Customer Reviews

The Course Of Empire

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I found this a difficult book to read because it is so very well written. That's not a contradiction, by the way. Any book about alien contact where I spend the first third of it trying *NOT* to grind my teeth into powder over Jao callousness and Jao brutality has definitely involved me in the story.

For the Jao have conquered Earth, reducing its population to sullen subservience, destroyed cities for the merest trace of resistance, and even wiped out Mount Everest to prove that they are not to be defied. The areas which resisted most strongly have been hammered into poverty and want, and there are places where no one who collaborates with the Jao dares walk unarmed or alone.

But the Jao are not the monolithic Beast of the Apocalypse they seem to be, for one faction, known only as the Bond, has apparently engineered a situation they hope will resolve the mess, and so the tale begins, as a new Subcommandant arrives on earth, fresh from the equivalent of Annapolis...

There is more to this book than the parts of the story which aroused my wrath, for these aliens are truly *alien*, and that provides the tale with its richness. John Campbell defined alien as "what thinks as well as a human, but differently" and the Jao are indeed different. From those differences arise the conflict, for how do beings who are engineered, rather than products of evolution, proud of their rationality, and involved in a war for survival against others whose alienness is so bizarre that meaningful contact with them is impossible, deal with the inconsistent, irrational, maddening and quarrelsome humans?

For that matter, can, or will the Jao succeed in fixing the horribly botched first contact and conquest of the humans? Without breaking the very things that might make humans valuable partners in their ultimate quest for survival? And, if they can do so, how can they achive it without destroying their own species' unity, upon which the survival of all, Jao and human, must ultimately depend?

All of the above issues and more come into play in this book and by the time the story ended, I found myself actually trying to think like a Jao, and see the universe from their perspective. Quite a change, I must say, from my "kill them all" attitude generated by the early part of the story. That change is a high compliment to the skill with which the story was unfolded before me.

Both K. D. Wentworth ("Black/On/Black", "Stars/Over/Stars", "Imperium Game") and Eric Flint [website]BR>have shown themselves writers of the highest caliber, and this book, written by them as a team, is a credit to them both. I am grateful the book was so difficult and hence, so wonderful.

Thank you, Kathy and Eric.

Take two authors known to be among the most capable at creating believable and completely inhuman and nonhuman aliens, and ask them to write together. What do you get? You get creativity squared. You get _Course of Empire_ by Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth.

This book deserves nomination for the Hugo and Nebula awards. It is a deceptively old-fashioned plot: aliens conquer the Earth and what happens later. But the aliens are real _people_ -- not human people, but people nonetheless...and not one-dimensional cutout villains. The humans are real. The aliens are real, and the situation is entirely believable.

Flint, while better known for alternate histories, began his writing career with the brilliant _Mother of Demons_ in which he created believable aliens out of giant landlocked squidlike beings...and got us to care about them and understand their motivations.

Wentworth, likewise, known for her fantasies, is the creator of the fascinating Hrinn...neither catlike, nor doglike, nor bearlike, but a warrior animal race, intelligent, emotional, honorable. This book should be a breakthrough for Wentworth, who is amazingly underrated as an author...and deserves much better as she shows in _Course of Empire_.

Put together, Flint and Wentworth develop the Jao. Very different than humans, human interactions baffle the Jao...just like the Jao baffle the humans who are their slaves.

This is an awe-inspiringly good book, and should be read and enjoyed, over and over.

Bravo!

The Course of Empire (2003) is a SF novel about a Terra conquered by an alien empire. This conquest was the most difficult in the entire history of the Joa people; even after twenty years of occupation, the Terrans have not yet been assimilated. Resistance groups still operate in the mountainous regions and riots still occur in the more heavily populated areas. Many of the troops that should have been reassigned after the conquest have been retained to suppress the resistance.

After the conquest, the Narvo kochan was given the oudh to govern Terra and that clan selected Oppuk krinnu ava Narvo to serve as Governor of the planet. The governor and his staff have a low opinion of the humans and this disdain extended down to the lowest levels of the Jao military. Indeed, most Jao consider the humans to only be clever animals, whose behavior is insane and whose mentality is incapable of understanding Jao ways.

In this novel, Aile krinna ava Pluthrak arrives on Terra to assume his duties as Subcommandant for Ground Forces, accompanied only by his fraghta, Yaut krinnu Jithra vau Pluthrak. His presence causes a great deal of consternation, since the Pluthrak kochan may be the most prestigious clan of the Jao, with the possible exception of their Narvo rivals.

