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Earth is not the cradle of humanity. It is the Throne.

Almost four hundred years the Terran Imperium has languished, an Empire in name only. The young colonies exploded out of the Diaspora Era, supplanting the homeworld in importance as they left a broken world in their wake. Earth's people, guided by the Conwin line, have clawed and climbed from the darkness left the night the lights went out. They built and rebuilt the weary and weakened world they inherited, even when it seemed bent on killing them from sheer spite.

For the new generation, such as Young Eryn Aubrey, a new day seems set to dawn with the Empress' Tri-Centennial surprise announcement of hope and empowerment to the people. There are others, however, who are not nearly so enthused with what The Conwin has to say.

The Empire is a sleeping giant, goaded awake amidst tragedy, betrayal, and the machinations of conspiracy.

Loyalties will be tested, oaths broken, and loyalties reforged. And into the galaxy a confused, angry, woken giant is set loose upon those long used to mocking its existence.

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2020

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194 people want to read

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Evan Currie

54 books1,895 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Sophia.
Author 5 books402 followers
November 3, 2021
Space Opera full of political intrigue, dashing action, cunning cast of characters, and a sci-fi world that is stellar is exactly what I was looking for when I happened upon Evan Currie’s Imperium of Terra series. I’ve had my eye on this author for some time so was tickled to come across this new series start. I happily strapped in and got ready for a ride to the stars.

I Was Legion introduces a galaxy that expands out from old earth into the surrounding galaxy where colonies were formed after earth started wearing out. The brightest, the best, and the most useful resources were carted off world leaving the dregs. But earth didn’t die. An empire formed and a powerful family led it until a revitalized earth starts to shine through the tarnish.
Change is in the air. The galaxy has been worked like a chess board so that the time is ripe for a hidden power to come out of the shadows and break down the old ways including the empress, her Legionnaires, and those who would live free.

Eyrn is a new Legionnaire and his first big assignment is to guard the empress’ youngest daughter, Jinsha. As they are out enjoying the royal festival all hell breaks loose. He sees the Legion get mowed down and those he thought were the empress’ most loyal take her out. It is his job to keep the last remaining free royal from capture. It is a mad race to stay ahead of the disloyal nobles, the military, and his former Legionnaire mentor. But, Eyrn is untried and Jin is sheltered, how can they possibly stay in the wind?

I Was Legion launches into quite the action-packed and intense storyline that grabs the interest and doesn’t let go. It went by quickly and I had no desire to stop listening once I got started. It was utterly familiar in feel and it was not long before I realized it gave more than a subtle nod to Star Wars right down to swords made of light energy, a princess on the run, and a youthful hero who must battle his former mentor. But, that said, it had its own storyline and plenty of original worldbuilding going on.

There wasn’t much time given to character development- at least at this point- with the focus being on the opening salvo of action and introduction to the world and the series. That said, I like what I’ve seen so far of Eyrn, Jin, and a few other colorful secondary characters especially Jan and the enigmatic villain Sylban.

Shawn Compton did the narration work and I thought he voiced the book so that it engaged me from the start. His Eyrn and Jin voices were pretty good and he did the older male voices even better. He narrated rather than voice acted the dramatic scenes so he let the words of the book speak for themselves. I hope he is the series narrator.

So, all in all, this was a bang up start to a series and well worth my earlier enthusiasm to try the author’s writing. Those who enjoy military space opera with all the descriptions of ships, weaponry, military tactics and jargon will probably enjoy it the most. However, with the political intrigue and variety of sci-fi settings along with compelling characters, the broader sci-fi crowd will also do good to pick this one up.

My thanks to Tantor Audio for providing an audio copy of the book to listen to in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Patiscynical.
287 reviews4 followers
October 24, 2020
I Was Legion, a new series

This book starts very slowly, but when it gets going it really keeps your attention.
Earth had nearly been destroyed as a habitable world. It was only after millions had left for colonies in the stars that it finally turned away from self destruction. One man took over power and became emperor, rebuilding from the chaos.
People now can live for what might as well be forever, thanks to life extension, and the earth is now ruled, hundreds of years later, by the granddaughter of the original emperor. Earth is known by the colonies as the planet of origin, but that's about all it's worth for them. They consider it a polluted backwater that you might visit once, but you wouldn't want to live there.
This story is about a bloody coup on Earth, with the heir to the empire managing to escape with the help of a young legionaire, and their fight to get away from the evil forces pursuing them.
I hesitated between three and four stars for this, but there were a few instances where the wrong word or an extra word was used, and there was the slow start, and some very Darth Vader moments that I had to laugh about, so I only gave it three.
Results: despite the problems I listed, I enjoyed this story, and I absolutely will read the next in the series. Ignore the slow beginning, it gets much better.
Profile Image for Online Eccentric Librarian.
3,400 reviews5 followers
November 18, 2020
More reviews at the Online Eccentric Librarian http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

