The Praxis
Dread Empire's Fall
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4.4 • 14 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Space opera the way it ought to be [...] Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” -- George R.R. Martin
The first book in the completed Dread Empire's Fall trilogy, followed by The Sundering and Conventions of War.
All will must bend to the perfect truth of The Praxis
For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order . . . and bloody chaos.
A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid -- the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others -- to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains -- as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.
Customer Reviews
Finally, a novel not obsessed with pronouns
The fall of the Empire of the Shaa is truly an original concept. The aliens are fresh and believable, which alone is almost enough to make the book worth reading. The author describes them in enough detail to advance the story and doesn’t obsess over their sexuality and their pronouns.
Lady Caroline Sula is cleverly drawn and remains a mystery almost to the end. Lord Gareth and his sisters are almost (but not quite) over the top, and if the author dilates a little on Gareth’s accomplishments and his “recreational” with Katie, no harm done.
The space battles are surprisingly good.
Couldn’t finish
After skimming/skipping large chunks, I gave up at 90%. It’s written decently but I’m afraid I simply found the story dull.