Emperors of the Twilight

Moreau #2

by S. Andrew Swann

The sequel to Forests of the Night--hard-hitting, near-future science fiction certain to appeal to fans of Total Recall and Terminator. She was a top Agency operative, bioengineered for survival against impossi ble odds. But now someone had targeted her for termination at any cost.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk

283 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

S. Andrew Swann is the primary pseudonym of Steven Swiniarski, who also writes as S.A. Swiniarski, Steven Krane, and S.A. Swann.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swann continues with the Moreau saga with the Emperors of the Twilight taking place about 6 years after Forests of the Night. Our main protagonist however is Eli, who we briefly met at the end of the first installment. Eli is a 'frank' or genengineered human whose 'line' was developed in Japan but she was raised as an Israeli commando. Eli was the mysterious 'agent' that met Nohar down in the basement with the aliens. Nohar moved to California and now Eli lives/works in NYC.

The novel starts off with Eli, technically on vacation, working out on her penthouse's deck when she notices someone is spying on her. Then, someone is shooting at her. Then, things get really crazy! Swann moves this story along with frenetic pacing as Eli gets chased all over town by Afghani dog mercenaries, 'cops', and she thinks the agency as well. I will not go into details here, but this is a very different book than the first. Yes, it involves a deep conspiracy and there are lots of wheels within wheels going on. Eli is a fun character-- genengineered to be tough and fast-- but also a person struggling to deal with the hostility/fear toward her for being a frank. Franks are rare in the US (and elsewhere) and they have only just been given rights as citizens in the US. But whereas many people fear and loath the 'moreys', franks are widely seen as an abomination.

It quickly becomes apparent that Swann is not done with the aliens here; the ones uncovered in Cleveland that 'bought' half of congress from the first volume in the series are only the tip of the iceberg. So, what do the aliens, cops, the agency want with Eli? To kill her? Arrest her? She struggles with trying to sort out what is going on on the run. Good stuff by Swann. This reads like a non-stop adventure novel. Again, while set in the relatively near future, it does not seem dated except that Times Square is still the heart of sleaze in the Big Apple. 3.5 stars!!

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

All right I ended up unintentionally reading Swann's Moreau quartet out of order. If you like the series the effect is negligible, because each book moves forward a few years in time and centers on a different character.

The focus here is on Evi, a "frank" short for Frankenstein. The franks are viewed by some as even lower than the Moreaus. The Moreaus were genetically altered animals. the franks are humans engineered for combat in the Pan-Asian War just as the Moreaus were.

Evi has been shifted from the field to a think tank (she's former Agency) when a sniper tries to kill her in her penthouse on New Year's Eve. Events unfold quickly and Swann paces the storytelling well, and I think realistically.

A few more clues to the conspiracy are added here (the conspiracy is really exposed for the reader in book three and this is book two).

BTW I remain a fan of the Moreau Nohar. He again makes an appearance, here.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 1 out of 5]

Вземи най-тъпия персонаж от първата книга и покажи колко е всесилна, за да си феминаци, като я оставиш да претрепе петима като готиния злодей от първи том още в първата книга.
Да по-вър-неш. DNF и заслужен хейтец.

[Evianrei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emperors of the Twilight was a decent book (following Forests of the Night.
It was exciting to dive back into the world where humans, moreaus, and franks lived. This book was chock full of action, mystery, and romance like the Forests of the Night (or FotN for short). It follows the same story line (picking up after the events in FotN) six years later with a different main character.

It follows Evi Isham, a frankenstein or 'frank', described as the 'next step beyond human, her physiology bioengineered...' on the back of the book. Franks are seen as the lowest of society according to human species ranking (even below Moreaus which are anthropomorphic animal/human hybrids). She struggles with racism, her sexuality, and with trying to not be killed by several people.

I found the book pretty good, I wouldn't rate it as highly as I did Forests of the Night mainly due to the fact I found Evi Isham to not be a very interesting character (at least to me). I was much more interested in reading about Nohar (from FotN) and was ecstatic when he made a return in this book. That's just my personal preference, but I'd rather read about anthropomorphic animals than a frank. Nonetheless it was a great continuation of the story, and fits right into that world perfectly.

This book also had a couple of typos in it, but not as many (at least that I noticed) as in FotN.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars. I'm going to round down because there are a few problematic elements to the story but it's otherwise a well paced and exciting story.

