Welcome to the End of Empire. Set over two hundred years from now, in a world very much like Imperial Rome, this is the story of General Peter Black, the last decent man, as told through the eyes of his devoted (and illegitimate) daughter, Justa. Raised on battlefields, more comfortable in the company of hard men of war than with women or other children, Justa must keep the truth of her birth hidden. Her father regards her as an embarrassment, a reminder of his one and only indiscretion. Yet she is a remarkable woman - one whose keen mind wins her an education at the feet of Emperor Mathias the Glistening himself. All his life, General Black served the noble emperor, and, out of loyalty to the father, continues to serve his son after Mathias' death, even as the son's reign degenerates into an insane tyranny worthy of Nero or Caligula. As the rule of the empire passes from father to son with disastrous results, a strange metal plague begins slowly destroying the empire's technology, plunging the realm into chaos and the world into war. Amid the destruction and upheaval, General Black must decide whether to turn his back on the men and institutions who never loved him nearly as much as he did them, or whether to save his most trusted ally and adviser, his best friend and only real family. "The Martian General's Daughter" is a gripping tale of a world at war; of cunning strategies and vile politics; of bravery, foolishness, and excess. It is at once a stirring military adventure, a cautionary tale of repeating history, a cutting satire, and a heartbreaking examination of the joys and pain inherent in the love between a father and child. Judson's previous novel was selected in multiple best-of-the-year lists. With "The Martian General's Daughter", he offers another must-read epic destined to take its place in the canon of science fiction, and sure to appeal to readers of everything from Orson Scott Card to Walter M Miller, Jr.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Despite its pulpish title, this erudite and intriguing novel is more in the tradition of Robert Graves than Edgar Rice Burroughs. By the 23rd century, when a nanotech plague has crippled the world's hardware, much of the northern hemisphere is under the mostly capable and benevolent control of the U.S.-descended Pan-Polarian Empire. But Emperor Mathias the Glistening is dead, and the empire is in the hands of his increasingly psychotic son, Luke Anthony. The balance of power is controlled by Gen. Peter Black, a former sergeant who rose from the ranks to lead the imperial armies. Judson (Fitzpatrick's War) chronicles the last glories of the empire as viewed by Black's illegitimate daughter, whose own rise from unwanted embarrassment to valued adviser and aide parallels her father's career. The story might be familiar to today's readers from the film Gladiator, but the parallels it draws between Roman and American cultures are both perceptive and disquieting. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"A witty, learned, amusing, and sometimes moving retelling of ancient truths which I read at one gulp." -- S.M. Stirling, author of The Sunrise Lands and In the Halls of the Crimson Kings
"If Suetonius had written Golden-Age SF it might have read something like this excellent novel... Judson's empire. . . is the most detailed, compelling, and believable rendering of the way actual empires work since Gibbon's Decline and Fall. The novel is also a wonderfully judged character study, a highly readable narrative, often witty, sometimes cruel . . . but best of all is the narrator, the general's daughter herself--a diffident and modest individual who is nonetheless vividly and marvelously alive, strong, and likable. I enjoyed all of it enormously, and read it pretty much in one go." --Adam Roberts, author of Gradisil and Splinter
"If Suetonius had written Golden-Age SF it might have read something like this excellent novel... Judson's empire. . . is the most detailed, compelling, and believable rendering of the way actual empires work since Gibbon's Decline and Fall. The novel is also a wonderfully judged character study, a highly readable narrative, often witty, sometimes cruel . . . but best of all is the narrator, the general's daughter herself--a diffident and modest individual who is nonetheless vividly and marvelously alive, strong, and likable. I enjoyed all of it enormously, and read it pretty much in one go." --Adam Roberts, author of Gradisil and Splinter
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
History as Sci Fi - or is it Sci Fi as History?,
By
This review is from: The Martian General's Daughter (Paperback)
Having enjoyed Fitzpatrick's War enormously, I was delighted to find The Martian General's Daughter. I read most of it in a sitting, and my only disappointment was that it ended. This book is shorter than Fitzpatrick's War, but has all the same virtues. Judson is one of the rare novelists who doesn't need an editor (or has a good one). His writing is literate and vivid, and he manages to pack a lot of character, incident, history, imagination and moral philosophy into a compact length book. Novelists like Stirling and Turtledove, to whom he has been compared, could learn a lot from Judson. Their interminable series, while diverting, are padded with excessive description and exposition. Judson manages to entertain and get his points across in far fewer words. Since the theme of the novel is taken directly from the history of Rome, one is reminded of the old saw from Pliny the Elder: "If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter." Judson took his time, and wrote a shorter, beautiful book. His influences are, clearly the classics and probably Cordwainer Smith. The only reason I don't give this book a fifth star is that the story line is a little too obviously lifted from Suetonius.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
End of an new Rome,
By Peter (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Martian General's Daughter (Paperback)
After reading Fitzpatricks War I was looking forward greatly to the second novel however I found that it was perhaps a bit shorter than I was hoping for in that some areas of the empire seemed glossed over and skipped in order to keep the story tight with the current decline of the empire which is told using a end of Rome commentary. I would have liked to see more about the empire and the actions between the years as the story can be finished up in a few sessions at most and at the end I felt there were some questions left unanswered. How did the empire form? How did the other nations/empires fair?
Addionally and this is no fault of the author but for a short novel the format of the book is a bit odd given I feel a paperback would have worked better and since Mars has nearly no impact on the story why in the title? However, overall I still found it an excellent story, one in which I am happy to have added to my collection and now look forward to any next novels the author will be putting out.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating futuristic thriller,
This review is from: The Martian General's Daughter (Paperback)
In AD 2293, the Pan-Polarian Empire, a direct descendent of the United States, rules over most of North America at a time when a pandemic nanotech plague has destroyed all hardware. However, with the recent death of powerful Emperor Mathias the Glistening, the nation is in jeopardy. His successor, his son Luke Anthony, is a psycho.
General Peter Black leads the imperial armies. He was very loyal to the competent Mathias and wants to remain so with the incompetent Luke, but has little choice as the empire begins shattering into pieces. Fearing for his family, he especially worries about his illegitimate offspring Junta who has gone from an embarrassing reminder of her dad's weak indiscretion to his prime advisor. The futuristic story is told by Junta who sadly chronicles a dying once glorious empire as she sees it diminishing from a cancer from within. She is fully developed and from her hero worship jaundiced perspective her father and the late emperor seem real; so does the current ruler, who in Junta's mind is a sort of insane Nero. However, what makes THE MARTIAN GENERAL'S DAUGHTER superb is the thought provoking parallels between Pan-Polaria, Rome, and the United States; as Theodore Judson makes the case that the American Empire is dying from a cancer from within. Harriet Klausner
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