Shadow of Empire / Jay Allan

Shadow of Empire
(Far Stars #1)
by Jay Allan

military science fiction

copyright 2015
read in November 2015

rated 8/10: really quite good

My rating for books is based largely on my own enjoyment of each book. For this book, an initial thought that it is a seven is tempered by my reading enjoyment... Sure, there are faults. But I enjoy reading this book.

Every character is larger than life. Much, much larger ! And when it comes to the hero... well: Some characters are the best in their particular area of expertise... the hero admits that he is only second-best. Other characters are the best... except, of course, for the hero. Wow !

Amongst all of these superlative characters there is not one who would not lay down their life for the hero. Each has been rescued -- personally, by the hero -- from some pestilential hell-hole. At least one character immediately returned the favour, by saving the life of the hero.

There's so much back-story -- I wonder if this "book one" is really a continuation of an earlier series ?! Not as far as I can tell. It's just a crowd of people, each with a briefly described history with the hero.

The hero, of course, is willing to sacrifice his own life to save his crew. And he does it, twice, just in this book.

And if a villain does not become a loyal supporter of the hero -- it must be because that villain has been killed...

And there is a lot of killing. Killing of villains, occasional killing of good guys, lots of killing of almost-innocent bystanders. By which I mean, there is much slaughter of people who have been drafted -- willing or unwilling -- to be cannon fodder for the major battles.

No punches are pulled in the battles. Blood and death aplenty. But the author does not glorify the fighting, nor dwell on it. Death happens, the hero doesn't like it, he is one of the few who will not slaughter opponents who surrender.

War happens. This book does not support war. But -- to me -- there is still too much death of everyone else in support of a greater cause.

At a technical level, this book is quite simple but believable. There is a lot of just-in-time rescue -- but it is well signposted. There is no deus ex machina, you clearly see the preparations for the just-in-time rescues. The suspense is with the characters, who are often surprised by their rescue. The reader can see it coming. (By the way: I like that. I prefer excitement to artificial suspense.)

The writing is repetitious. Some phrases are repeated, some minor actions are described more than necessary. It's not distracting. I just smile when I read some repeated phrases.

The plot is essentially straight line. It's a military book, not a mystery. Back to the just-in-time rescues: they are not forced. There is a strong flow to the plot. It is a natural progression of events, nothing based on unexpected coincidences.

I would guess that this book is written in a hurry... Well, the next two in the series are due out within months. I worried that book one would be incomplete -- but it is not. There is a satisfying conclusion -- with plenty more in the bigger-picture plot.

I enjoyed this book. Perhaps a rating of seven would be more realistic... But I did enjoy the reading. Perhaps it is just a book that I was in the right mood for :-)

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"Not sure if I should really be reading 'Self Esteem for Dummies'"... adapted from Ginger Meggs

07July 2016: I have just re-read this book, and re-read my review. Hmmm...

This second reading, I notice a lot more explanation. This character is the best pilot, this character is deadly with a knife, this character is quiet but dangerous... It would be better to show all this through the story.

Ah well, not to worry. I enjoyed the re-read. And this time, I have the second book in the series ready to be read... I wonder what I will think of book two?

04mar19: And a third reading -- still an enjoyable book :-)

I think that what I was seeing in the 2016 review is the author's failure to "show not tell".

Oh, and I've decided that later thoughts should be added into the original post. I was posting later thoughts as a "comment", that separates it too far from the original. That 2016 comment, above, is a straight copy of the separate comment. Which will probably also stay there... unless I get round to deleting it.

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