The Empire has existed for 156,000 years, risen beyond a galactic empire of dinosaurs intent on wiping out Humanity only to face an intergalactic scourge known as the Hadarak. They've rescued thousands of alien races and incorporated them into their Human-led empire, building a civilization that draws onlookers from numerous galaxies to try and figure out the secret of their success.
But today is the day when the Empire learns the truth. They weren't the first ones to do this...and that success is punishable with death.
Or worse.
Fortunately, those other civilizations left notes behind, knowing they were doomed, in the hopes that another in the future might learn enough to be able to survive the gauntlet of extra-galactic invasions that destroyed them and the long line of their predecessors.
The Gauntlet Wars are about to happen again. Will the Empire suffer the same fate as all those before them? Or will they break the cycle and find a way to survive the impossible onslaught?
Aer-ki Jyr is one of the top 20 science fiction authors on Amazon due to his extremely long and ongoing space opera epic STAR FORCE, one of the longest military science fiction series ever written.
I will stop reading any other book or series I am reading in order to read star force as soon as it comes out. Only then will I go back to other stuff. Star force rocks.
A solid continuation of the story line. Waiting for the next book in the series, that can't come soon enough. I appreciate the author's decision to switch to a full book format, just hope he can release the next book faster while keeping the quality up. It has been so long since the previous book of the series, I had to go back and re-read it to remember some of the events and names introduced before.
I have read all the star force books leading up to this one and it did not disappoint. I can’t wait for the next installment in the new Gauntlet Wars but I am more than ready to wait so that Aer-ki Jyr can take the time to write it with his usual greatness. I would recommend this series to any and all that enjoy science fiction in general and especially for those that appreciate the references to current and past science fiction greats.
As expected another mega installment in the Star Force Saga. This definitely begins a brand new chapter and fresh events exert.themselves. the pacing is excellent and there is good plot development. We are introduced to new players and see other old threads taken up as well as have a few of the lingering puzzle pieces come into place. One divergence from previous works is a few instances of adult language which was a mild surprise as the other 80+ books were very much PG-13 at worst. Not a big deal, but unexpected.
All in all, it was worthy of 5 stars if not for a lack of editing. Things like voice to text errors or dropped words. Not an overwhelming amount of them but enough to cause awkward hitches in reading that detracted from the story being told. Perhaps 3-4 times per chapter and the intent was easily deciphered from context but often enough to stutter the narration and totally break the flow of the action or distort dialog to a WTF moment and require a pause and distraction from the greater whole being shared. Almost every incident would have been flagged by a beta reader familiar with the author's work. Because of the impact on the reader's experience I docked a star.
I still look forward with anticipation for the next installment.
He's back! I thought he'd died or something—happy to be wrong!
Overall I'd give this 4.5 stars
Firstly, I enjoyed the full-sized novel format. It was much more polished and was definitely necessary to cover such a pivotal moment for the Empire. The editing is much improved, although there are still a few issues—none so bad that I couldn't understand what was happening, just the odd grammatical issue or misued word. Overall it's better; better writing, better storytelling, just better.
I wonder if this will be the new format going forward? TBH I miss the episode format, because I hate waiting. Please keep them coming, more of this quality, please
The editing was horrendous, misspelled words, words out of order, duplicative ideas in the same sentence.... There were so many new and unexplained ideas introduced that you had to take it on faith that they would be explained later and just continue to read, but they never were. Ultimately, it was a mashup of Star Wars "force" with Greek mythology and techno future armaments mixed in a multi-galaxy spanning background to future wars. Tough to stay with.
I love the Star Force series and have read the books many times over, but 25% of this book felt like a lecture from an activist. I’ve become used to Aer/Barry on his soapbox over the years, but I felt a line was crossed. Please stick to the story line as this is the first time I’ve given one of his books a rating less than a 5.
I get it. This book is the springboard for something new, hopefully a whole new universe of readers and as such all the back story needed to be included. And that was well done but I felt like an archon being treated like a complete newb…. With no upgrades at the end of all my training.
Another great read. Good pace lots of excitement well tied into all the past books in the Star Force family of books. Usually by this many books into a series (Star Force) the books would be getting repetitive and boring Aer-ki has done an admirable job of avoiding this fate
I was wondering where he was going to go with the series. Now I know.....lol It was interesting reading this. But he skipped alot too. I guess we'll just have to see where he goes next....
Good try but just not as engaging as the original series. A bit more of an explanation of the various power would be nice . like the psionic ones. I had a printout from before but new readers would be clueless.
This is my favorite Kindle Unlimited story line. I was very sad when it seemed the tale had ended, and was thrilled when a new volume popped into my recommended reading list.
I have been following this series since book 1. Aer-ki Jyr continues to build the story in new and inventive ways to keep things interesting and I am excited to find out what happens in the next phase!
Nice continuation. Some of the plot line is a bit strange but not bad. Good, bad, indifferent, limited... Curious if we will get to see who really is in control and how long will it take to get us there.
There's too much exposition and it is too self congratulatory. We get it. The empire is the best thing that ever happened. The Trailblazers are gods. You don't need to keep saying it every 10 pages.
I was happy to see the next book in this series come out. I will now be patiently waiting for the next book. This is a fun series to read I highly recommend it.
This was a great book and I can’t wait to read the next one. This book kept me up late in the night. Highly recommend! The Star force universe is well thought out and fun to get into.
Although the price is admittedly a bit steep without kindle unlimited, the read is more than worth it. The plot is quite intriguing despite complicated wrinkles throughout the book, with the final fiery climax keeping me glued to every word, cheering on the forces of good battling against powers that no mortal could comprehend. Not exactly a science fiction read though, as the presence of various otherworldly energies and powers are not exactly science-based; but I suppose that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and simply take a look at all of the advancements us Humans have made in the past hundred years that would have been strange and magical to Humans a scant century ago! In that way, this book may be more realistic than many other ‘hardcore’ sci-fi books, because it contains things that we do not currently understand. Anyways, the plot cruises along at a decent clip, the conflict might as well be magnetic, and most of all: the premise is new, and that is something that should not be underrated.