In Her Name

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!

I loved this book! I can't wait to read the next two in the series. If you like sci-fi/fantasy you will enjoy this book! I bought this book on Tuesday afternoon and finished it Wednesday night, only put it down cause I had to work. If you enjoyed Avatar and the Ender's Game series, then you will like this story. I will be reading more by Michael Hicks.

11 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

Good but didnt know about the sex

This was a good story. Kind of predictable. I have only read the first one in the series and I probably won't read the others. I was very surprised at the sex scenes and references. I didn't need those. Cliche for a sci fi story to have a human male having sex with an alien woman. Guess I won't be giving this book to my young teen aged daughter to read!

6 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

In Her Name: Empire (Book Review)

Hicks has created a full world for Reza. Beside the aliens, which you’ll learn much about, readers will be educated on new animals, solar systems, and religions. While all this provides a wonderful landscape for Empire’s characters to live in, thoughtful readers will grasp that we all need to keep an open mind to the world we live in. There is always an opportunity to learn. There are always new ways of seeing things. Even when parties disagree, Empire strives to show that between ignorance and fighting lies understanding.

Whether you are a long-time fan of Science Fiction or a newcomer looking to expand your reading list, Empire will offer you plenty of adventure, characters, and plot to keep you entertained. I truly found myself anxious to get back to reading so I could find out what happens next. As this is just the first book in the series, I am planning to savor each of Hicks’ other books in the future.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Characters you can't forget.

The author's gift is in creating SciFi worlds but grounding the story in the inter-dynamics of the characters. Hicks does such a good job in the characterizations of the main characters that they didn't leave me even when I wasn't reading the books. About midway through the series, the characters and story began to haunt me (in a good way). This is a very good series that I would recommend not only to SciFi junkies, but also to those who haven't read the genre before. It's well written with a very good pace. I read all three books within a week. Strongly recommended.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book actually gave me the adventure I was looking for. More

This book actually gave me the adventure I was looking for. More than that, it held my attention. A pleasant and timely surprise after a recent run of bad science fiction reads. However, it does have downsides.

The book starts out slow. There's plenty of action first thing but none of it fits together in a way that pulls the reader into a greater story. Combined with unnerving switchbacks in point of view and no real sense of a main character, it's no surprise that I almost stopped reading without finishing the first chapter.

Fortunately, the appearance of the main character caught me. I was curious enough to continue reading. Even then, however, the pull of his character doesn't really set in until about the third chapter - a long time to hold on if you're an impatient reader.

The entire book is filled with jarring POV changes, unnecessary info dumps, and long scenes of narration instead of the action the reader so desperately wants. (I was also disappointed by the ending but that may be more a matter of taste than anything else.)

These are pet peeves of mine, enough to sink other books. But here, the author surprised me. The story itself is gripping. It makes you want to find out more.

If you plan to check it out yourself, I have two cautions: anyone with a strong inner editor may not be able to enjoy themselves and there are explicit, mature themes about halfway through the book that some readers may not feel are appropriate.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Amazing novel

Sci-fi, romance, war, enslavement, philosophy, religion and mysticism are found in this rich novel that grabs your imagination and draws the reader into a young man's life. I will look forward to reading other novels by this author

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very good

Ive enjoyed the book so far.but i dont like the plank pages that keep popping up.you miss awhole page.one min raize is on the ground getting beat , blank page. Raize racing down the road? Please fix KMK

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good series

A well written trilogy, highly recomended.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good but confusing

When first looking I thought it was another middle ages romance but it turned out to be futeristic enstead.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Solid scifi-fantasy, reminiscent of Weber and Scalzi

I have to admit, before I even get into this review, that I'm a fussy reader when it comes to genres. I like a very specific, narrow type of science fiction. I certainly read all types - Hamilton, Clarke, Heinlein, Baxter, etc. - and enjoy them, but there's a type of scifi, I suppose what I call near-future military, that I really get into (as evidenced by the type of scifi I write). So I really dig David Weber, Tobias Buckell, Charles Sheffield, John Scalzi, et al. My problem is it's difficult, in my opinion, to find such a specific type of scifi from a self-published author, or at least one that's up to the standards of Weber and the others. That all changed when I picked up Michael Hicks's In Her Name: Empire.

From chapter one, the introduction to the very young Reza Gard in a captivating scene where he loses his parents as they try to defend him, to subsequent chapters where he moves to an orphanage/near-slave labor planet, his capture by the invading aliens (a blue-skinned humanoid that may bring to mind Avatar, but these are much more.cold, yet fascinating), and Reza's maturation with the aliens, Hicks grabbed a hold of my attention and never let go.

The characters are fully developed, the settings are beautifully described without going overboard, the creatures encountered, the battles fought, the technology, and finally even a dash of romance, are all told in clear, concise style that made me want to continue turning pages. And the best part? There are two more in the series, then Hicks goes back to before this story to add three more.