I am going to guess that this is self published; there are quite a few typographical or grammar errors throughout that really bring the overall quality of the read down. But it is an Evan Currie book so it has plenty of relatable characters performing plenty of action. That said, for an author who has always channeled Star Wars in his books, you'll definitely see the references clearly here: young princess, young idealistic guy saving her, elderly mentor, mysterious abilities, and a smuggler saving them against his better judgement. It's all good fun - escapist sci fi that won't challenge you with technobabble or high concepts. Consider this the anti-French Revolution, Star Wars style.

Story: When Earth began to become too toxic for life, mankind spreads out among the stars, taking the best and the brightest minds away from the cradle of humanity. What was left on Earth was a mess; then one man changed all that and brought the Earth together under his rule with force. Now, his ancestor wants to complete his mission and return rule to the people now that the time is right - something the nobles are decidedly against. When a coup happens, the ruler's daughter becomes a commodity the nobles have to control: whoever controls the bloodline controls the Earth. But Princess Jinsha has a protector - a young member of the mysterious order of the legionnaires. Can Eryn save the princess before the nobles take control of her and yet also before the colonies decide that Earth is now a soft target for conquest?

Most of the book consists of Jinsha and Eryn outwitting the coup during the escape. Eryn has a former mentor who is both an Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, countering Eryn's moving with a preternatural ability reminiscent of The Force. Eryn himself is highly idealistic and, not coming from nobility, has a natural predisposition not to trust the nobles. As a legionnaire, he is equipped with a special laser sword and known for its cutting ability. Freighter Captain Jan is the owner of an interesting ship with a unique name that he uses to transport both legal and contraband items. So far, so Star Wars.

As with all of Currie's books, the characters make the story. There's nothing deep here and there are always far too many POVs (e.g., do we really need a POV of the fighter pilot chasing down Eryn as he is trying to escape?). But it's just so much fun, who cares? Sometimes, it is best to just let it go and enjoy the ride. Currie knows how to write 'fun' and, like Star Wars, his sci fi universes are enjoyable relatable.

For a book like this, it's best to make sure your expectations align with the writing style. Nothing deep here just plain adventure and fun. Despite just being published now, this feels very much like a book from very early in his writing career: it may not have the sophistication of the Oddyssey One series but it has all the zeal and 'raise you fist in the air' bravado that we've come to expect from Mr. Currie.
Profile Image for Kieran Maye.
1 review
October 20, 2020
Fun short read, hope for more.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I think the setting is sound, and the fact that multiple political factions will be involved in the war is interesting.

I'd be more interested to know how the Legion was able to get ahead technologically of its primary opponents, especially with their armor.

The Betrayer is always a highlight when he appears, his character seems like he's having fun. The other main characters seem a little dry, but with the short length of this one, there wasn't much down time for them to express themselves, they were going from crisis to crisis.

Definitely enjoyed, hope everything gets fleshed out abit more but this is one to watch.
Profile Image for Tony Hisgett.
3,007 reviews36 followers
November 3, 2020
The book starts with a prologue, that was annoying and boring and I nearly gave up before even reaching chapter one. That would have been a pity as I quite enjoyed most of the book. Once the action starts it is fairly relentless and even though Eryn and Jinsha can be exasperating, I am looking forward to following their adventures in the next book.
One minor irritation was the formatting of my Kindle version changes about halfway through the book to give a much bigger left margin. As I use a fairly large font size this effectively made half the screen empty.
I might have given four stars, but the prologue and formatting were enough for me to drop this to three.
Profile Image for Mark Sileikis.
23 reviews
October 28, 2020
Another great adventure begins

Full disclosure, Evan Currie is one of my favorite writers. This is the start of another great series. I like that his stories are not predictable and the characters are thought out well before he gets into the story. I look forward to the next book in this series, I just hate to wait. I guess I'll go back and power read some of his other series while I wait.
5 reviews
November 8, 2020
Difficult read due to bad proofing

This was a good story. At least it would have been if not for the many wrong word errors that forced me to have to decide the author's intent. Poor editing and proof reading made this book hard to really get into. I really enjoy reading what Evan Currie writes and I hope this title gets a good proof read to correct the errors. Once it does, my rating would go up to four stars.
8 reviews
October 23, 2020
Another great start for a new series from my favorite author.

