The Course of Empire - Softcover

Flint, Eric; Wentworth, K.D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743498933 ISBN 13: 9780743498937

Publisher: Baen, 2005

Synopsis

The Battle to Free the Earth May Destroy It Instead! Thundering Space Action by the Authors of 1632 and Black on Black.

Conquered by the Jao twenty years ago, the Earth is shackled under alien tyranny - and threatened by the even more dangerous Ekhat, one of whose genocidal extermination fleets is coming to the solar system. The only chance for human survival is in the hands of an unusual pair of allies: a young Jao prince, newly arrived to Terra to assume his duties, and a young human woman brought up amongst the Jao occupiers. But, as their tentative alliance takes shape, they are under pressure from all sides. A cruel Jao viceroy on one side, determined to drown all opposition in blood; a reckless human resistance on the other, which is perfectly prepared to shed it. Added to the mix is the fact that only by adopting some portions of human technology and using human sepoy troops can the haughty Jao hope to defeat the oncoming Ekhat attack - and then only by fighting the battle within the sun itself.

About this title

About the Author:

Eric Flint, as Publishers Weekly put it in a starred review of his 1632 (Baen), is "an SF author of particular note, one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure." With David Drake he has collaborated on five novels in the popular Belisarius series, and with David Weber, he has written 1633, a sequel to 1632, and Crown of Slaves, an offshoot of the best-selling Honor Harrington series. His first novel, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. A longtime labor union activist with a Master's Degree in history, he currently resides in Indiana with his wife Lucille.

K. D. Wentworth is author of seven novels, including Black on Black and Stars Over Stars for Baen, and more than fifty short stories, appearing in such magazines as Fantasy & Science Fiction, Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, and others. She is a winner in the Writers of the Future contest, and has been a Nebula Award finalist twice. Her latest novel is This Fair Land (Hawk), an alternate history fantasy of the era of Columbus. She attributes her success to having a very large dog and a wonderful husband, not necessarily in that order, and lives with both in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

From Publishers Weekly:

Can a proud and warlike people find common cause with their alien conquerors in the face of a greater danger? That's the question that military SF ace Flint (1633) and two-time Nebula Award finalist Wentworth (This Fair Land) ask in this thought-provoking far-future novel. After defeating the human species, some of the sea lion-like Jao consider finishing off the job through mass asteroid strikes. But the young Aille, newly arrived commander of Jao Ground Forces, seeks to win over the humans not only by showing them the threat posed to all intelligent life by the Ekhat, the elder race that raised the Jao to sentience, but also by trying to forge bonds between the vanquishers and the vanquished. The authors excel at describing how human and Jao customs clash, allowing the reader to discover along with the characters the core beliefs of each society and how these beliefs could be adjusted and harmonized with one another. The Ekhat presents a truly alien threat of the sort that could well merge two belligerent societies into one, not just out of fear but through ties of blood and honor. Building to an exhilarating conclusion, this book cries out for a sequel.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Baen
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0743498933
• ISBN 13: 9780743498937
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672