I just got back to this series after finding out that I had bought and downloaded book 12 before reading either book 9 or 10! That won’t work so I’m working my way back to book 12. This has been a pretty good series. This is a story of the New Terran Empire built from the Exodus of Earth humans after they were attacked by the Ca’cadasans, eight-foot tall, horned aliens of immense strength. The Ca’cadasan Empire is huge; much, much bigger than the New Terran Empire although the New Terran Empire pretty much reigns supreme over it’s part of the galaxy. The do have other aliens in close proximity, but they have forged strong alliances with these Kingdoms or have won wars making them subjects of the New Terran Empire. Still, citizens of the New Terran Empire are free to do as they please under the order of law. Even the Emperor, Sean the First, is subject to the laws of the Empire, although he can make changes as he pleases with the approval of the Parliament.
Sean is a very young Emperor. He wasn’t expecting to be the Emperor anytime soon since he was several steps down in line with brothers ahead of him. Then all his family were killed in an attack on the “Donut” and suddenly a junior Navy Officer finds himself now Emperor and Command in Chief of the entire New Terran Empire military. But that’s been a while back. Sean is now married to a doctor who just happens to be very pregnant with their first child and heir to the throne. Sean is surprisingly very good at being Emperor. He’s leaned quickly how to manage the various and many people under his rule and has become a formidable political opponent to the political parties in Parliament. Since the Empire is at war, Sean also has certain powers that only become averrable when this condition exist. He’s been using them judiciously and wisely. Still, the Ca’cadasan Empire is vast and they seem to have an unlimited amount of resources.
Yet, just recently, the New Terran Empire has crossed the entire Ca’cadasan Empire and found another human civilization fighting the Ca’cadasans. They have done quite well even though they are no where as technologically advanced as the New Terran humans nor the Ca’cadasans. Their civilization grew from another Exodus ship, but these few early humans turned to cloning and while cloning new bodies for themselves, they cloned a specialized group of humans known as the Klavarta who fight their battles for them. Unfortunately, these original humans have become psychopaths and have destroyed every single alien species in their region while also treating the Klavarta as slaves. Sean and his New Terran Empire realize that this can’t be the way to continue, so they help the Klavarta overthrow and replace the ruling original humans. Now the Klavarta are their own masters and must prosecute the war against the Ca’cadasans on their own behalf while the New Terran Empire attempts to help gain allies in this region. So, while Sean has opened a second front and must assist the Klavarta, he knows that doing so will cause the Ca’cadasans to split their forces and could weaken both.
Now, for the not so good. This book is very boring. By the time I got 60% through the book, I had decided that I wasn’t going to finish it. It was just soooooo boring. Nothing was really happening yet we were flitting around from one ship to another finding out what the Captain felt or what their worries were and we even got some insight in the the Ca’cadasan’s own Emperor’s thoughts. And even he was bored! Yes, there is a lull in the major fighting as both side take a breather and regroup. But, it’s really hard to stay interested when nothing of significance is going on. It did get a little interesting when the New Terrans finally caught up to a Fenri roving battle ship and destroyed that mission. I did finish the book, but only because I stuck through the first 60%, so give it time and you can find something worth reading later in the book.
Ok, so now I have to find book 11 and start reading it. While book 10 did leave with a cliff-hanger, I’m not all that excited about reading this story further. It seems like this war will never end. I don’t really know how long the series is planned, but I’m almost thinking that it’s time to shut this one down and write something else.