A human empire breaks down after millennia of corruption, and a marine detachment that escaped the downfall of humanity ends up rebuilding part of civilization in their remote corner of the galaxy. It's not a bad concept, but us jaded readers, we've seen it all.
Wallpaper
I feel sorry for the author, but thus far Nuttal's work (or at least the part I read) has been mostly 'wallpaper', I played it in the car whilst driving, but I can't say it is worth spending lots of money on... There's better stuff out there. YMMV. But I'm planning to sample a few more titles to see if things wlll improve...
(Over-glorifying the Marine corps is another overdone trope. Oh well.)
I may actually be reaching the end of my 'military SF' craze... I knew that moment would come.
I find myself eyeing my stack of Terry Pratchett's and may slowly drift back into fantasy realms... Anyway, I think Nuttal could be a surprising writer, I smell the potential of real leather, but it's overcome by overzealous application of boot polish, which just hasn't been quite worked into all the crags and creaks...
- The Empire's Corps
- No Worse Enemy
- When the Bough Breaks
- Semper Fi
- The Outcast (Rise of the Trader Queen)
- On the Imperium's Secret Service
The above are the ones I've read so far. He's a fairly productive writer, as you can see on his website.
On the Imperium's Secret Service
No comments on the weak Batman references, or the 007 inspired title…
A human empire breaks down after millennia of... oh. Wait. Re-check, didn’t I just write that?!? Empire, check. Corruption, check. No marines though. But it mentions the disasters on the world 'Han'...
It seems this book, although sharing a few too many similarities with the 'Empire', is slightly better written, but just slightly. Those Batman references are horrible. I've not finished it (yet) but thus far it's the secret service counterpart to (one of) Nuttal's other serise.
After reading / listening a bit more it is now clear to me it is set in the same universe. But what puzzles me is the lack of mentioning of aliens in the Empire Corps series (if that is what it is called), whilst they play a major role here. Same thing goes for wormholes, cryo-tubes... Perhaps these are not EXACTLY the same universes, just very close ones. Either that, or Nuttal is simply very inconsistent
Dapper / RetroTales! 87
No comments on the weak Batman references, or the 007 inspired title…
A human empire breaks down after millennia of... oh. Wait. Re-check, didn’t I just write that?!? Empire, check. Corruption, check. No marines though. But it mentions the disasters on the world 'Han'...
It seems this book, although sharing a few too many similarities with the 'Empire', is slightly better written, but just slightly. Those Batman references are horrible. I've not finished it (yet) but thus far it's the secret service counterpart to (one of) Nuttal's other serise.
After reading / listening a bit more it is now clear to me it is set in the same universe. But what puzzles me is the lack of mentioning of aliens in the Empire Corps series (if that is what it is called), whilst they play a major role here. Same thing goes for wormholes, cryo-tubes... Perhaps these are not EXACTLY the same universes, just very close ones. Either that, or Nuttal is simply very inconsistent
Dapper / RetroTales! 87
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