Great characters? Check.

Action? Check.

Political back stabbing? Check.

A plot with mysteries? Check.

If you like both sword fighting and space battles you will get enjoy this new series.

Highly recommend.
Profile Image for Derek Knox.
2 reviews4 followers
October 22, 2020
Solid space opera, with flavors of Star Wars

As with most space operas, you can see Star Wars influence in the story, princess in trouble, young hero, specialized warriors who use a powered sword as a primary weapon, etc, but Currie is a good enough author to put his own spin on it, and make it worth a read. I hope that more books will be coming soon. Only complaint i have is the lack of explanation on why the main villain chose to break his oaths, hopefully that'll be explored in future books.
Profile Image for Peter Megyeri.
380 reviews12 followers
April 6, 2021
I have really liked the Odyssey One series and read a number of other books as well from Evan Currie. I was not disappointed with this new series as well. I really like the new setting, the worldbuilding, and the usual witty dialogues. The book did have a number of annoying typos and other errors mentioned in other reviews, which were a little distracting, but it was still very much worth it. I would really like to follow the story of the main characters but I cannot seem to find any information on whether there is any news about the second book coming out in the foreseeable future. I really hope so. 4.5 stars rounded up, and that's because of the lack of proofreading.
Profile Image for Joe Anshien.
75 reviews
November 6, 2022
I have read everything Evan has written and look forward to all his new releases. I got about 15% into this book and gave up. It was all royals and pomp and I just could not do it. It may have picked up later but just not worth the slog to get to it.
Profile Image for Aaron Anderson.
1,299 reviews17 followers
December 10, 2020
I didn't enjoy this as much as I normally do Evan Currie. Since it's him, I'll try a sequel if/when it comes out, but so far I'm not terribly impressed with this series.

Also, there were a lot of copyedit type errors. I hope he's doing well enough as an author to afford such, since I like his books. But I have noticed the last 2-3 books seem to have a lot of errors. Usually wrong word choices, obviously missed by a spell check because they ARE words, but still a large number of such errors book-wide.
Profile Image for Jared McIntyre.
93 reviews1 follower
July 4, 2021
Not one of my favorites

This isn’t one of his best. I wish he would have used the time it took to write this to write an addition to one of his other series. But it is what it is. Overall I feel this story is a bit awkward. The main protagonists stumbles through the story only to accomplish something that really shouldn’t be possible in the end. There isn’t any world building, no real advance in weapons or science. I would recommend reading something else from Even’s many excellent books.
Profile Image for Sarah.
603 reviews5 followers
January 20, 2023
A good start for a series. There was a lot of action and a lot going on which kept a nice pace for the story. The characters started to grow on me about half way through. The one thing that felt off was how mature and skilled Aubrey was for his age. He seemed just a little too calm and together for how young and inexperienced he was. The bad guys were a little cliche and I wouldn’t have minded a little more depth on the legion as a whole. I’m sure there must be some other higher ranks and Legionnaires that remained loyal. All in all, a good read.
19 reviews1 follower
November 6, 2020
Great story!

I’m hooked. I really didn’t want to be but I am. My first thought when I saw the start of a new series was “C’mon Currie. How about continuing the Atlantis Rising series or another in the On Silver Wings series”. But instead we got a new series and I’m hooked by the great story, fast pace and characters I’ve already become attached to. So now I have yet more books to wait for. Luckily Currie writes fast.
Profile Image for Maciek.
237 reviews7 followers
November 23, 2020
A new universe where centuries after the Diaspora Era, Earth is just a historical backwater planet compared to colony empires. With medical advances humans can live for a few centuries, so make much longer plans.
We have human civilisation spread among the stars, but also Earth is formed in more of a feudal system, with empress' legionnaires using mono blades apart from firearms.
Interesting characters and story for a different take on a space opera.
Profile Image for John Froemke.
33 reviews
May 27, 2021
That's was pretty good book