Aile becomes even more notable when he starts adding Terrans as well as Jao to his personal service. The first to be added is PFC Gabe Tully, a jinau trooper in the ground forces. Later Aile adds Willard Beck, a human technician, and then Nath krinnu Tashnat vau Nimmat, a Jao supervisor at the Pascagoula refit facility. When Yaut is sent to Jao country to gather information, he adds Tamt krinnu Kannu vau Hij, a Jao guard, to Aile's personal service when she acts rudely to him; she obviously needs the training and she seems to have potential. Later Aile adds combat veterans from both the Terran and Jao forces to his personal service.

The Governor holds a reception for Aile in the gubernatorial palace in Oklahoma City. There Oppuk taunts Aile, trying to goad him into a misstep, but Aile successfully deflects each challenge. Afterward, Caitlan Stockwell comments upon the interplay to Aile and he talks to her for a while before abruptly shedding his clothes and diving into the swimming pool. Later Aile learns Caitlan's name and identity as the only remaining child of the human appointed as President of North America. Caitlan then introduces Ed Kralik, a Major General commanding the Pacific Division of the jinau forces, to Aile (which is a blatant flaunting of Jao manners, but Aile is getting used to the human version of social customs).

This reception and the information subsequently provided by Jao combat veterans leads Aile to conclude that the Governor has become demented in his hatred of the humans. Aile begins to maneuver against the Governor in a type of traditional formal conflict called "advance-by-oscillation". This approach is a form of psychological operation similar to Dickson's Tactics of Mistake, which was derived partially from a fencing tactic of rapid engages and disengages that gradually draw the other blade out of line until the opponent is essentially unguarded. Aile starts to refute the official opinion regarding the humans in various ways, driving the Governor to wilder and wilder reactions, and then countering this erratic behavior by exposing his misjudgment. This tactic should eventually alienate the Governor from his allies, including his own kochan.

This story was inspired by a story from Christopher Anvil, possibly in the series collected as Pandora's Legions. However, Anvil wrote many other stories about the Earth being invaded by hapless aliens; the earliest to my knowledge is The Gentle Earth (1957), which contains many of the elements of the Pandora series.

However, the Jao have an entirely different concept of social obligations and relationships than the aliens in the Pandora series. The Jao have a social organization somewhat like the Hrinn, but without the separation of male and female. Their concept of usefulness as the primary social ethic is close in some ways to the Japanese concept of bushido.

This story basically takes off where Anvil's stories usually end, with the invaders realizing that they have caught hold of the tar baby or, to phrase it another way, they have a tiger by the tail. These invaders are basically good-hearted (but ruthless) defenders of all galactic life from the ravaging and incomprehensible Ekhat. However, the Jao have never encountered another sapient species with equal or better technology and have made a number of errors in their first contact and their subsequent treatment of the natives. Now they need to remedy their initial mistakes and convince the unruly natives to "associate" with their conquerors as do dependent sapients on other conquered planets.

This tale is mostly written from the point-of-view of the alien Jao, even when the principal character is Caitlan, for she is more than half Jao herself. Aile begins his task by listening to the natives and to Jao who have extensive experience with the natives. Both he and Yaut spend at least one rest period a day absorbing the language imprinting program, but find more puzzles than answers therein. Thus, he spends a good part of every day confusedly trying to understand the human mindset. Then he learns that the mindset of the human female is not quite the same as that of the male.

Highly recommended for Flint, Wentworth, and Anvil fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of aliens being hoisted by their own petard and of belated attempts to establish positive relations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

In my long-term view, this is the best "cross cultural" SF war (or culture clash), I believe since the "moties" were created. The Jao conquerors are well developed aliens with a cultural set much the opposite of ours, though there are some similarities to our eastern cultures. The personality types (especially the repugnant "Earth Administrator" and his book long battle with another Jao family's "rising star" has many parallels in Earth history. These clashes go well with the proto and real revolts of earthlings (especially Americans). Earth's eventual freedom in the context of Jao culture and a coming third party war with another race (and its initial battles) and possible elimination of both Jao and Earth is a wonderful way to tie it all together. Thoroughly enjoyable; know your history and some philosophy. Read and enjoy !!!

This has got to be one of the best human/alien interaction books I have ever read. It's not so much that this story is about alien conflict, the story takes place twenty years after Earth is conquered, but rather about how humans and aliens learn to live and fight together for their common survival. What I found so great about this was the way the authors wove alien customs and thought processes into the story. The Jao were truly believable and there actions and motives came across as alien rather than being human with just an alien flavour as so many sci-fi novels seem to do.

