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Tsar Wars (Agents of ISIS, Book 1)
By: Stephen GoldinImprint: Smashwords
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Reader Review: I discovered this book through a post by Goldin and decided to give it a try. Overall, Tsar Wars is an excellent book and very well written (with few minor spelling and grammar issues). Tsar Wars reminded me of Star Wars (go figure, only the S and T are reversed) with a few twists. The book starts out quite slow and confusing for the first few chapters, but as the story goes on, you start understanding more. The Empire consists of thousands of inhabited planets with Earth being the center of the Empire and home to the Tsar. Tsar Wars follows two show dancer cousins who are descendents of ISIS spies, giving them ties to high military officers. When called upon to step into their parents' footsteps, they leave the show biz behind and try to stop a rebel army trying to take over the universe. When the Tsar dies, leaving behind a 14-year old child to run the universe, the Empire begins to fall apart as sector leaders try to take the throne for themselves. All that is standing between them are two untrained cousins and a 14-year old child. It has a Star Wars feel to it, having thousands of planets to fly between, however, from my understanding all the inhabitants are still human (some are genetically altered though). If you're a fan of Star Wars, be it the books or the movies and you want something similar, pick up this book and try it out. Space opera fans will enjoy this as well. A few things that really annoyed me in this book were the overly difficult names and not spelling out abbreviations first. Over and over words like "Velikaya Knyaghinya", "dvoryane" and "knyazey" are used. They are all clearly Russian which is fine because of the story line but they are used far too often without definition during the chapters. It wasn't until about halfway through the book I found the glossary for some of the terms but many of the slang terms the main characters used were still undefined in this section. The other issue was abbreviations. Personally I understand military rank abbreviations but some people may not. Introducing a character as Col. could be confusing to some people. There are many instances in the book like this and it could get frustrating very quickly if I didn't know them. Overall, the book is a great read and any fan of the genre should check it out. You won't be disappointed. Great start to a 10 book series, I look forward to reading and reviewing the rest of them as I go along.
Welcome to the first great space opera decalogy of the twenty-first century! Agents of ISIS is an epic saga describing the fight to preserve humanity from the forces of chaos and destruction. With humanity scattered across the galaxy on hundreds of worlds, the Empire is the only force for order across the stars. Without it, interstellar conflicts would bring chaos and billions of deaths. But the tsar has been in a coma for five years now, and his grand-niece, the only apparent heir, is only 14 years old. In this hour of crisis, the task of preserving the Empire falls to two untrained--but far from unskilled--agents of the Imperial Special Investigation Service. Can they make a difference against the vast forces arrayed against them?
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| Title of Science Fiction eBook: Tsar Wars (Agents of ISIS, Book 1) | |
| Release Date: 03-02-2010 | |
| Publisher: Smashwords |
This eBook download is available in the following formats:
| Parent title | Tsar Wars (Agents... |
|---|---|
| Encrypted (DRM) | No |
| SKU | SW00000010573 |
| File size | 331764 |
| Internet Security | n/a |
| Printing | Not allowed |
| Copying | Not allowed |
| Read aloud | No Sys requirements Download reader |
| Devices | Samsung Tablet, Apple Ipad & Iphone, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo eReader, Aluratek Libre, Iliad, Nokia, Blackberry, Hanlin |
| Note | ePub, short for electronic publication is one of our favorites and should be yours for a couple of reasons. ePub offers reflowable text giving you flexibility to manipulate how the content is presented. Moreover, lots of cool features are now being developed for the reader like advanced video and audio. ePub is now an industry standard, so all of the "non-propreitary" hardware manufacturers are now supporting it. |
Title: Tsar Wars (Agents of ISIS, Book 1) May 28, 2011 I discovered this book through a post by Goldin and decided to give it a try. Overall, Tsar Wars is an excellent book and very well written (with few minor spelling and grammar issues).
