Imperator

This is a remarkable book about an innocent boy in a distant future America who loves his family. He’s a decent kid with a bright future and then… evil strikes his family hard. He is fortunate to survive and he goes on into the ruined world he has grow up in to become a man and make something of himself and eventually avenge his family. It take a while and that is an incredible story in itself… a journey of heroism. of loyalty to friends, a journey of Love and love unrequited and a journey into space and as time goes by… the future. In this journey the “decent kid” become man receives the gift of longevity by means frightening and corrupt and life altering. But not every gift is as valuable as one would think and depending how it is used. And so a fork in the road of his life begins…. for thousands of years.

You will learn much about this boy turned man in the course of this book set over thousands of years and mind bending adventures. It’s an amazing journey and eye opening to witness the evolution of the boy become man. And you it will cause you to question your own journey as you are swept along. A powerful book by Cole and Anspach.

A tale of a character’s journey into darkness, driven by his initial desire to do the right thing, ultimately twisted into becoming what he hated, because of a creeping desire for power and revenge.

Good stories are often more about a villian’s journey than a hero’s…I think this tale covers both very well. I could empathize with both (the same guy…people change. )

I truly enjoyed this book. Great all-around Sci-fi storytelling. Sentient robots, a touch of horror, and action packed combat are just a few of the bits I liked.

The unique settings drew me in; familiar at first, then more alien, lending a frightening aspect to what the characters encounter. Fear of the unknown sets the tone, and the pacing kept me coming back to finish this over a couple of very busy days. Sleep was sacrificed, and I have no regrets. I will definitely be reading this one again soon, and often.

I want more of this main character.

The premise of the first standalone in Jason Anspach and Nick Coles Galaxys Edge series is simple: what if Darth Vader went to Dagobah instead of Luke Skywalker?

But reducing IMPERATOR down to that single question does a disservice to the first glimpse beneath the hood of the Emperor, Goth Sullus. Here they lay bare his history, his motives, his rise to power, and even the secret of his name. Part character study and part secret history of Galaxys Edge, Anspach and Cole weave three plot lines together, his present, his past, and our near-future, into the action and mysteries readers have come to expect from Galaxys Edge and its inspiration, Star Wars.

There is a risk to revealing so much about Goth Sullus so soon, as the list of villains who lost their appeal alongside their air of mystery is long and distinguished. Fortunately, Anspach and Cole deliver. Not only do they portray Sullus as sympathetic even as his choices cause him to fall, the revelations about his long and near immortal history open up even more mysteries for readers to ponder and explore.

Clever Star Wars fans may recognize Sulluss motivations in conquering the galaxy as similar to the Emperors in the Star Wars Extended Universe. And there are plenty of callbacks to a galaxy far, far away, taken from all eras, even Rogue One. Suitably repurposed, of course. Like a kaleidoscope tumbler, Galaxys Edge takes the old images, symbols, and stories from Star Wars and puts them together in new and novel forms. After all, Darth Vader never went to Dagobah to learn the Force. The shuffling of familiar elements creates that Star Wars but not-Star Wars taste that so many readers are craving.

That Imperator and Galaxys Edge never fall into fanfiction and pastiche is a credit to Anspach and Cole as writers. But its what else they did thats more impressive. They expanded the palette of tropes, settings, and conventions used in Star Wars-style space operas. Take the military grit of Black Hawk Down, the horror of Event Horizon, the moral complexity of The Killer Angels, the post-apocalyptic setting of Book of Eli, and toss it all into Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Lost World. Did you expect to get Star Wars out of this mix? Because thats what Jason Anspach and Nick Cole did in Imperator, and throughout all of Galaxys Edge with a kitchen sink of non-Star Wars tropes. And this mix of decidedly non-Star Wars tropes and conventions is somehow more Star Wars than the recent films that got to play with Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie.

But with the glowing praise comes a caveat: do not read Imperator before you finish Attack of Shadows, the fourth Galaxys Edge book. Goth Sulluss story relies on and reveals many of the plot points and mysteries of that book.

A stand-alone novel that can be read on its own, but also functions as an excellent entry vector into the universe of Galaxys Edge. The quality, pacing and layered narratives quickly made it one of my favorite entries. A story of innocence lost, nobility warped, and a would-be savior who becomes a tyrant.

He is known as Goth Sullus, an enigmatic figure of dread who will make galactic civilization tremble. Conqueror, Emperor, a being who has mastered ancient and alien arts and has become more than a man. But who is he? Where did he come from?

Imperator delves into Sullus past, and uses this conceit to explore times and places only hinted at. Readers will see the Savage Wars firsthand, when starfaring humanity struggled against mutated branches of the species, warped by mutation and technology gone mad, and in an homage to Heart of Darkness as well as Star Wars, readers will follow our protagonist through a dense alien jungle and into his fracturing psyche as he is forced to relive a running fight through a generation ship the size of a planet, stocked with experiments on the mutability of abominations that can be worked on the human form, and dotted with alien artifacts from a vanished star-faring civilization.

Dare you join him in his tragic search for the ancient knowledge and power, with the goal of changing the course of humanity for the better, knowing what he will become?

And, dear reader, could you have done any better?

A post apocalyptic world some thousands of years into the future and one man, Goth Sullus, is the conqueror, the Emperor, risen from the dirt poor boy unable to save his parents from being murdered to the one ” who would save the galaxy from itself.”
This superb, attention rivetting story takes the reader on a journey from his birth in the year of the Exodus, when the rich, powerful and famous soared away from the dying Earth in Lighthuggers, enormous ships travelling into space in the hope of new lives elsewhere and abandoning those left behind. But fifteen years later the hyperdrive was invented, with faster than light travel which meant that everyone could, and did, leave for new and alien worlds, arriving decades before those who had left them behind. At 20, he had joined the Terrain navy, and, over the course of the next two thousand plus years, endured slavery and longevity increasing experiments, decades of training with a Yoda-like character, suffered the horrors of lighthuggers gone crazy, the Dead Zone and a centuries long Savages War from which he emerged victorious. And along the way, in a battle in which only he, together with his friend Rechs/Rex and a woman named Reina are the only survivors, he encounters the prophetesses and the Dark Wanderer which set him on a quest which lands him stranded on a planet beyond the galaxies with only his Killer bot and a strangely enigmatic little creature as companions.

The whole of this life journey is revealed in cleverly spliced together and interwoven snapshots of the Emperors remembering and dreaming, essentially detailing four of the major periods of his life. It could so easily have becoming confusing but instead sweeps the reader along with the Emperor, his inner as well as physical adventures revealed. To become the man he is now.

Whilst the book naturally focuses on Sullus himself and is told from his personal perspective, one character in particular warrants special mention: the distaining Killer boy who accompanies him on one mission, who, whilst fulfilling his task of protecting the human, snidely makes it clear that men are inferior.

Imperator is a story to carry the reader into different realms. Exciting, unputdownable and thought provoking. Wonderful