Review: Empire of Bones by Terry Mixon

Hey Space Cadets, here is the next installment in my series of book reviews! I’ve read this book several times, but I decided to re-read it and write a review of the first book in a series that I love. I probably won’t review the rest of the series in this level of detail, but I wanted to give you some insight into a series that I know and love. I’ve listened to the audiobook as well as reading the books. I’ve enjoyed this adventure on all of the mediums where I’ve enjoyed this amazing romp through space! Now that I’m writing more reviews, I wanted to share a series that is near and dear to my heart with you! But enough about me, onto this review. Now let’s get to it!  

Title: Tin Man: Empire of Bones

Author: Terry Mixon

Narrator: Veronica Giguere

eBook Price: $3.99

Audiobook Price: $17.38 USD or 1 Audible credit

eBook-Audiobook Paired Price: $11.48 USD

Obtained: I bought both formats from Amazon.

Pages: 258 pages

Hours: 7 hours, 24minutes

Rating: 5/5 Grenades

Summary:

First, let me say that none of what I’ll say in this section couldn’t be found on the back copy of the novel. Heck, I cribbed this summary from the back, and then I added my own twist! And not even much of one, since most of the books I read have kick butt descriptions (aka blurbs). If the blurb doesn’t catch my eye, then I tend to skip the book unless a friend recommends it.  Generally speaking, my goal is to provide a spoiler-free review, so here goes nothing!  

After a terrible war almost extinguished humanity, the New Terran Empire rises from its own ashes. Desperate to regain what was lost, an exploratory mission was sent off to the dead worlds of the Old Empire. Given command of the endeavor is Commander Jared Mertz, the illegitimate offspring of the Emperor. Together with his crew, he sets off into the unknown. Except the Old Empire isn’t quite dead after all. Evil lurks in the dark. With everything he holds dear at stake, Jared must fight like never before. Victory means life. Defeat means death. Or worse.

If you like epic space opera with plenty of action, then you should read this series.  Plenty of adventure and intrigue to keep you glued to your seat in this page-turning novel! If this sounds like your flavor of badassery, then you’ve come to the right place! This novel is the brilliant beginning of the Empire of Bones Saga, where the author harkens back to the heyday of pulp science fiction!

Characters:

In this novel, there are two main characters who we follow: Commander Jared Mertz and Princess Kelsey Bandar. Keeping the focus on two characters made you feel closer to them, which is how I like things. All of the secondary characters were a lot of fun as well! They were all fully realized, none of them felt flat or fake.

Commander Jared Mertz: He’s a senior naval officer of the largely peaceful New Terran Empire, but he felt real and not one of those stereotypical military pencil pushers from the Pax New Terra.  He was a consummate professional who genuinely cared for the sailors and Marines under his command. He was a good officer, who knew his craft and was tactically creative during combat training simulations. He’s the kind of guy you’d want on your side if war ever did break out in the New Terran Empire. He’s the illegitimate son of the emperor, whose royal pedigree was discovered on his entrance physical for the Imperial Navy. This knowledge came with dark undertones, the Fleet tried to hold him back to prove they weren’t giving him special treatment. He was my favorite character in this novel, I enjoyed following him from the first word until the last!  Overall, I really liked him and felt like there was so much more to come from him!

Princess Kelsey Bandar: When we first meet her, she’s the spoiled daughter of the New Terran Empire, a petite bombshell of sassy entitlement. Picture a princess in your mind, and you can envision Kelsey. She’s the “spare apparent,” a term I first heard from Terry Mixon and summed her role as the second in line to the imperial throne. When she decided she wants to find a mission for her life, to become more than her status as an imperial princess, her father turns her life upside down. I can’t say how without spoilers, so you’ll have to read the novel to find out. Overall, I was thrilled at her growth in this novel. Her character came alive on the page, giving Jared fits as he tried to corral her.

Overall, I really loved the two main characters and the entire supporting class of this book. I give these characters 5 out of 5 Grenades and can’t wait to see where the author takes them in the books to come!

Plot:

The premise for this series was not that different from other space opera stories out there, humanity post-earth trying to reclaim the spacefaring society that they’d left behind. However, the execution is where the author excels. His stories are pure escapism and enjoyment, under the banner of intergalactic science fiction.

This book, like the rest of the novels in this series, fit squarely within the scope of space opera that I love to read. I loved that there were never any lulls that bored me, this novel was action-packed with a defined plot. The story is set as the New Terran Empire is finally revitalizing their exploration of the empire that they lost during the rebellion hundreds of years before the story began. It was never boring, and the characters and universe behaved in a way that made sense for the worlds the author created. It was a good set-up and well-executed premise that held my interest. Since I’ve read the rest of this series, I can assure you that there are bigger things to come from the Empire of Bones universe. I think that this is partly because I’ve become conditioned to these large expansive worlds because of the copious amounts of space opera that I read.