By the way, you can really tell when this was written when the least believable thing in the setting isn't aliens, flying cars, or genetically engineered tiger men but instead a porno theater in New York city.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emperors of the Twilight is the second book in the Moreau series and it was just as fast paced and exciting as the first one. The plot for this book is a few years after the events of the first book and focused on Evi, the FBI/CIA agent we meet through Nohar.
I enjoyed Evi's character and her development throughout the story. She's about as deep as Nohar's character, so not too great but not bad either.
The story was exciting and kept me interested all the way to the end. There were lots of action scenes and they were described well allowing me to visualize all the action easily. Overall, not something that I would want to read over and over but it was exciting and quick to read. 3 out of 5 stars.

[Kass Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can only imagine what 2013 Tumblr would think of this book. Page one, our heroine Evi is buck naked and working out on her roof where she then proceeds to mow down a team of geoengineered military dogs. Hell of an introduction and despite my default to be critical of how women are portrayed in media, and was hooked immediately. Although, you can’t expect all 90’s action-thrillers to uphold to the sensibilities of modern times, The Emperors of the Twilight holds up well enough.

Our story picks up 6 years after Forests of the Night (which you can’t skip) and like its predecessor, there are plenty of twists and turns in this mystery. Almost, too many. I had a difficult time keeping up with who was with which organization, but Swann was kind enough to include recaps of events every few chapters. There is a recurring theme within the Moreau Quartet that deals with ‘otherness,’ which works very well when dealing with giant, anthropomorphized animals. But to believe that humans wouldn’t also be prejudiced against genetically modified humans is naive. I was naive in thinking that Evi would be treated better by her coworkers, but their bigotry causes a lot of problems for our hero.

There is also a romantic subplot between Evi and an alluring redhead, and while the two share a chemistry that jumps off the page, it is a little unbelievable just HOW fast they fall for each other. But when you consider the entire story happens within several days, the couple doesn’t really have time to ‘take it slow.’

I was worried that without Nohar front and center, this book would not have interesting characters or intrigue to keep my attention, but again… I was being naive. Like with most sequels, the big baddie revealed at the climax of the story is even bigger and more monstrous. I applaud Swann for not holding back on the alien plot point even if it did seem a little out of left field in the first book. All in all, this story is fast-paced, engrossing, and pretty damn fun.

[James Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evi Isham, a secondary character in the first book, is the star of this, the second book of the Moreau series. In the first chapter, she is the victim of an assassination attempt, and the book never slows down from there. In every chapter, someone is trying to kill her. But she’s a trained soldier, and genetically enhanced, so she gets out of the scrapes. The conspiracy she’s involved with is just as elaborate as the one in the first book, and also hard to follow. But the gist is more than enough to carry the story. It has everything to do with what happened in Cleveland in the first book, building on the uncomfortable inclusion of aliens in a world of genetic engineering. But I’m relieved book 2 creates an even better reason for them to be there. The first book had to set up the world that created the moreaus and the franks. The second book doesn’t have to do that, and can better build a world the aliens would want to influence. Even expanding on how they influenced it. I love the decaying advanced technology sprinkled throughout this futuristic Earth. It’s so appropriate, and even though it’s dated, it stands on its own. (People in the book use phone booths and terminals. When this book was written, nobody anticipated everyone on the planet would, in the real world, have personal communication devices. That broadsided everybody!) But the book sets up a world in technological decay, and establishes how the aliens are not only responsible for it, but why. It’s an exciting read. Again it creates a believable world for humanized animals to populate, and it sucks the romance out of the idea, too. Ditto for an alien race. Impressive, exciting and satisfying!

[Eran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book, but still good enough. Continues the plot with a different interesting angle. Where the first book concentrated on a detective/noir theme, this one's main character is a CIA agent and the theme is more mystery/conspiracy. Nohar was a better main character then Evi is, still it's a fun light read - I like the world in which these books take place, with it's anthropomorphic animals and genetically engineered beings, along with the humans (and of course aliens).
Also, there's something amusing about starting a book on New Years Eve to find that its plot also starts of at New Years Eve .

[Leela4 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall a waste of time. As with "Forests of the Night (Moreau, #1)" there are amateurish bits that made me think the author built them up from his teenage scribblings. Up through chapter 7 it's a good read, albeit one long chase and way more explicit than I like. But then it gets silly, then sillier. You could skip to chapter 15, but the remainder of the book is lame, so why bother?

[Brett]

Science Fiction

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty fun, conspiracies, non-stop violence... kind of like
if Robert Ludlum wrote SF.

[DoctorLivingtone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty damn stupid, but that's exactly what I was hoping for when I found it. Haven't read the first one, gonna keep my eye out for others in the series because I'm a glutton for dumb sci-fi.

[Joerg Grau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second entry in the fantastic Moreau series. Not to be missed!