I kneel down in a Kreelan salute tonthis book and its creator!

In the first book I wondered if I could ever make something like it, always wanting to be an author myself. I shrugged thought off for the moment. Now I have my answer. NEVER? Where did this author get the storyline of such a book? It seems humanly impossible that he formulated this whole book out of pure patience and thought. Maybe a dream perhaps. All I know is that I never could have just thought anything like that up out of thin akr or could have dreamed it. I've considered that Michael Hicks could have experienced something similiar his lifetime. But just reading the book was so enchanting and magical again if doesn't seem possible. This has led me to consider that he himself is an alien. Hmm?

In this book Reza Gard again finds himself an outcast in an alien world. Interesting enough, he's been there before. Unfortunately he doesn't remember much of the twelve or thirteen years he once spent there and is forced to learn everything anew. But like among his fellow Kreelan warriors, he makes the most of it, and in a place where he was looked down upon he soon gains respect. But alas like Empire tears are still shed? But while Empire was a tear-jerking read almost the whole way through a new character, Jodie, gives me some laughs in the sequel, Confederation. Unless you have not read Empire you should know that Reza has many situuations and worries he can brood over so there will be more tears. But tears of sadness and joy!

If you wish to continue be warned:

SPOILER ALERT

Since book 1 I've actually been expecting a baby. When the Empress dismissed Reza to go live among his human race thinking that maybe he was not The One I said to myself, "Don't be so sure." Ever since the day of the forbidden ritual that awoke Reza's Bloodsong I thought maybe men will come back to the Kreelans afterall. Although the baby will more than most likely be different, a halfbreed, it would be the start of something new to the Kreelans that could live on forever. I never thought to baby would not be a boy until Esah-Zhurrah talked about her boy-child for a bref moment and I was like, "But what if it were a boy." Fortunately it wasn't and Reza isn't dead which brought a new hope to the series. In TV the heroes come back from the dead so quickly I really thought Reza was gone and pondered before reading the final pages of Confederation what the final book in the trilogy would be about. Maybe his child? Nevertheless I kept reading through my tears and found that The One still lives as does the next Empress who is forever joined with him.

This book came to a sudden end (and a laugh. She peed herself. Ha.) So without hesitating for more than a moment I brought the final book, Final Battle, despite the fact that it was five dollars, the cheap self that I am. I finished the last book in with no sleep in short time as I hope to do the same with this book because I am eager to discover the ending of one of the best trilogies I've ever read.

I believe one day if it weren't for the few sexual descriptions this book could become as popular as The Hunger Games, loved by kids and adults of all ages. This can be reached too but mostly teens and above but unfortunately not many teachers will reccomend this to the young kids. But for this fact it still has the potential to be as popular and probably more popular than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And I'll do my job and reccomend this to as many peers as possible. ( )

(Note: This review will contain spoilers, because there are specific events in the book that I want to discuss! Do not proceed if you have not read this book!)

So, after discovering Mike’s books via Twitter, I read IN HER NAME: EMPIRE last week, and greatly enjoyed it. Though I found a few minor flaws with EMPIRE, they were nothing serious, and almost to be expected with the first novel in such an ambitious trilogy – small, and easily forgiven.

CONFEDERATION, though… wow. Man, this book just blew me out of the water. It really did. One of my favorite, relatively recently discovered authors (in the past year or two) is David Weber, creator of some of the finest military science fiction I’ve ever read, and his influence was very plain in CONFEDERATION – which was a very good thing, in my mind!

We continue to follow the story of Reza Gard as he returns to his people after his indoctrination by the Kreelans, and Hicks does a great job making the character retain his relatability while also making him seem almost entirely alien to the people around him. A few of the peripheral characters fall slightly, but acceptably, toward two-dimensional; the corrupt Senator, the unnecessarily brutal trainer, and so on. This is also a place where I see Weber’s influence, since some of his peripheral characters tend to fall along the same lines. (Note: this is not criticism, so much as observation.)

As I approached the end of CONFEDERATION, I hit a particular point in the story that I wanted to talk about.

(Heavy spoilers ahead. You have been warned.)

On the planet Erlang, Reza decides that he knows how he can spare the remainder of the population; by bringing seven hundred warriors forth to challenge the approaching Kreelan host as they attempt to retrieve the body of the First Empress from her tomb. Leading the host is, naturally and picture-perfectly, Esah-Zurah; Reza’s Kreelan mate and soul-bonded.

Now, as a wargamer, and particularly one who plays Games Workshop wargames (Warhammer Fantasy, specifically) the scene described where the two battle groups come together, the Mallorys and the Kreelans, fighting in frenzied melee while the respective leaders, Esah-Zurah and Reza fight alone in the center as part of the challenge… this scene really spoke to me. It felt like the perfect description of a unit champion’s challenge when two units approach close combat in Warhammer, and I actually got chills. This only happens when I hit really good fiction, and I’ve read a lot of mediocre fiction to know. I don’t know if Hicks is an active or former wargamer, but I felt like he really nailed this scene in particular.

The prelude to and aftermath of this scene are properly heart-rending as both Esah-Zurah and Reza know that he has to die. I’ll leave the rest to the readers, since I can’t be on here spoiling the whole book – after all, I think you should go and read it for yourself!

CONFEDERATION is simply fantastic. I easily rank it as highly as many of Weber’s books that I have read – perhaps not quite as perfectly honed as, say, Field of Dishonor, but definitely on par with In Fury Born or the Dahak trilogy, both of which I devoured from cover to cover – much like I did with CONFEDERATION.

Final Score: 5 out of 5 stars. Highest recommendation. This book absolutely deserves your time and attention – but read EMPIRE first! ( )