I would give it a 5 but it just didn't feel right. I'm looking forward to reading terrible book 2. So far I've liked the little twists and character development but I like the action best and The end of this book gave you a lot. I like things that are not too super complicated with multiple multiple stories. This is following 1 story with different characters pretty good
Profile Image for Bruce Campbell.
83 reviews
July 11, 2021
Five Star Story, Pity about the editing

This is really good space opera. The story is fast paced and the plot original. Characters you care about and action sequences to keep you turning the pages....But the editing is terrible. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar everywhere. It was so bad it detracted from the story. I’m really hoping the publisher lifted their game for the follow on books.
34 reviews
September 11, 2021
An excellent beginning!

It seems "Earth as villain " is a popular theme in today's sci-fi and this book does it very well. We have the damsel in distress, the young hero who fights to protect her and a host of bad guys out to capture or kill them. All very standard props but Mr Currie turns them into a very entertaining story. I hope the next installment will not be long in coming.

Profile Image for Linda Thomas.
842 reviews8 followers
July 25, 2022
9 stars needed You start calmly and that is last slow breath. A Legion man breaks his oath and starts a war.

When one Legion man, Sylban breaks his oaths to the Legion and to his brothers it sets off a war. But it also gives his former trainee and brother, Eryn the job of fulfilling his oath and protecting his charge Jinsha both on world and off. Fast paced but still makes you think. True Evan Currie book never lets you down.
1 review
October 23, 2020
Great read!

Compelling characters, a classic story told well! Non stop Intense action scenes that sweep you up. I literally had trouble putting this one down to go to work. Minor editing flaws but not serious enough to break the flow of the story. Only sorry I have to wait for book two.
13 reviews1 follower
November 16, 2020
Good read with an interesting universe

The universe is earth recovering from years of devastating strip mining and global warming. Everyone who benefited from the mining left the planet for other systems. Now earth is back for revenge.

The book was a good read and I look forward to more in the future.
11 reviews
November 29, 2020
Just carry on writing great escapism from today's world

I do not write about characters or storyline, prose etc I will complain about spelling and punctuation to my mind it can destroy a book but Mr Currie I salute and praise and thank you.
To all or to any who read this review if you like space opera with great sweeps of action then this is for you.
3 reviews
December 3, 2020
Another Home Run Evan Currie

From the Odyssey / Odysseus series to its spinoff Archangel and the Silver Wings books Mr Currie knows how to spin a tail. Imperium starts a little slow as he sets the players and the stage but the action builds up to his trademark space fighter action. Waiting for the coming books in the series and hint hints one's in other series...
35 reviews
December 27, 2020
Good story, some whiplash plot twists that feel a little forced

But the headline aside I do think that it's worth reading. I just want to acknowledge the other posts I saw about the errors and the editing. They are annoying i agree but boy you should really try reading the last few books of the series that I finally finished from another author that I respect. It was insane.
Profile Image for Cameron .
205 reviews2 followers
December 27, 2020
Not my favorite

I just finished I Was Legion. It.wasn't the attention catching story by Evan Currie I had read in the past. I was actually disappointed. The characters didn't have a realism, the story environment weakly developed. I felt like I was in a Disney princess movie with lasers and space craft.
Profile Image for Richard John Wozencroft.
19 reviews
December 28, 2020
The descent into chaos; scene setting and ChAracter building.

Mind sets, basic system and galactic power politics from within a basically broken imperial where a coup has just succeeded against the ruling family. The chaotic escape of a surviving princess and flight from the Earth dominated system and preliminary groping for a purpose and plan. p
50 reviews
January 31, 2021
A good start for a new series

It took a little while to catch me, but it ended up a great read and a wild ride. I look forward to reading more of this story as the series continues. A word of warning, though, there were a lot of typos and proofreading errors for those of us who get distracted by them.
Profile Image for Nick.
4 reviews
November 15, 2020
Bloody excellent

When I started this book I was expecting signature Evan Currie, and I got that but I also got so much more. The world building is excellent and has some original notes, but no spoilers! You’re just going to have to read it for yourself
24 reviews
November 23, 2020
The beginning of a new space legend

I am not good at writing reviews but I figure Currie is due. All of his books are excellent entertainment but this one starts off with a thrilling ride and the pace just keeps building all the way up to the epilogue.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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