The EMPIRE [NOOK Book]

Highly Recommended by Kirsten Bussiere of Allbooks Review

"It will be interesting to discover which will make you beg. Will it be the pain or the pleasure?"

The brilliantly intelligent scientist; Adrian Stannis suddenly finds himself pulled away from the walls he put up in his own mind, to keep him in solitude. Trapped doing research on a small science vessel far away from others, he finds that for once he must rely on friends he never wanted to make, in order to succeed. Everything he once knew seems to have been destroyed as he's pushed into the middle of political rebellion and an alien invasion. After a strange kind of torture, he is pushed even farther from other beings but his freedom and even his life may depend on the trust he finds so hard to create.

Elizabeth Lang has created a wonderful story of intrigue and twists and turns that I couldn't put down from the moment I picked it up. The story was interesting and compelling, pushing me towards the end hastily. As an avid reader Ms. Lang has had a passion for science fiction and fantasy since she was young and her love for these things was obvious throughout the well written pages of her work. The characters were well developed, and you could see the differing thought processes in each person and how much they were affected by the situation. I truly began to believe in these characters as I read The Empire; they communicated so realistically amongst each other and had appealing personalities to read about. Elizabeth Lang began her writing career later in life, but once she started she just couldn't stop and I certainly hope that doesn't change, because her words are wonderful.

Overall, I was very pleased with The Empire and I found it to be quite an adventure, leaving me wanting more. Hopefully, I will be able to read her other novels and complete the story because I continue to wonder what might happen next. Elizabeth Lang has created a story that will appeal to people on many levels and I hope that she continues writing wonderful stories like this.The Empire is highly recommended by Kirsten Bussière, Allbooks Review.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A breathless, roller-coaster ride of romance, mystery, intrigue

Lieutenant Adrian Stannis is a science officer aboard an old exploration vessel called the Sedener that's owned by The Empire. This is a man who is truly necessary in the world in which he lives, more necessary than even he can imagine. He's an extremely quiet man - he doesn't like to speak, he doesn't like to even be touched by others, he just simply keeps his head down, his mouth shut, and does his work quickly, efficiently, and quietly. Ensign Kali Mirren is also a "player" on the ship, who has more compassion, loyalty and love for Adrian than humanly possible. Of course, she's not exactly human. Kali is a Tellaran who has psi abilities - an empath who can read human emotions. This one morning, the always on time Adrian Stannis has not arrived to work which is making Kali extremely nervous. No matter how hard she tries, she can't seem to locate him, yet she can feel something horrible happening to him...but where?
Adrian is quiet for a reason. This is a man who long ago, when just a child, was taken from his parents by The Empire because of the immense skill set that he'd shown almost since birth. Adrian has a brain that others would love to command because he can figure out almost any problem or issue in the world. In fact, his first mission for the Empire was called the Neutron Wave Project that would create the most frightening military capability in the universe. A little like the famous Oppenheimer, Adrian threw himself into the project full-force, but right at the end - when he could've been the hero of the commanders of space, he realized what he'd done and sabotaged his own project. The result? Adrian was sent to the middle of nowhere and The Empire formed a grudge against him that would surely come back to haunt him. And it has... Not your regular science fiction, this author has managed to create a story with so many twists and turns that there are times when the evil beings that you've come to hate, end up working for the side that you love. No matter what the character's rank there is always someone higher up on the ladder of success that is brought in to knock them down a rung or two, leading the reader to turn every page so that they can continue a remarkable journey that never surrenders. And the end? Well...this is a series, readers, so the end will leave you wanting to throw the book across the room because the story was SO good that you absolutely NEED to know what's going to happen next! Quill says: This is a breathless, roller-coaster ride of romance, mystery, intrigue, and a battle between characters that you simultaneously love and hate. Elizabeth Lang has created a series that will make every reader watch Amazon, hoping that Book II's publication will be announced very, very soon.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

a story about human frailty - highly recommended!

I had the pleasure of reading this prior to publication. I enjoyed it immensely. What attracted me to the novel is that it isn't cliche-ridden - it genre blends somewhat (there is an element of romance) and it's core storyline is not plot driven (a well constructed epic science fiction backdrop), but rather focuses on the weaknesses, and the strengths, of the human spirit. In this case the main characters. All these characters are three-dimensional.

Well done Elizabeth, you have crafted a very good debut novel.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Humanity despite itself

Elizabeth weaves a clever mixture of love, deceit, ambition and brutality in a story about a human Empire largely devoid of any kind of feeling for its many subjects. The main character's Kali and Stannis fall for each other despite the fact that Stannis is largely an unfeeling, almost robotic individual. As the story slowly unfolds, Stannis meets his intellectual opposite number in Sester, a member of the Guild, who delights in playing with Stannis' troubled and tortured mind. But there is one far worse than he in Stannis' existence - High Admiral van Reutensberg, a woman who is evil personified. It took a few chapters before the story finally got my attention, but when it did I was totally consumed, wanting to know what would happen next.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommended

The Empire by Elizabeth Lang
I would like first of all to congratulate Elizabeth for a very brilliant piece. I would like to thank her for giving heart stopping moments. She wove a story of love, naked abuse of power, real evil and outright hypocrites. I would like to thank her for using the novel "The Empire to lay bare our pretensions to civilization and 'empire building.' I have never felt so involved in a supposed fantasy as Elizabeth made me feel with the brilliant characterization of Adrian Stannis, Kali MIrren and the very awful Sester. Humanity has great potential for infinite good and absolute evil and in the portrayal of Adrian, the scientist who learned through love to discover his own humanity and almost die in the process of saving humanity, I had an urgent prayer that copies of this book be made available to all those 'intelligence' men. The tragedy might be they may not find themselves in time as Sester did. I could not drop the book even as my eyes went heavy, every page held me and tortured me with the hunger to know more so I kept turning the pages and forgot all else. Thank you Ms Lang. Congratulations may your quill continually flow with creativity.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great read!

One of the things I enjoyed most about The Empire, which is volume one of Elizabeth Lang’s trilogy, is that it’s big—as in epic—and yet small. There is the story of the seemingly omnipotent Empire threatened by the Andromedans, an alien race of rebels. At the same time it’s a tale of intimate relationships.

Brilliant scientist, Lt. Adrian Stannis is a man who has more than his share of dealing with expressing emotions. Tortured by The Empire, who want to use his knowledge for their own malevolent means, Stannis through sheer will struggles to fight back. Thrown in the mix is Kali Mirren, a beautiful psychic from another planet who falls for him. Theirs is a story of not only overcoming the iron reach of The Empire, but of breaking through to the emotionally dead Stannis. This is the dimension that separates Lang’s story from other dramas of this nature.

She also has a knack for inventing interesting characters such as Bryce, a scallywag who proves to have just as much heart as mischief, and Sester who is a psychostratagist who finds his own humanity while trying to remove Adrian’s.

My only gripe was just as everything came to a head the first part of the trilogy ended and I wanted to read more. Fortunately, from what I understand, volume two is just around the corner.

Twists, Turns and Science

This is a detailed science-fiction novel with at first difficult characters to get to grips with. Stannis is quiet, withdrawn, but ultimately likeable - the story is compelling and takes many twists and turns. Lang has created a wonderful universe. Bring on the next one!

Nothing timid about Lang¿s new Science Fiction Novel Nothing timid in Lang¿s new Science Fiction Novel

These future societies become real as they flow into the readers’ mind from the artistic talent of Elisabeth Lang‘s imagination to conjure them up. A terrific creator this novelist breaths life into her large cast of characters. Skillfully she manipulates her plot so it is a fast paced Space Opera, fueled by deception, ambition, and greed. Lang sets her scenes and paints her descriptions with such detail and accuracy, that her readers are quickly immersed in the action.

Into this latest war time culture where humans and aliens spew their evil into the vast unlimited cosmos, Lang weaves an unusual romance. Kali Mirren, a Tellaran, an empathic humanoid, has fallen for the extremely brilliant but controversial human male Adrian Stannis. While Science Officer Adrian may look like everything one desires in a hero, a strong attractive male, it is the softer Kali who shows unflinching courage as she works to save Adrian from himself.

Born a First in the Privilege Levels of the Empire, Stannis has his share of enemies which keeps him in trouble and Kali hard press to help him. Lang has spiced up the story with an adorable and humorous low leveler named Bryce who can’t help being loyal to Adrian though he’d prefer to ignore him.

Live To Read

There are qualities in this book that will tempt just about every reader to pick it up. The science fiction in the novel is tame, most readers won't have a hard time understand the plot and the dialogue between the characters. There are increasingly heated hints of romance between the main characters. This book is chock full of action as well, the events are fast-paced and the very fate of humanity is dependent on crucial decisions and actions. Mystery lingers in some of the sub-plots to round out the book.


The main characters are very well-developed. The reader will meet Adrian and Kali early on in the book. Adrian is secretive, enigmatic, and highly intelligent. Kali is the softer character; she is compassionate, brave, and headstrong. They are very compatible and work well together. The secondary characters are interesting, the reader's opinion will vary as he/she continues to read the book.


This book has the perfect ending, a hint of a teaser at the end. The plot was detailed and easy to follow and the characters were fun to read about. This book is recommended to young adults/adults.

Highly Recommended

The Empire has all the essential elements of a classic space opera: romance, sex, action, alien invaders, the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, an Empire organized as an ostensible democracy, real political power in the hands of a military oligarchy and enough intrigue to satisfy anyone. The military is divided into three factions: the professional dedicated soldiers (more or less good guys), the competing Security Service that enjoys disciplining the others (more or less bad guys) and the mega-monopoly that provides the economic and material muscle to the fleet and is the balance of power. Add the independent Psychostrategists Guild that sells its services to the others at exorbitant cost and pursues its own unknown agenda, planets of human rebels whose hatred of the Empire is so great they refuse to join the common defense and court destruction by the Empire, a reluctant and damaged hero and a psi-enhanced and courageous heroine who is ready to sacrifice all for love and what she believes is right. All this is pulled together and woven into an engaging story by deft plotting and crisp writing. The characters are particularly well drawn and credible. A thoroughly enjoyable read. The Empire is said to be the first of a three book series. The lead in to the second at the end of the first is certainly enticing. I look forward eagerly to the publication of the second and third books. Highly recommended.

A fantastic step into the world of Sci-Fi Romance

Years ago, after reading a Sci-Fi romantic attempt by a popular author, I was turned off by the entire idea of futuristic romances. After nearly two decades of shunning the Sci-Fi romance genre like the plague, I have had an eye-opening year. The Empire is the third futuristic romance that I've read this year and, I must say, I am impressed!

I have to give the author a huge applause for creating a story of power, evil, and love in an imaginary world far beyond imagination. Her character of Sester, Adrian Stannis, and Kali were absorbing and filled with life. The battle to save humanity is ensnaring, and Ms. Lang portrays the trouble and turmoil expertly through her lead character, Adrian. This is high on the recommend list for romance readers that enjoy Sci_fi and, if you're looking for something new in the romance genre, this is a great novel!

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