As someone else said, while the book is great, the ending is a little weird. It's as if the final scene from one of the plot-lines is completely missing. This is a shame, since it was set up to be truly climactic.Other than that, as with all of Weber's books, this one is a page-turner. I found it hard to put down when I knew I had to, and that indicates I really enjoyed reading it.

Pity your editorial review says "the empire destroyed 45 years ago". Read any of this series and you will know it was destroyed 45 millenia (45,000 years) ago!Great book, great series, keep the series going!

Or so everyone thought. With Emperor Colin I and his wife Jiltanith's children off to Acadamy and the Empire running smoothly, all was going well. Until a horrible accident leaves Colin and Tanni childless and under seige from an unknown Conspirater.Now, Dahak, Colin, 'Tanni and all the other characters must find the reason for the accident, find a trace of the devious and powerfull man who wishes to overthrow the Empire and take it for himself...You can feel the heat of Thermal Nuke Fire and smell the sulpher from the barrles of Muskettes, turn the pages before you get left behind...

A FABULOUS STORY WITH AN INTERESTING MIXTURE OF ANCIENT AND FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY. THE DESPERATE BATTLES AND INTRIGUE, ALONG WITH LIKABLE CHARACTURES, MADE THIS BOOK HARD TO PUT DOWN. IT HAS BECOME MY FAVORITE BOOK OF THE HUNDREDS OF BOOK I HAVE READ. I ONLY HAVE ONE QUESTION, WHERE IS THE NEXT BOOK IN THE SERIES?

This book was humorous while still being informative. It is still dry at times, but does a much better job with keeping interest than any other technical writing book that I have read. Would definitely recommend this book for the aspiring/practicing engineer as I am keeping this one on the bookcase.

I bought this book in hopes of finally knowing of the original stories that inspired the famous tales we know today.The frase "curiosity killed the cat"showed itself here for it was written with sexual ideas. Any thing thought by the reviewer to hint at sex drastically changed the story to an adulterized "original" version. Maybe it is my unwillingnes to accept the stories be that way, but we are all hinting here for nobody not even the reviewer know the real story.We are then just reading someone's opinion of how the stories were. If you agree with him/her all is fine but I am one of the idea that nothing here is truth.Though it sounds convincing at first you might then notice how the reviewer supposes,guesses and comes to conclusions that I ,as might you,find offensive.