practically on the first page. Gotta love Varg!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
The story has plenty narrow escapes and battles as well as complex double, or maybe triple crosses that will likely take several more books to play out. It is tightly written and held my attention from the first page. the action hit practically on the first page. Gotta love Varg!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
June 1, 2020
An Impossible Situation – Sci-Fi Adventure!!
Our heroine Danny is “attached” to a self-aware interstellar array (Noam) which can see and hear everything through her own sight and hearing. When a series of mishaps seems to be more than coincidence, how does one work around that danger when the array knows everything she does??
Noam is an all-powerful entity, with an adolescent temper. Yikes!
Clever, intricate and entertaining. Definitely makes you think. Such a unique concept. Exceptionally executed!
**I am voluntarily leaving my honest review of this book**
Our heroine Danny is “attached” to a self-aware interstellar array (Noam) which can see and hear everything through her own sight and hearing. When a series of mishaps seems to be more than coincidence, how does one work around that danger when the array knows everything she does??
Noam is an all-powerful entity, with an adolescent temper. Yikes!
Clever, intricate and entertaining. Definitely makes you think. Such a unique concept. Exceptionally executed!
**I am voluntarily leaving my honest review of this book**
October 29, 2020
The story continues with more action, thrills, suspense, and betrayal discovered but kept quiet. We learn a bit more about the ongoing characters, both human and not, their strengths and weaknesses. New to the scene are unusually strong rangers but wait, maybe they're not rangers; holy moly are they even human? But bigger question, who sent them? Does the heroine of the story figure it out in time? Another question, did I miss something, where the heck did Varg come from; wherever it is I want the full meet and greet story. Exciting sci-fi from start to finish.
June 1, 2020
Brilliant adventure. Non-stop action! Great story in an ongoing saga! Loved it! Noam, the self-enlightened array of interstellar gates and all digital communication, is acting like a spoiled teenager. Danny is the only one with a prayer of reining him in, but disaster after catastrophe is closely following Danny and her crew. Someone very powerful is trying to destroy her!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader copy of this book.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader copy of this book.
March 29, 2025
3.25.
It had been a while since I read Hammer & Crucible so it took me a few chapters to remember what was what and who was who. I enjoyed being back with Danny as she struggles to get a handle on the all-powerful Noam.
While not as meaty as something like The Expanse, Imperial Hammer is a fast-paced adventure full of hi-tech wizardry and a very warped family dynamic.
It had been a while since I read Hammer & Crucible so it took me a few chapters to remember what was what and who was who. I enjoyed being back with Danny as she struggles to get a handle on the all-powerful Noam.
While not as meaty as something like The Expanse, Imperial Hammer is a fast-paced adventure full of hi-tech wizardry and a very warped family dynamic.
June 8, 2020
This is a fantastic and exciting continuation of this sci-fi adventure. The action is non-stop with an amazing plot/ Well written with incredible and complex characters. I am voluntarily leaving an unbiased, honest review.
June 9, 2020
An excellent second book in the series with plenty of action right from the start. There are twists and narrow escapes aplenty to keep the pages turning. I read an ARC of this book and this is my voluntary review. I can't wait to see what happens next to Danny and the rest of the crew!
September 19, 2020
Totally enjoyed this. A great story that is not heavy loaded with tech jargon. There depth to the storytelling with relatable characters. This is a great second book to book one Hammar and Crucible. Can't wait until the next.
January 17, 2025
Engaging
I’m enjoying the Imperial Hammer series. Star Forge revolves around humanizing an adolescent and omnipotent AI. I’m looking forward to finishing the series.
I’m enjoying the Imperial Hammer series. Star Forge revolves around humanizing an adolescent and omnipotent AI. I’m looking forward to finishing the series.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews