In Her Name: Redemption [Kindle Edition]

Michael R. Hicks (Author)

Book Description

This trilogy collection contains the first three novels of the bestselling IN HER NAME science fiction & fantasy saga: EMPIRE, CONFEDERATION, and FINAL BATTLE...

EMPIRE

This is the coming-of-age story of Reza Gard, a young boy of the Human Confederation who is swept up in the century-long war with the alien Kreelan Empire. Nightmarish female warriors with blue skin, fangs, and razor sharp talons, the Kreelans have technology that is millennia beyond that of the Confederation, yet they seek out close combat with sword and claw, fighting and dying to honor their god-like Empress. Captured and enslaved, Reza must live like his enemies in a grand experiment to see if humans have souls, and if one may be the key to unlocking an ages old curse upon the Kreelan race. Enduring the brutal conditions of Kreelan life, Reza and a young warrior named Esah-Zhurah find themselves bound together by fate and a prophecy foretold millennia before they were born.

CONFEDERATION

Banished from the Kreelan Empire, Reza is once again a stranger in a strange land as he returns to the human Confederation. Befriended by a marooned Confederation naval officer leading a desperate fight against the Kreelans on a distant colony world, she reunites Reza with Nicole Carré. With their help, he fulfills his childhood dream of becoming a Confederation Marine. Reza will need all the help he can get, for dark forces are at work at the heart of the Confederation, and Reza becomes a pawn in a lethal power struggle that leads him back to the planet Erlang. There, a heartbreaking reunion awaits him, along with the discovery of an ages-old power that the Kreelan Empire will stop at nothing to control.

FINAL BATTLE

Reza awakens in a hospital on Earth after having been in a coma for months. Charged with murder and high treason, he finds himself the scapegoat for a daring plot to assassinate the President of the Confederation. Escaping with the help of Jodi Mackenzie, who is now hunted for what she knows about the death of the president, Reza discovers that something is deeply wrong with the Empire: the warriors have lost their will to fight. Compelled to step into a trap set for him and Jodi, the two once again find themselves bound for Erlang. But this time it is to meet Tesh-Dar, who has been captured. When Reza and Jodi are taken prisoner and sentenced to death, they can only watch as a human armada gathers for a strike against the Kreelan homeworld. But the human fleet - and humanity itself - will be doomed to utter annihilation unless Reza can reach the Empress in time...

Publisher's Note: This book was previously titled "In Her Name (Omnibus Edition)" and contains minor revisions to the text and new cover art.

The IN HER NAME Series:

THE LAST WAR Trilogy
- FIRST CONTACT (Book 1)
- LEGEND OF THE SWORD (Book 2)
- DEAD SOUL (Book 3)

REDEMPTION Trilogy
- EMPIRE (Book 1)
- CONFEDERATION (Book 2)
- FINAL BATTLE (Book 3)

THE FIRST EMPRESS Trilogy
- FROM CHAOS BORN (Book 1)
- FORGED IN FLAME (2013)
- MISTRESS OF THE AGES (2013)

Techno-Thrillers

HARVEST Trilogy
- SEASON OF THE HARVEST (Book 1)
- BITTER HARVEST (Book 2, June 2012)
- REAPING THE HARVEST (Book 3, Spring 2013)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hicks blends fantasy, science fiction, and romance together to create a story that crosses genres, and will appeal to a wide range of readers...Hicks has created some of the most memorable, likable characters I have read about in a long time. Reza is the quintessential coming-of-age hero, starting as a young, scared boy, and ending up a strong, confident warrior. He is surrounded by strong, powerful women, who each have their own struggles...I highly recommend this novel to lovers of fantasy and science fiction, as well as anyone who enjoys an engrossing, fast-paced novel set in a new and fascinating world." - BookLoons

"The author’s writing style is very engaging...which makes you keep turning page after page to find out what happens next, and in the process letting you live the book...Reza Gard is very interesting. Human by birth, alien by upbringing, Reza struggles to straddle two mutually incompatible societies: a scientific, more or less democratic and individualistic human one; and a fantasy-like society...which is communal, blood-bonded, hierarchic, and based on honor and place...In Her Name was an excellent book and I highly, highly recommend it." - Fantasy Book Critic

"In Her Name is an ambitious story, epic in scope with a huge cast of characters. The Kreelans are a wonderfully imaginative race, original and pretty much exactly the sort of thing I like to see explored...Fans of epic fantasy as well as science fiction lovers will find an enjoyable read here, particularly those who love to visit unique worlds with some seriously beautiful worldbuilding." - GenreReviews

"I lost myself in the story...and the character development kept me turning pages late into the night. I spent my work day looking forward to reentering the world of In Her Name, and when I had finished I had thoroughly enjoyed my time there...all in all, this is a grand story of love, power, sacrifice, and good vs. evil." - Grasping For The Wind

Product Details

• File Size: 1424 KB
• Print Length: 692 pages
• Publisher: Imperial Guard Publishing, LLC (May 1, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001A7X0BI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,271 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 100 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Characters You Care About, Action You Can Feel May 12, 2008

By Bufo Calvin

Format:Kindle Edition

In Her Name is a superior science ficton novel, with intimate insight into its characters' thoughts and feelings, a fully realized alien culture, sweeping space battles, and fierce hand to claw combat.

Fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs may feel at home in the first part of the book. It features a blue-skinned race of alien female warriors and a lone boy who grows up with them, learning to fight as they do. In the process he becomes both more and less than human. It seems a bit like a cross between Tarzan and Barsoom.

But this is not your grandfather's pulp fiction. It is a complex (but clearly structured) tale that takes us through the life of Reza Gard. From his struggles on an orphanage planet to his capture and assimilation into the Kreelan race, to political twists and turns as his native and adopted races clash, the book grows along with him from adventure story to military science fiction, but never forgets to let us relate to the rich array of characters he meets. This is 21st century sci fi, with questions of personal identity and how one relates with the universe integrated with bloody combat.

Readers of the old pulps would also be surprised at the number of strong female characters. Although like everything else in the book, we know them primarily through their connections with Reza, they stand on their own as interesting people.

One word of warning: if this was a movie, it would be rated R. Not all readers will be comfortable with the harshness, the language, and the explicit nature of some of the plot elements. Those that are will see that they are a legitimate part of the drama, but others may find them distasteful.

Overall, this is a great example of the self-publishing that Amazon's Kindle enables. It's hard for any book to work its way through the traditional process that gets a paperback in your local store. Hopefully, one of the traditional publishers will become aware of the book here and release it to the (currently) much wider audience it deserves. For this reader, though, the Kindle was perfect for an epic that would otherwise be quite bulky.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very engrossing and not to be put down September 13, 2008

By Liviu C. Suciu VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This novel is a mixture of military space opera and epic fantasy that works very well.

Structurally the book is split in several parts that follow the main character Reza Gard from a very young boy in a middle of a brutal war with terrifying alien invaders to the fulfillment of his extraordinary destiny years later.

The roughly 6 main parts are quite distinct in character, ranging from plucky exploited orphans fighting back against their corrupt "guardians" to epic fantasy with prophecies, blood curses, spirits, coming of age as an warrior in a society that practices combat as sport, to hard core military sf, political and military space opera and much more

It seems an odd mixture and the transitions are disconcerting for a while - you think you have it figured out and suddenly there is a left turn in the book - but it works for two main reasons.

First - the author' style is very engaging - even emotional if you want - which makes you keep turning page after page to find out what happens next and lets you live the book.

Second - the main character Reza Gard human by birth, alien by upbringing, who struggles to straddle two mutually incompatible societies, a scientific, more or less democratic and individualistic human one, and a fantasy like - if you want in the sense of sufficiently superior technology will seem like magic - which is communal, blood bonded, hierarchic, based on honor and place.

While the main villains are a bit cartoonish, most secondary characters are very well drawn and the style of the book, the intensity of Reza's struggles to allow both societies to survive somehow despite their mutual incompatibility make this an excellent book and a big positive surprise for me.

The ending is very well done bringing together all the threads of the novel and the seemingly insoluble problem of co-existence finds a fitting resolution.

Highly, highly recommended

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not easily pegged December 30, 2008

By Steph H.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

In Her Name is a book that isn't easily pegged. It's got your basic Fantasy/SciFi elements, with portions taking place on other worlds; it has a futuristic element, being set in a non-current time period; it's a romance between two strong characters from different lands; it even manages to be somewhat "current" in feel, since even with the futuristic element it's still based on Earth-based humanity as one aspect (though a future Earth that's much different, with space travel and other planets that have been settled). It's got warriors and lovers, good guys and bad guys, evil deeds and deeds of redemption.

How do I peg such a book into any one simple definition or genre? I can't.

All I know is that a couple of weeks after finishing the book, I'm still having thoughts about it and the characters I met within its pages. It's taken me this long to decide how I could put those thoughts into words. Most books I finish and have a general feel of "I'm done, and I liked it well enough/okay/not at all" and I've forgotten all but the basics a week later; but this one doesn't quantify itself quite so easily.

And to me, that's the mark of a pretty darn good book.

Highly recommended.

More About the Author

Born in 1963, Michael Hicks grew up in the age of the Apollo program and spent his youth glued to the television watching the original Star Trek series and other science fiction movies, which continue to be a source of entertainment and inspiration. Having spent the majority of his life as a voracious reader, he has been heavily influenced by writers ranging from Robert Heinlein to Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, and David Weber to S.M. Stirling. Now living in Florida with his beautiful wife, two wonderful stepsons and two mischievous Siberian cats, he lives his dream of writing full-time and spends as much time on the road in the family RV as possible...when he's not at the beach!

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#57 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#76 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#57 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#76 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction