This science fiction
novel is the first in a trilogy consisting of three parts of the longer story
Guy Erma and the Son of Empire, akin to what author Brent LeVasseur did with
his five-part Aoléon the Martian Girl series of five entries. In the first
part, teenagers Teodor, a prince, and Guy Erma, and orphan, come from different
walks of life, although their paths ultimately cross. The prologue introduces
Captain Karl Valvanchi, a thirty-one-year-old warrior tasked with defense above
Sas Darona, lying on a disputed border between the Zaracan Democratic Union and
the expanding Freyne Empire, with the latter finding a rare metal, although
cybernetic insects, or cy-sects, prove lethal to their attempted excavation of
the mineral.
New to this first part of
the trilogy are various illustrations that depict various characters and
beings, the first showing Teodor riding a feline creature known as a goran, the
second showing him saluting, the third showing the green-hair-striped but
mostly white-haired Nell Valvanchi, the next depicting the dark-haired Guy
Erma, the following one depicting the white-haired Karl Valvanchi, the one afterward showing a
Battle Borg, and the last showing a map of the Dome that plays part in most of
the book. These images are a welcome addition to the latest iteration of the
first part of the divided series and help readers get a clear view of what a
few of the characters and beings look like.
The main story itself
opens with Prince Teodor having a nightmare of his father’s murder, with his
granduncle Frederon being Emperor, and a goran race being imminent as part of
the Magnolia Weekend in the Dome, which will hold an election called the Dome
Debate to decide whether Chart Segat will remain the dome’s administrator.
Teodor ultimately finds himself a captive, with his mother, Regent Sayginn,
vowing to rescue him. Although this author has read the full three-part Guy
Erma and the Son of Empire, he found this first part with the illustrations to
be a welcome version, and would very much recommend it.
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