Empire: Capital

by Tim Goff

The war between demon ridden Traag and the Solarian Empire dragged on for decades. Solaria emerged victorious - though just barely. Two years later, the nation stands at the brink of chaos, Weeds claim prime farmland and bandits stalk the decaying highways while common folk struggle to get by. Even once wealthy noble clans have become destitute. But some see opportunities amidst this turmoil. Tia Samos is one such opportunist, touring the empire on behalf of her ambitious family, seeking opportunities - and prospective husbands, Three months ago, her last prospect was slaughtered along with most of his subjects in a sacrificial rite. Tia and the other survivors were brought to the imperial capital to testify at the trial of Charles Cortez, the massacres ringleader. The trial is over. Tia cuts deals and courts unruly knights while awaiting the verdict. Yet, she is uneasy, plagued by plots and dark dreams of Charles confederates. And she is not alone. Tia's maid and personal minstrel Rebecca is 'playing the palace' - but there is something wrong with her music. Her former bodyguard Sir Peter Cortez parties with his old comrades in arms - and skirts the edges of a treacherous plot. Her carriage driver Kyle confronts his past - and ponders his future. Apart and together, they find opportunity, intrigue, and peril.

280 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2022

About the author

I was raised on an Alaskan homestead at the edge of civilization, an upbringing that brought with it passing knowledge of everything from mechanics to gardening to carpentry.

I was an avid reader from an early age - and started my first writing efforts as a teenager. It took me a while to actually get published.

Reviews

[Guy Estes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story does have very strong world building, perhaps a bit too strong. I found it difficult to keep track of everything, and the world constructed wasn't a particularly nice one, making it difficult to care what happened to it. The cast of characters was large but, again, that made it difficult to keep track of everyone. For most of the story, I wasn't terribly concerned with their fates. The first 80% of the story was mostly them going about their daily lives in the royal court, with all the jockeying and game-playing that involves, which is a theme that doesn't terribly interest me; it's essentially high school social jockeying ramped up to 11. Most of the people in authority were useless jerks, almost all of the knights were drunken, misogynistic louts, the priests insufferably arrogant and close-minded, women essentially bargaining tools for improving a family's position, and the characters seemed only slightly aggravated by all of this. It painted a pictures of a sucky life, so much so that the idea of demons coming in and taking over didn't seem like much of a threat.

The last 20% of the book was a huge improvement. This was where things started happening, stakes got high, and significant consequences arose, and I rather enjoyed the climax. Everything leading up to it was rather plodding. I think this might have worked better as a short story rather than a novel. It was also riddled with punctuation and grammatical errors, leading me to conclude it hasn't been edited.

[Loralee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was imaginatively thought out, and the world building is quite well done. A few things kept me from enjoying the story thoroughly, though. There were a few too many characters for me to follow it easily. And the characters, in general, seemed to be to be rather unlikable. It may have been the culture, but females, in general, were treated very disrespectfully. And no one, even the women themselves, seemed to have a real problem with that. Additionally, the names, Peter, Rebecca, Tia, etc. seemed too non-foreign to fit in a fantasy story happening in an entirely different world. Along with that, the style of language the people used also seemed not to fit in such a world. Again, the imagination and work that went into the world building and the creation of this story was impressive. People who enjoy fantasy and can overlook the things I've mentioned, may enjoy this imaginative story.

[P.M.F. Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some fun stuff in this book, intrigues, interesting characters, deceptions and betrayals. The author has obviously thought a lot about his world, how the magic works, and so on. But it is definitely a middle book in a series, and difficult to follow without reading the previous book. In fact, there was not really a main plot line that I could follow, until the final battle at the end. The good guys are of mixed character, the bad guys are mostly pretty slimy, women are treated badly (actually, most people are) and it's rare that anybody gets what they are looking for, so it's hard to cheer deeply for anyone. Still, it was a breezy read, and I mostly was able to keep track of who was who. There were many grammatical mistakes, and what seemed an anachronism towards the end, involving someone having a photograph (maybe that was magic?). But the story never lingers anywhere too long, nor lags, so I think readers who enjoyed the first book could enjoy this one, as well.

[Florian Armas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Empire Capital feels like watching Metropolis and Dancing in the Rain at the same time; there is an avalanche of information pouring on you from the first page, and you have no umbrella to protect yourself.

The best thing of this book is the world-building, even the main characters feel like pixels in a digital painting. The Solarian Empire is well described, with a history of demons and people and a society divided between aristocrats and commoners. The story concentrates on the aristocrats, just that most of them are nobles only because they have titles. Part of that well done world-building, the descriptions of the landscapes and cities are vivid and immersive. All in all, an enjoyable reading.

[Christine Hees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Goff’s Empire Capital immerses the reader in a richly detailed world filled with vivid descriptions of landscapes and societal structures. However, the book faces several challenges. First, it picks up from earlier installments in the series, making it difficult to follow on its own and leaving newcomers like me at a disadvantage. The numerous viewpoints make it a bit hard to follow the complex story. Most of all, I was bothered by the misogynistic portrayal of women. While the complex plot and troubling gender dynamics may be off-putting for some readers, the book may still hold a unique appeal for those who are drawn to richly detailed fantasy worlds.

[David Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Goff's Empire: Capital is a very well written fantasy work. I really enjoyed the character of Tia who is the star of the story. The other characters like Kyle, Rebecca, Peter, and Silam are cool too. My critique would center that the story was rather dull up until the last 50 pages when the climax starts to occur. The first two thirds of the story seems like a big introduction of the characters and a well written, but, at least to me, an unexciting narrative until close to the end where the characters, especially the antagonists come alive and the conflict comes into full display.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

[P.L. Tavormina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5.

Lots of action, strong women in this blend of fantasy and mystery. Pace is good.

I wanted a little more smoothing and developing to truly enjoy the story, but another reader might feel differently.

Overall good!

[Dan Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too impenetrable for me

Well imagined, impressively detailed, numerous characters, unclear, meandering and sophisticated plot, many editorial, vocabulary and grammatical issues.

A man begins experiencing strange sensations. He fiddles yet again with an unusual device left to him by his late strange uncle and is suddenly transported to another world. And on from there.

The level of detail and sheer volume of characters in this book are impressive. For me the careful thought that's gone into it was unfortunately counteracted by the quality of the writing and the somewhat personally triggering tilt of the tale towards unapologetic misogyny - even among the more honourable characters. The latter may have mattered to me less if the writing had been better.

For a fairly short book, read intensively over a few days, I should have found the plot easier to follow. But I found myself pulled out of the 'reading trance' very often by the need to decipher my way through editorial errors, spurious or incorrect vocabulary and the frequent introduction of new characters and more and more (and yet more...) detailed world building information.

Editing aside, I found the world building itself to be inconsistent in respect of narration and dialogue vernacular, magic and other things to a lesser extent.

A lot of heart and soul has gone into this book but issues with writing on these many fronts prevented me from enjoying the story. Given I can see the effort that went into it, it's with some sadness that I say, I would not recommend it.