This plot fits nicely into that framework, and Terry is raising the bar on this one. As you can tell by the gushing, I really got into this book. I couldn’t put it down; the plot was that compelling. Heck, this is my fourth or fifth re-reading of this series. I really loved the premise, and more importantly, I enjoyed how the execution. The pacing was excellent, and there was never a slow moment. There was never a point where the plot was confusing, or that I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I couldn’t ask for anything more; a unique premise, perfect execution, and incredible pacing! I again give Terry Mixon 5 out of 5 Grenades!

Worldbuilding:

This is the first book in the Empire of Bones Saga, and I absolutely loved it. The world was flushed out, and everything was explained in a way that made sense. The universe was consistent, with just enough of the mundane facets of life thrown in that it all felt grounded in this reality. Everything made sense and sucked you into the story. Some of the details seemed inconsequential, but those hooks just make me think that the larger universe will continue to grow and expand. I loved reading about the culture of the New Terran Empire, and Terry spoon fed us those details in a way that didn’t feel like an info dump. There was never anything he described that I couldn’t envision, or that felt like it wasn’t “real.” We get to see the weaponry and technology has evolved (or devolved) since the fall of the Terran Empire and feel inspired by what the characters have we gained access to. I could picture every setting described, easily envisioning myself living there. Heck, I’ve even entertained myself on long road trips telling side story set in this larger universe.

When describing the world, Terry was light on the details… but not so much that I was lost or experienced the floating head syndrome. I could always picture the scene in my head, watching it in the movie theater of my mind. Despite being a bubblegum space opera, Terry has upped the bar of excellence, adding more sensory input to the mix; sights, sounds, smells, and feelings.  He didn’t reinvent the wheel and instead built on the existing tropes of space opera. Even better, he made brought that fun adventure into the 21^st Century! Overall, the world building was well done, and I was sold on the way it happened. It felt believable, and the characters fit within the universe Terry Mixon created. Like most of the stories I read, this one didn’t take itself too seriously, which allowed you to focus on the fun which is why I read in the first place. I give the world building 5 out of 5 Grenades.

Description: 

I have to give it to this author; this novel was chock-full of quality visualization. You can definitely imagine yourself in this world he created! He described things across the sensory spectrum; sights, sounds, smells and even how the world felt. While I could visualize all of the characters, I would still love it if Terry could describe the characters physical traits in more details. He kept it light on the details, with just enough specifics to allow you to visualize it for yourself. I loved that Terry kept his language simple, reminding me of what I liked about Tom Clancy’s style of writing. Their genres aren’t the same, but their style of language is similar, and I like that. He balanced the explanation of this new world with the need to move a story along. This book didn’t have a single place where I couldn’t picture the scenery and the equipment, which added to the world that felt tangible and I enjoyed it.

The author’s description of his universe was evocative, and enough to please your average readers. Again, I always prefer more descriptions over less, but Terry did enough to get the job done. In summary, I didn’t find any issues with the descriptions and was impressed by the literary skills of Terry. I wish he were more descriptive, but he gave you enough to form your own visual image. If you want a pulp era space opera, then this is the book for you! I give him 4 out of 5 grenades in this category.

Narration:

I’ve become a huge fan of audiobooks! I’ve listened to over a hundred hours of stories read to me by awesome narrators like RC Bray, Luke Daniels and now Veronica Giguere. I’m confident in what I enjoy and what I dislike. I know that I hate accents that seem too cheesy and despise narrators that sound like robots. With those pesky caveats, I will review the narration quality of this novel. The audiobook was well done, and the accents were consistent.

The narrator, Veronica Giguere, did a fantastic job narrating this book. I would definitely listen to more books by her, and with Amazon’s recent audiobook price increase, that is saying something. Heck, I’ve already bought all of the books by Terry Mixon that she’s produced. I’ve even bought books outside my preferred genre because I enjoy the quality of what she puts out there. She won’t bore you, or make you zone out because of her monotone or vocal fry. Did that make me sound smart? Because I have no clue about vocal fry, but I do know that Veronica puts together a fine narration. Her performance didn’t feel robotic like a machine was reading the novel to me. You’ll often see that from me because it’ll drag me out of a book so fast that I can’t listen to it anymore. With Veronica Giguere, it felt like a friend was sitting with me reading an amazing story that she couldn’t put down. Only she made kind of cool voices, with believable accents that didn’t yank you out of the story. Overall, I give her 5 out of 5 grenades for her performance.

Overall:

I really loved this book, it was a lot of fun to read. It is worth mentioning again, I’ve read these novels multiple times and never once felt like it was a waste of time. They brought back the era of pulp science fiction that started the genre we know and love. This novel harkened back to what I loved about space opera. The vibe of this story was amazing, and I loved seeing where the adventurers would end up. I wanted to know what happened to the Terran Empire, and how they lost so quickly to the rebels that broke an intergalactic empire in several weeks. There were no deep messages, or political themes, just good clean fun.

