One seat on the intergalactic Sakien Empire’s supreme ruling body, th
e Council of Seven, remains unfilled, that of the Empress Apparent. The seat isn’t won by votes or marriage. It’s won in a tournament of ritualized combat in the ancient tradition. Now that tournament, the Empress Game, has been called the females of the empire will stop at nothing to secure political domination for their homeworlds.
The battle for political power isn’t contained by the tournament’s ring, however. The empire’s elite gather to forge, strengthen or betray alliances in a dance that will determine the fate of the empire for a generation. With the empire wracked by a rising nanovirus plague and stretched thin by an ill-advised planet-wide occupation of Ordoch in enemy territory, everything rests on the woman who rises to the top
It’s hard to do new in the space opera genre. It’s hard to do new in the Science fiction genre as a whole. Most books are just rehashing old stories by new authors. Then you have the urban fantasy and science fiction genres stumbling over each other to have a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer. By this I mean, a strong independent female character who is both the main character and generally more powerful than most male characters in their books. It is both male and female authors doing this so don’t get indignant with me yet. I like many of these books, but many are trash pushed out there with little thought to the fact that most are just poor rehashing of other peoples work.
All that being said, I think Rhonda Mason may be one of the good ones. Once I started reading her novel I found I couldn’t put it down. I found the universe in which she tells her story compelling enough to want to know more. Her characters need some fleshing out but the future novels are there for that. Her socio-politico structure was for me the most compelling. She has done a wonderful job in this novel showing it off. Having read a great many multi novel series, I think it is best to show the reader what to expect in the world or universe the author is writing in before working up highly intricate plot lines.
All said I think you will find this a fun summer read. If you can put it down long enough to go to the beach.
The Empress Game is the first book in The Empress Game Trilogy and is published by Titan Books. The Empress Game is written by Rhonda Mason and retails for 14.95. This will hit shelves on July 14.
-Michael Allport