Well worth the hardback cover price.

Mark E. Cooper
Warrior Within (ISBN:0-9545122-0-0)

K. D. Wentworth shows that the promise of interesting interaction betwixt and between alien and human cultures in her previous two novels was not an 'empty promise'. In this novel she delivers a well thought out alien culture. And in a way that reminded me of C.J. Cherryh made the setting such that the humans in the story must adapt to the aliens culture. Not only does she avoid the clique of the human culture dominating, but she also avoids the old 'aliens conquer earth, valiant earthmen triumph in the end' storyline with a far more interesting plot.

The Jao conquered Earth two decades ago - and things on earth have been going downhill ever since. The Jao are in a war with the Ekhat and are conquering other races in a quest for resources. Except that humans believe the Ekhat are just 'boogie aliens' created by the Jao to keep subject races in line. A powerplay between two major Jao 'clans' brings a young Jao scion to earth. And opens up the posibility of change as the young Jao assumes his duties and learns about earth and earths' people.

The story makes interesting comments about the clash of cultures that could as easily be applied to the differences between human cultures. That reason, an open mind, willingness to listen, to learn about/from and to compromise are needed to allow two very different cultures to work together. That two cultures together have strengths that neither has on its' own.

But Wentworth weaves all of these into a great story that grabs you interest and drags you along on the journey the characters are undertaking. With plot, hidden sub-plots, characters you like/dislike, plots by the characters, a great culture clash and the fine writing I have come to expect from Wentworth this novel is definitly on my 'Best of 2003' list.

Give the bibliophile in you a treat and read this novel.

I totally, 100 % loved this book. Not being much of a sci-fi fan, I normally shun anything with spaceships on the cover. But I semi-enjoyed the book "1632" and looked around for something else to read by the same author, and ended up with The Course Of Empire.

All I can say is, what a great book. It has it all: thought-provoking political, military, social, and anthropological elements, good storytelling, compelling observations about us as a species, etc. This book can be enjoyed on many different levels: as simply a good yarn, or on a deeper level about politics, alliances, and conflict. The major story line is about occupation (in this case, by an alien species taking over Earth), and specifically the difficulties of occupying a resistant people (in this case, humans). Although the book appears to be modeled on historical occupations (British/India, Rome/Greece, Mongol/Chinese, etc.), you will not miss the poignant relevance to today's headlines.

Mr Flint gets an A+ for character development, normally IMHO a weak spot in the sci-fi genre. The characters, both alien and human, are complex, multi-faceted participants in the story. A small few are "good" or "bad", but most are shades of gray and surprisingly (and compellingly) realistic. At various points in the book, I did not know whether I was rooting for the humans or the alien conquerors (the "Jao"), which is really quite an accomplishment from a writing perspective. In addition to being complex, the characters evolve during the course of the book. Rather than being static archetypes - the evil alien, the brave resistance fighter, whatever - they are learning, evolving characters whose personalities and viewpoints change as the story unfolds, just like in real life. It had a bit of the "Shogun" (James Clavell) feel of evolving characters who change and grow as they are influenced by a completely alien, seemingly-contradictory-but-actually-quite-internally-consistent alien culture.

I also really enjoyed the alien culture of the Jao (the conquerers) and their view of humans. The Jao perspective and exasperation with the humans provided a lot of insight and humor into our species. In addition, the Jao culture was so well thought out and developed that, rather than just being a way to fill pages, they were an internally-consistent culture worth reading about and pondering. Ever little detail made sense and fit. For instance, rather than mating at any time like humans, they only mate infrequently, when called back to their home planets, and the rest of the time they have basically no interest in sex or mating. So there's a scene where they're all walking around naked, male and female, unconcerned and unashamed, while the humans are kind of uncomfortable about it (apparently they have similar sexual organs to us). Then it clicked for me - of course! if they're not sexually aroused or interested except at the exact assigned time and place, then why would they care whether they mingled with or without clothes. That is literally one of dozens or scores of clever, internally-consistent aspects of the Jao culture that made me think.

If the Jao don't give you your fill of other-worldly alien types, there's the Ekhrat, a *truly* alien species trying to exterminate everyone else. What's super-interesting is that the Ekhrat are so alien that they can barely be comprehended or described at all - and yet, Mr Flint somehow communicates what they are about while maintaining the mystery that they are so alien as to defy description. At the end of the book, the very last page in fact, I thought to myself, I wish he had spent a little more time on the Ekhrat. And guess what, I turned the page and there was a 3-4 page appendix on the Ekhrat going into more detail. Such a well thought out book!

