Reviewed by: Sooz
Genre: Science Fiction/Space Opera
Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
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Author:
Erik Wecks
is a full-time writer with completed fiction and non-fiction works. He lives in
Vancouver, Washington with his wife and three children. He also writes for
blogs such as GeekDad.com, LitReactor.com and you can find more information on
Erik at his website ErikWecks.com.
Description:
Jonas, a
young prince in the House of Athena, sees his life go from peaceful and boring
to becoming a soldier in a war that is looking to bring down the empire. As one
of the few shining moments in a war that the Empire may not win, Jonas has to
figure out how to save the Empire from the Unity.
Appraisal:
I have to
be in a mood for a “space opera” because I am usually investing a lot of time
into them with getting to know characters, learning history of a new galaxy,
and obtaining deep background information that sometimes may not happen in
other types of genres.
The Far Bank of Rubicon offered exactly what I was looking
for when I picked it up. Intrigue. Struggle. Believable characters. Strange,
new worlds.
Author Erik
Wecks writes the book chronologically, starting when one of the main characters
is a child. While the timeline tends to jump a bit, we learn about the main
characters by catching up with them through important moments that lead up to
the start of a galactic war.
I found it
very easy to root for the perceived good guys and hoping the characters to
succeed. But The Far Bank of Rubicon
is only the first volume in The Pax Imperium Wars. There is much, much more to
be told with the first book as a starting point.
I did find
it a bit wordy. The longer I read, the more I enjoyed the Far Bank of Rubicon and the world the Wecks had created. However,
it started a bit slow. One issue is that it often read like something that
would play out on a TV screen, and that doesn’t always translate well for a
book.
Good or bad
(I haven’t figured out which yet), it reminded me of Battlestar Galatica, the early 2000s version with the high jacking
of electronics, the name Athena, and going on the run in space.
Overall, it
was enjoyable and I look forward to seeing how the series plays out.
FYI:
This is the
first volume in the series.
Rating: ****Four Stars
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