Like the other novels in this universe, the first thing that caught my eye was the cover. They are all branded in the same universe, and the first one fit the market when it was released. I would go on more about the covers, but I don’t think that would be fair as I’m colorblind and likely missing some of the nuance so we’ll go on to the next point.

Now onto the book itself! The military culture shown was spot on, just what I’d expect from an Army veteran. He created a compelling interstellar naval force, but again… the author spent some time working for NASA, and it shows. The place where this novel really shined was the characterizations, nobody felt like cookie cutter clichés or parodies.

One nitpick that I had was that I didn’t like how they handled the trouble that happened when the crew jumps through the weak flip point. It seemed like they should’ve been more concerned about being trapped so far from home, but it was a necessary plot element for the rest of the story, so I went with it. It wasn’t badly told, it just seemed like a normal person would’ve reacted a little differently. Once we move past that, I believe that the characters responded as expected in the situation they found themselves in.

When the crew finally engages in combat for the first time, however, I do believe that their understated reaction to the loss of life strains the bounds of incredulity. I didn’t need wailing or gnashing of teeth, but at least some indication that the losses were felt. The combat felt a little too sterile for my liking, but fell well within the bounds of normal for the space opera subgenre. Again, I won’t downgrade for this because I believe this is just my preference for military sci-fi bleeding through. Speaking of military sci-fi, one of the things that I did enjoy about Terry’s novel was that they did seem to run out of supplies. He doesn’t dwell on it, but several casual mentions that they’d packed for a journey of several years was enough. He also showed the New Terran Empire’s newfound allies re-suppling them, which cemented that little attention to detail.

Another place where this novel shined was with the pacing. The action was intense, and the characters responded as you’d expect in those circumstances. He kept the story moving along, constantly introducing new complications just when they’d come to some sort of resolution to the old one. The brief example of ground combat was primal, though not fully immersive. He kept the action moving along, illustrating the chaos of combat while not dwelling on it. Again, it was everything you expect from this subgenre. The fleet battle scenes were believable, gripping and I never felt like the author missed a chance to get creative with the tactics. It was in the fleet battles where this novel really stood out, technically speaking. The main character, Jared Mertz, is a career naval officer who has spent his entire service under peace time conditions. This allowed the reader to tamp down their expectations about his prowess on the battlefield. Rather than letting this create a hang-up, Terry leans into it. The ship’s onboard Marine complement take charge, when necessary, much like you expect if that situation happened in today’s modern military.

When it comes to creating believable civilizations, Terry stood heads and tails above his peers. He created two believable political polities and made the differences between them facilitate the reader's ability to easily distinguished one from the another. I liked that he messed with the language of the Pentagarians. It felt just alien enough to be different from how we would normally speak, while still being accessible to modern readers. I detected a slight medieval vibe to some of the word choices, which he managed to pull off without sounding overly cheesy. I could definitely envision myself walking among these people, interacting with them and that’s all you could ask for from an author. Another aspect of these two societies that was believable was how Terry handled their first contact situation. It went as you’d expect from two peoples who’d just met, with the usual distrust and wariness.

Other than a few typos, I didn’t really find any grammatical or technical issues with this book. Seriously, I realize I’ve gone full fanboy, but the authors have definitely raised the bar for space opera. He’s one of the shining stars of science fiction authors everywhere, you should check it out. Even with the occasional misspelled words and other inconsequential flaws of this novel, it was still leaps and bounds above most of what’s out there! I was hooked from the first page because he wove the action in such a compelling way that you wanted to jump into the book and join the party. Some of that was because I’m already invested in this world, but if you’ve been following me, you already know that. Basically, they had me hooked from the beginning and kept it going throughout the whole novel. This is a book I would happily recommend, and an author I will definitely read again. Buy the novel!  But hey, it’s easy to spend someone else’s money!  I give this novel a 5 out of 5 grenades!

If this book sounds like it’s right up your alley, check it out, you won’t regret it!  Well, unless you decide to join Commander Jared Mertz as he jumps through the flip points into the unknown. And you after you enlist or take a commission, get kitted up, you realize that the god of your world is a dick. He likes to torture you with evil, sending men with guns after you. In a rush to stand a fighting chance, you decide to try some old empire implants. But you clicked the wrong button and add a computer virus inside your brain. What could possibly go wrong? Well yeah, I guess this could be bad for you. Or maybe you’ll be okay? I mean, you could be the first sailor to make it out of Terry’s insane world alive? On second thought, be warned, fanboy/fangirl syndrome just MIGHT kill you. Be wary, you were warned and if you have to go out like that at least enjoy the view from the end times!

Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!

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