Customer Reviews

Ruler of Naught (Exordium)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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A series of five books, engagingly written and complex in depth and scope. Allthough difficult to understand, at first, some of the terminology, the depth and construction makes them a very worthwhile read. ALAS - the publisher printed very few of the series, and only ran a /single/ printing of the fourth book - making it impossible to find. They were published by Tor, which seems to have that habit.

As a huge fan of the original five book series, I have been waiting impatiently for the eBook versions. I was both intrigued and a bit trepidatious when I read on their newsgroup that they were substantially re-writing portions of the series, especially the first couple books. Intrigued because I have to say the 3-4th books are by far the ones I re-read constantly, and the 2nd one probably gets the least re-read love, and trepidatious because, well, Han shot first.

Happily, the first two volumes of the Exordium series have been wonderfully expanded upon. Characters are much more fleshed out, so there is less confusion who is who (a common problem in the heat of battle). The pace is breakneck, as events unfold quickly and kept me turning (or in this case, tapping) the pages, even though I've read the originals many times. There are just enough changes to keep the entire reading experience fresh and suspenseful, while keeping the charm of the originals intact. Amidst all the clashing ships, the futuristic tech, the allusions to the (our) past...what stays with you are the characters-they truly come alive in the series, and you will want to follow them to Ares, the Suneater, and beyond.

Highly recommended to both fans of the original, and new readers who love character driven stories, the glorious scope of space opera, and chocolate sauce in zero G.

I first read about the universe in which Exordium is set in in an anthology of science fiction stories called A Starfarer's Dozen. The name of the short story was "Suraki" and i absolutely loved it, and wanted to read more, but the books are IMPOSSIBLE to find! What the heck is going on??