Average Customer Review:
Number of Comments: 4 Rating(s) 2 Review(s)
Hidden Gem in Space Opera Genre
Reviewer: A reader from WV, USA
Tsar Wars reminded me of Star Wars (go figure, only the S and T are reversed) with a few twists. The book starts out quite slow and confusing for the first few chapters, but as the story goes on, you start understanding more. The Empire consists of thousands of inhabited planets with Earth being the center of the Empire and home to the Tsar. Tsar Wars follows two show dancer cousins who are descendents of ISIS spies, giving them ties to high military officers. When called upon to step into their parents' footsteps, they leave the show biz behind and try to stop a rebel army trying to take over the universe. When the Tsar dies, leaving behind a 14-year old child to run the universe, the Empire begins to fall apart as sector leaders try to take the throne for themselves. All that is standing between them are two untrained cousins and a 14-year old child.
It has a Star Wars feel to it, having thousands of planets to fly between, however, from my understanding all the inhabitants are still human (some are genetically altered though). If you're a fan of Star Wars, be it the books or the movies and you want something similar, pick up this book and try it out. Space opera fans will enjoy this as well.
A few things that really annoyed me in this book were the overly difficult names and not spelling out abbreviations first. Over and over words like "Velikaya Knyaghinya", "dvoryane" and "knyazey" are used. They are all clearly Russian which is fine because of the story line but they are used far too often without definition during the chapters. It wasn't until about halfway through the book I found the glossary for some of the terms but many of the slang terms the main characters used were still undefined in this section.
The other issue was abbreviations. Personally I understand military rank abbreviations but some people may not. Introducing a character as Col. could be confusing to some people. There are many instances in the book like this and it could get frustrating very quickly if I didn't know them.
Overall, the book is a great read and any fan of the genre should check it out. You won't be disappointed. Great start to a 10 book series, I look forward to reading and reviewing the rest of them as I go along.
Great read with a twist
May 22, 2011
Reviewer: A reader from UK
About 30 years ago I read a set of books written by E. E. Doc Smith and Stephen Goldin - The Family D'Alembert series. Despite being a mere teenager, I thoroughly enjoyed them, and regularly re-read them when the mood strikes. Well, the author of those books (Stephen Goldin) has re-vamped, re-plotted, and re-issued them under the new series "Agents of ISIS", with Tsar Wars being the first in a series of ten.
So... to the book itself. It is a story set several centuries in the future, with mankind living in an Empire of around one thousand planets, rules by a Tsar. The government and politics of the Empire is based on a feudal system, which becomes quite involved. The system seems based loosely on a Russian system from many years ago, and there is a strong Russian influence throughout the novel. To the story itself... The current Tsar is ailing and ill, and his successor is a 14 year old girl. The evil scheming bad guys want to eliminate them both and step in to take over - something which could realistically happen due to the twists and turns of the plot and the rich tapestry it weaves. Bring on the two main hero characters - Judah and Eva, both from a high-gravity planet where generations of evolution (and genetic enhancements) have gifted them with almost super human strength and reflexes. Their goal is to keep the young Tsarina alive and on the throne during the turbulent times throughout the book.
Overall, the book is fast paced and exciting. It pretty much grips you from page one, and doesn't let go. You can tell there is a lot of background, but it does not overwhelm the reader. Again, there is a hint of the big and complex Universe which I expect will be revealed as the series continues. In all ways I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to to reading the next one.
So, to my final thoughts. This set of books, as mentioned, is based on an earlier series. However, here is the twist: The story and characters are significantly different. Overall the Universe seems a much darker place, with good and evil more thoroughly mixed up within all the characters. As a huge fan of the old series, I was initially unsure how I would feel reading the new one when the old characters are so ingrained in my being. However, the new characters are so engrossing and refreshing that you soon forget the differences and enjoy this book for what it is - a new story, with new characters, written with at least the same skill and excitement as the old ones. A fine example of this are the two main characters. In the old series they were somewhat smug and overconfident, as well as being squeaky clean and well behaved. In the new series, Judah comes over as slightly immature, foolish, and very naive. Eva on the other hand is cocksure and confident, and is a real party-girl who is out to the small-hours indulging her vices.
All in all, a great start to what I am sure will be a great series.
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