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A review by macindog
The Course of Empire by K. D. Wentworth, Eric Flint
5.0
After 20 years under the rule of the conquering, alien Jao, Earth's resistance factions are still strong and still a thorn in Governor Oppuk krinnu ava Narvo's side. Oppuk would dearly love to cleanse this world of it's infestation of an overly-fecund indigenous species but he also knows that very fact may help in their war with the mysterious and reputedly genocidal Ekhat.
The Ekhat have never been seen by humanity. Are they a Jao-invented boogie-man of whom terrible tales are meant to keep the slaves in line or are they a real threat and, as the Jao are saying, coming to our solar system soon? The Jao, genetically engineered by the Ekhat to fight their wars for them, operate like Roman legions or medieval Japanese clans; swift to conquer and swift to punish with little regard for any subject species but this timn it's different; humanity is different!
The arrival of the young subcommandant Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak, from a clan the ruling Narvo have no love for sets everything in motion to bring the Jao, the local human government and even the resistance together in a game of politics and intrigue that doesn't reveal until the play is at an end.
It's not often I give a book a five out of five but this one earned it. The plots within plots are Machiavellian and both Jao and Ekhat are beautifully alien to our way of life; the Jao with their complex and intricate body language and the Ekhat simply indescribable. The main player character's are decently fleshed out but not overly so and we get to know enough about them to keep the story going, with more revealed as time goes on. Happily looking forward to the next story in the series.
The Ekhat have never been seen by humanity. Are they a Jao-invented boogie-man of whom terrible tales are meant to keep the slaves in line or are they a real threat and, as the Jao are saying, coming to our solar system soon? The Jao, genetically engineered by the Ekhat to fight their wars for them, operate like Roman legions or medieval Japanese clans; swift to conquer and swift to punish with little regard for any subject species but this timn it's different; humanity is different!
The arrival of the young subcommandant Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak, from a clan the ruling Narvo have no love for sets everything in motion to bring the Jao, the local human government and even the resistance together in a game of politics and intrigue that doesn't reveal until the play is at an end.
It's not often I give a book a five out of five but this one earned it. The plots within plots are Machiavellian and both Jao and Ekhat are beautifully alien to our way of life; the Jao with their complex and intricate body language and the Ekhat simply indescribable. The main player character's are decently fleshed out but not overly so and we get to know enough about them to keep the story going, with more revealed as time goes on. Happily looking forward to the next story in the series.