Wilson, the mysterious bad guy keeps killing the people Hailimi loves. Horrible and thrilling. ( )

{Third in the Indranan Wars trilogy; sci-fi, action-adventure}

This is the concluding book of how Hail Bristol succeeded to the multi-solar system empire of Indrana on the death of the rest of her family and her vengeance against a shadowy figure called Wilson who had engineered their assassinations and then plunged the empire into war. In this instalment the Indranan empire is on the brink of war with the Saxon empire as well as facing insurrection, conducted by Wilson, on the home front which encompasses space stations, fleets and planets. Victory will not be achieved without fatalities.

The action is fast and furious and the story is engaging. However, the villains' motives seemed rather petty for causing wholesale destruction across two empires, and I felt Hail could have deployed her resources better for her endgame.

The same minor flaws from the previous books continued into this one, namely that it was a bit light on details. I could have used a glossary of characters; although I read the whole trilogy within two months, I couldn't keep track of who was who and it didn't help when new names popped up with no background given. Or, when first names were suddenly used instead of surnames (or vice versa), it was hard to make the association when we hadn't been given the whole name before and it sometimes suddenly changed from one sentence to the next. And Hail, as a middle-aged empress/ hardened ex-gunrunner didn't really act her given age; she tended to get emotional quite a lot and to stick out her tongue if she didn't have a comeback quip. I missed Portis, who didn't feature as much in this episode

But these were minor quibbles. Overall, I enjoyed the story.

May 2021
3.25 stars ( )

Final volume in the trilogy introducing Hail Bristol, gunrunner-turned-Empress. Putting down the male-led rebellion against her matriarchal empire (don’t worry, though, she’s a reformer/egalitarian though still totally committed to the whole “empress” thing), Hail fights enemies foreign and domestic, building to the final confrontation with Wilson, the man who killed most of her relatives. Wilson ended up a bit too cartoony for my tastes, but there’s a lot to like if you like palace intrigue in space. ( )

And that's an end to a series.

Hail Bristol is a reluctant empress but she also knows that she has the skills to keep her society safe from those who would destroy it. Now her enemies have really annoyed her and she's going to get her revenge.

It's the end of the series and this ends with a bang and I really enjoyed the read. And then I passed it on to my husband to read. ( )

What a great conclusion to this trilogy!

It was action packed, with political intrigue, and lots of space battles! This is a series that I really enjoyed. The characters were relatable and I really enjoyed their relationships. The world created was really cool and I liked how political change was brought about. The main character wasn't afraid of change and really was a badass - yet accepted her weaknesses and worked through them.

I really enjoyed the writing as well. It was easy to read, not overly descriptive and had me wanting more.

Overall, this is a fun space adventure, with a kick ass heroine and I will definitely be reading more from this author! ( )