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Primaterre
Summer Empress
What began on Cato ends in SUMMER EMPRESS.
Enemies are trapped together. Will their fractious peace survive as the Exile stranglehold takes its toll on the galaxy? Is now the time for Skald to strike and win its heart's desire, or will the hidden cadre within the Primaterre gain the upper hand?
All-out war. All will be lost. All will be gained. Alliances will rise. Alliances will fall. All or nothing. All that glitters...
Enemies are trapped together. Will their fractious peace survive as the Exile stranglehold takes its toll on the galaxy? Is now the time for Skald to strike and win its heart's desire, or will the hidden cadre within the Primaterre gain the upper hand?
All-out war. All will be lost. All will be gained. Alliances will rise. Alliances will fall. All or nothing. All that glitters...
564 pages, Paperback
First published October 22, 2020
17 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 9, 2022
Unknowable, creepy, indefatigable aliens with undefeatable technology. Rival, duplicitous factions lusting for artefacts and/or power. A set of characters that have been slowly honed over a couple of thousand pages into essential three-dimensional, vibrant people. Revenge, adventure, all out war, philosophy - it's all furnished so effortlessly and is never predicable.
I bought paperbacks of all four of these books, because they're now the sort of books that you can pull off the shelf, open randomly, and just start reading and it's like toasting marshmallows on the fire (that's spewing from a rift in inter-dimensional space).
6 out of 5 stars, 11 out of ten.
More please.
I bought paperbacks of all four of these books, because they're now the sort of books that you can pull off the shelf, open randomly, and just start reading and it's like toasting marshmallows on the fire (that's spewing from a rift in inter-dimensional space).
6 out of 5 stars, 11 out of ten.
More please.
May 12, 2024
A fantastic closure to a fantastic series.
So I read this book throughout an entire night.... I have work in two hours. I am a 34 year old man.... I haven't done that since I was a kid. Amazing closure to an amazing series. Tholin has a fan for life out of me.
So I read this book throughout an entire night.... I have work in two hours. I am a 34 year old man.... I haven't done that since I was a kid. Amazing closure to an amazing series. Tholin has a fan for life out of me.
August 27, 2025
I had a little less fun with this one. I have to admit that I’ve been binging pretty constantly for 3 or 4 days and that tends to make me grumpy. So a grain of salt. It’s definitely worth finishing.
At this point I’m just skipping most of Casamirs chapters. There is just a lot of extra stuff that I’m not very interested in. For example, he is very much in a hurry to save his wife and the universe or whatever, and he’s with a very entertaining combination of characters, but he stops to have tea with some random lady. I mean ok, but they talked and talked and talked about nothing remotely interesting. That sort of thing. Im listening to the books so I can’t skim, which doesn’t help.
The Delirium thing is dragging on a bit. Im not a huge fan of nonsense/dream scenes because there are no real rules and therefore no real stakes. Everything is confusing and that’s bad if I’m bored. That’s fine from time to time but this bit is dragging. We’ve got new characters at the 10 yard line and Joy has to stop and baby every last one of them.
The only thing that is really truly bothering me is the fact that they are continuing to include Skald in their plans to fight a ‘bigger’ enemy. He isn’t a cute frienemy like Kivik. Things have gotten more explicitly dark and gory. That’s fine but it means he can’t be used as a quirky sidekick anymore. He’s unlikable and unforgivable and he has literally never improved any situation he’s been in. He’s delivering things as a rat and leading them around.. those just aren’t justifiable reasons to include the guy.
I do like the way he was handled there at the end.
While the Joy/Casamir relationship is sweet, it’s very one dimensional. All worship and no true conflict. I would’ve enjoyed more character development between them and less plot chaos overall.
Otherwise, 20% of the book felt like an epilogue, with things wrapping up conveniently. Not a bad thing but not particularly interesting.
I’m going to do a reread in the near future and will probably change the review to something more positive. Overall the series was excellent.
At this point I’m just skipping most of Casamirs chapters. There is just a lot of extra stuff that I’m not very interested in. For example, he is very much in a hurry to save his wife and the universe or whatever, and he’s with a very entertaining combination of characters, but he stops to have tea with some random lady. I mean ok, but they talked and talked and talked about nothing remotely interesting. That sort of thing. Im listening to the books so I can’t skim, which doesn’t help.
The Delirium thing is dragging on a bit. Im not a huge fan of nonsense/dream scenes because there are no real rules and therefore no real stakes. Everything is confusing and that’s bad if I’m bored. That’s fine from time to time but this bit is dragging. We’ve got new characters at the 10 yard line and Joy has to stop and baby every last one of them.
The only thing that is really truly bothering me is the fact that they are continuing to include Skald in their plans to fight a ‘bigger’ enemy. He isn’t a cute frienemy like Kivik. Things have gotten more explicitly dark and gory. That’s fine but it means he can’t be used as a quirky sidekick anymore. He’s unlikable and unforgivable and he has literally never improved any situation he’s been in. He’s delivering things as a rat and leading them around.. those just aren’t justifiable reasons to include the guy.
I do like the way he was handled there at the end.
While the Joy/Casamir relationship is sweet, it’s very one dimensional. All worship and no true conflict. I would’ve enjoyed more character development between them and less plot chaos overall.
Otherwise, 20% of the book felt like an epilogue, with things wrapping up conveniently. Not a bad thing but not particularly interesting.
I’m going to do a reread in the near future and will probably change the review to something more positive. Overall the series was excellent.
November 30, 2024
this series is all i've been reading the past week, and i adored it to bits; it truly scratched a sci-fi itch i've been having. i loved how the author tied off the series' plot threads in this book, as well as the conclusions to the characters' arcs. joy is one of my most favourite female characters ever.
i really hope this series eventually gets more attention in the sci-fi sphere; it truly deserves it!
i really hope this series eventually gets more attention in the sci-fi sphere; it truly deserves it!
July 6, 2025
*4.75
August 20, 2025
Great conclusion!
Really enjoyed the final entry in this series, wraps everything up very nicely seven more words are required to submit
Really enjoyed the final entry in this series, wraps everything up very nicely seven more words are required to submit
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews