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Humanity is in danger of annihilation as a centuries old war with the Andromedans heats up again. The Empire, an increasingly totalitarian society, is the only force that stands in the gap.
Thrust into this chaos of alien invasion, rebellion, and political intrigue, Lieutenant Adrian Stannis is caught between the ends and the means. No one knows why this brilliant scientist chooses to hide in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, doing research on an insignificant science vessel. His days of anonymity may soon be coming to an end, whether he wants it to or not.
Adrian's freedom, and his very survival, may depend on friends he's afraid of having. Kali, a psi-enabled humanoid who is the only person he gets along with, just barely, and Bryce, his personal assistant and one-time conman and thief, may be his only hope, if he doesn't push them away, not to mention a mystery surrounding him that may explode in their faces.
Everyone wants to know the truth, but will it set them free?
"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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged. Adrian Stannis is driven, he knows that one day, they'll come for him. Maybe one day soon. And when they do, he needs to be ready, he needs to be hardened, he needs to be unfeeling.
Kali Mirren longs to break through Adrian's hard exterior, she can almost see the tenderness that he works so hard deny.
The Empire wants Adrian and the secrets he's keeping, and they'll break him to get them.
The Empire by Elizabeth Lang tells the story of Adrian and Kali. Adrian has already failed the Empire once, he destroyed what he'd worked on for, but now, they're back, ready to mind rape him once again. Kali knows there's more to that cold exterior than Adrian letting on, but to let go even a little, might let those who want to steal his mind, his soul, in to the place he's worked so hard to hide. Can he learn to love again, to trust? And what will happen to him if he does?
The Empire is a saga of intergalactic travel and war, and an Empire that will do whatever is needed to make sure they're the victors, even destroying the one scientist who might be able to save them all. I found myself drawn to these characters. To Adrian who had such a thick mental wall surrounding him, it was impossible to see inside, to Kali whose tender care Adrian found himself in and craving, to Sester, the cruel psychostrategist who'd use everyone and anything to achieve his goals, no matter the consequences, literally. If you find yourself drawn to stories of space travel, to epic stories, then this might be the read for you. Throw in a growing love story, and romance readers have a reason to pick this one up too. I very much enjoyed this seemingly quick read, and recommend it to others who enjoy the genre.
Five out of five fairy kisses for this reader.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MystiParker
Posted March 26, 2013
"It will be interesting to discover which will make you beg. Will it be the pain or the pleasure?"
This line from The Empire fits the book perfectly. From the very beginning, I empathized with Adrian Stannis, the brilliant scientist at the center of the story. The tyrannical government of the year 4045 (the Empire) believes him to be aligned with a band of rebels. They are determined to break Adrian's spirit and force him to construct a weapon that will destroy their arch-enemies, The Andromedans. They begin with physical torture of the most heinous kind--the kind that makes a man beg for death. When that fails, they bring in a 'psychostrategist', a man who's on par with Adrian's intellect, to manipulate him into cooperating. But no one, not even a mind-meddler, can foresee the events that will unfold.
Throughout it all, Adrian takes comfort in the beautiful Kali Mirren, a not-quite-human (Tellaran) with psi abilities. She can feel every ounce of the pain Adrian is put through, and works tirelessly to help him escape the Empire's clutches. With the help of lowly weapons tech Bryce, the trio must navigate the dangerous waters of a government gone bad while war threatens to destroy them all.
I'd been wanting to read this book for a long while, and I'm glad I finally got the chance. Elizabeth Lang's writing cuts marrow deep. She doesn't hesitate to dig right down into the murky depths of the human psyche, showing us the full range of what men and women are capable of, from the downright despicable to the surprisingly noble.
For someone like me, who's often leery of reading science fiction, I'm happy to say that The Empire has changed that. Sure, there are plenty of futuristic technologies going on throughout the story, but I never got bogged down with the lingo. Elizabeth blends it all in perfectly with the character-driven plot. Each and every character in the story came alive on the page, even the supporting cast. I had no trouble connecting with them, even the ones I grew to absolutely loathe!
Of course, I connected most with the leads, Adrian, Kali, and Bryce. Adrian, the poor guy, is so intelligent, he's almost android-like at times in being unable to show emotion. All the torture he endures doesn't help that at all. Kali is his lifeline to humanity. She's a courageous woman to go up against such a juggernaut as the Empire for Adrian's sake. And Bryce shows his own fair share of bravery, despite being hesitant and acting more in his own interests for the better part of the story.
The clincher, which should come as no surprise to those who know me, was the romance between Adrian and Kali. Their scenes together are heart-wrenchingly good and beautifully written. I love the dynamic of their connection. Adrian depends on Kali to connect him to humanity again, while Adrian is an enigma for her by being so devoid of emotion. For a woman who feels everything from everyone all the time, I think she was attracted to Adrian partly because he's not constantly spewing emotional energy. She has to dig for it, to really seek out the man inside to know what he's feeling. And that makes for a fabulous love story, even in a sci-fi setting.
If I could nitpick anything, it would be a few places where the POV switched abruptly and made me wonder whose head I was in, but just for a moment. And there were some typos here and there. However, these minor issues didn't draw me out of the story enough to detract from the experience.
I'll definitely be reading the second book, The Rebels (available now), and the rest when they're finished. Thank you, Elizabeth Lang, for the start of a great new series. I'd recommend this book for any adult reader, whether you're a sci-fi fan or not. I think you just have to try it and see for yourself!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Louis_K_Lowy
Posted January 15, 2012
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.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 15, 2012
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!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.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.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Icecream18
Posted September 18, 2011
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.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 18, 2011
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.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.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!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 8, 2011
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.
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Posted January 6, 2011
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.
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Posted January 2, 2011
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.
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Posted December 10, 2010
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Overview
Humanity is in danger of annihilation as a centuries old war with the Andromedans heats up again. The Empire, an increasingly totalitarian society, is the only force that stands in the gap.
Thrust into this chaos of alien invasion, rebellion, and political intrigue, Lieutenant Adrian Stannis is caught between the ends and the means. No one knows why this brilliant scientist chooses to hide in the farthest reaches of...