Finally, in most 600+ page books, there are slow patches and, particularly toward the end of the book, a sense of fatigue. Not in this book. Mr Flint manages to keep it moving and it actually picks up momentum as you turn the corner into the final 100 or 200 pages. There is not a slow paragraph in this book. It is a wonderfully edited book with great pacing.

This book is a solid 5 stars, 6 if it was possible. Buy it and read it, just don't do so on a night before work, or you will be very tired and unproductive. I just could not put this book down, for the three days it took me to read it.

This is one of the best books I've read this year. Eric Flint has created a consistent, believable premise, and follows it to a great conclusion.

The Jao have conquered earth and been in control for 20 years now. There is great concern the evil Ekart will be coming to eradicate life on earth soon, but the people on earth are not cooperating with the Jao to build the forces necessary to fight the onslaught. Resistance movements still exist in many pockets of the planet, and the Jao governor is becomingly increasingly brutal and disturbed.

A young Jao from the prominent clan group is newly assigned as the number 3 leader on earth. His clan is noted for deeper thought than the clan of the current governor, and he for the first time begins to bond with a few earth people. He takes some into his personnel service, and begins to maneuver to oust the current governor.

Flint creates the Jao completely unlike us in motivation and response, and does an excellent job creating the Ekart as well. This book completely captured my attention with a combination of philosophy, politics, and warfare. It will satisfy any fan of Drake, Weber, or C.S. Forrester with his thoughtful mix of character and action.

Please Mr. Flint, bring on the sequel!

This one was intriguing, exciting, maddening and fun right from the beginning. It was also hard to put down.

The venue is Earth, at about our present level of technology. The time is about 20 years after an alien invasion. Humanity was conquered by the alien Jao and now lives a precarious existence. The existence is precarious because humans don't really understand their conqueror and the conquerors don't really understand humans. Any infraction is punished mercilessly but there is no rancor in the punishment. There is no rancor except from the alien who commands earth. He hates humanity. That makes the situation tense.

There is a reason for the conquest beyond mere imperial desires. The Jao are at war with the Ekhat. So is everyone else in the galaxy who is not Ekhat. This is for the simple reason that the Ekhat regard all other life as an abomination and wish to cleanse it from the universe. This is not a healthy situation for anyone who is not Ekhat. Unfortunately, humanity does not understand the extent of the problem and many of them do not even believe in the existence of the Ekhat. Many regard them as some sort of Bogeyman used by the conqueror to keep the subject races in line.

The Jao themselves are not completely unified. They are organized into great clans and political alliances and often let those ties overshadow the common good. So it is that the ruler of earth is of one clan and the Jao sent to serve as one of his top deputies is of the clan most at odds with his. This leads to even more clashes of will and ultimate goals.

Although this book deals with conflicts on many levels, it is mostly about indirect manipulations. Human factions try to manipulate each other to their desired goals. Jao factions do the same thing. Humanity tries to manipulate the Jao and the reverse is also true. When larger, even great schemes are laid on top of this cauldron of scheming, things get really complex. It is said that Byzantine court intrigues maid Prince Machiavelli look like an amateur. The machinations in this book put the Byzantines into the same category. It is all wonderfully intriguing.

Two decades have passed since the Jao conquered the Earth, but the victors still debate what to do with the defeated humans. Many Jao believe extermination by total destruction of the planet is the final solution. Some like newly arrived Commander Aille believes winning the hearts of the humans is the best long term solution.

Before the Jao can resolve the human problem, they have to contend with the deadly Ekhat, who plan to commit solar system genocidal eradicating human and Jao without a second thought. The Ekhat turned the Jao into sentient beings, but expected loyal servitude bonds instead of ungrateful rebellion. For Human and Jao to vanquish the Ekhat they must forge more than an alliance. They need a consensus that is much greater than a simple summing of the parts. Only leaders like Aille and the human Stockwells have the foresight to see what must be done, but each race has xenophobics sitting in key positions.

This futuristic tale works on several levels as readers will believe that the Jao and Ekhat exist as well as the conquering of the planet has occurred. The action is fast and furious so that this work will appeal to military science fiction buffs. However, the strength of the tale resides in the social, anthropologic, technological, and political make-up of the Jao and the Humans. Readers will observe the difficulty of blending the best of the conquered and the conqueror into a seamless oneness that might prove capable of surviving the Ekhat. Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth provide a triumphant story that is as much cerebral as it is action-packed.

Harriet Klausner