The spelling & grammar, formatting, punctuation, and sentence structure (I've got an OCD for these errors) are flawless - better than many traditionally published works. No really, flawless. Hats off to Mr. Hicks's editor; some of the big publishers should look into hiring him/her. Those issues really stand out to me, pull me out of the story, but I found none.

All in all, one of the best science fiction (with a smidgen of fantasy) novels I've read in a long time - mainstream or self-published. And easily the best self-published scifi I've had the opportunity to lay my hands (and e-reader) on. Congrats, Mr. Hicks - you've got a winner, and a customer for the next five books in the series. You actually pushed David Weber's 4th Safehold novel down my list.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Prequel done right.

By about 2/3 of the way through First Contact it had replaced Confederation as my favorite of the In Her Name books, granted this might change with Legend of the Sword but this is where I stand now. The book still feels like it is part of Hicks world but it also feels very different from the original Trilogy. Where as those books had a very Star Wars feel by the end First Contact felt more like Warhammer 40,000, which isn't a bad thing for a story that is more out right military Sci-Fi.

I really enjoyed the new characters that were brought into the mix and how detailed that battle got which is something that I felt was lost from the massive scale that was the first trilogy. While it took me a little while to get going on First Contact once I did I couldn't put the book down and was up till almost 3:30 last night finishing it off.

Like a good prequel it sets up the story for what is to come while building off of it, and not trampling on what made the original good, or filling the pages with massive retcons. Though knowing that this was written long after the First group of books, you can feel the tech seem to increase exponentially, due to one being written in the 90s and the other the 2000s, kind of like the Original Star Trek and Enterprise, but it wasn't horrifically distracting.

Can't wait to see where this trilogy goes with Legend of the Sword and then Dead Soul in the fall.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Brilliant

This book is well done excellent detail to the landscaping it takes my breath away just to imagine some of the scenes and places. And the characters are brilliantly done. When I read this series it makes me feel like I am right there next to them and I swear I can hear their voices, feel their emotions. I think this series is a must read for any science fiction collection. Also a brilliant tale of a coming of age hero where his actions have consequences. A must read for anyone.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly Recommended

This is a very fast paced, intense book about the future earth and aliens that are trying to wipe out the human race. It follows a young boy from his time as an orphan to a life of a respect and admiration, all through great struggle emotionally and physically. I loved this book!

Superb

The best novel I've read in a long time!

Awesome

I love this book. I just started reading this book & already it has kept my attention. I hope this one has as good of ending as the beginning.

Great book

I read this book two months ago and still rember it vividly. Great book.

The In Her Name series was exceptional! I read this one in one n

The In Her Name series was exceptional! I read this one in one night w/o sleeping it was so good. I got the other 2 and waited til I had a couple days off to just fall into it. Loved the series!

Awesome SCI-Fi/Fantasy Story!

In Her Name: Empire - from the start, you do not want to leave Reza, and will follow him no matter where he went or may encounter.
He drew me into his world - he had my heart, mind, body and soul!

More Action, More Story, Less Crisp

In Her Name: Confederation has more of a science fiction feel than the first in the series. It is similar to the first book in that we follow Reza Gard over a period of years. I'm not sure if I'm more into the story, or if it's because Hicks gained confidence as he went on, but the writing seemed more in the scene in the second book. Probably a combination of both confidence and my enjoyment.

Gard appears in the story shortly after it begins and immediately takes control of the show. After spending years with the Kreelans, his personality, his spirit, and even his physiology is changed. We are shown new tricks that Gard learned as a Desh-Ka Priest. Hicks does a great job of releasing these tidbits throughout, all the way until the end.

Although it is the second in a series, I love that In Her Name: Confederation has a great build up and climax. In another series I'm reading, it feels like each book is only meant as a precursor to the next. I don't get that with Hicks at all. Each of the first two books can stand on its own.

There were two things keeping In Her Name: Confederation from a five, but I'm a bit of a stickler so I'm not surprised.

The second book didn't seem as clean to me as In Her Name: Empire, or Season of the Harvest, a thriller also written by Hicks. It wasn't bad, the grammar was fine, but there were areas throughout that could have been crisper.

The second reason is that I'm not 100% sold on how much I love the characters. Like them yes, love, not yet. This tells you how much I love the plot and every other element in the series since I'm still at four out of five stars. There is no doubt however, that as the story progresses I will only enjoy it even more. Part of my enjoying a specific author is becoming used to their writing style.

In Her Name: Confederation is a great second book in the series and anybody looking for a science fiction or fantasy series would do well to get this one on their bookshelf.

Kirkus MacGowan
Author of The Fall of Billy Hitchings

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! I LOVED IT!!!

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! I LOVED IT!!!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.