Empire Reborn

Blood on the Stars, Book 18

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The final book in the Blood on the Stars series...

The human powers have been pushed to the brink, battered, and almost destroyed. The virus they have invented and deployed, their sole possibility for victory, seems to be too little, too late. Its usage has only spurred the enemy to quicker action, to finish the war before they have to deal with its effects.

But the humans do not know that the Highborn are faced on another front, by a race they know little about but have battled for two centuries. The Highborn have decided to try to end that war, too, to lash out with all of their forces to eradicate the enemy, and to impose peace onto the galaxy...the peace of their own, undisputed rule.

As the Highborn begin to lash out on both fronts, to complete the victory they believe is theirs, both of their foes dig in, bringing forward everything they can, fighting with all both sides have to defeat the Highborn, to secure freedom in the galaxy. There is titanic warfare all around space, massive fleets fighting desperately...but only one side can prevail and rule space for the next 10,000 years.

This is the titanic conclusion to the 18-book Blood on the Stars series. If you haven't explored any of it, start with book one, Duel in the Dark.

For those who have listened to the entire series, I hope you enjoy this one, and I am working on my new series now, which will be released in a few months.

Blood on the Stars:

1. Duel in the Dark
2. Call to Arms
3. Ruins of Empire
4. Echoes of Glory
5. Cauldron of Fire
6. Dauntless
7. The White Fleet
8. Black Dawn
9. Invasion
10. Nightfall
11. The Grand Alliance
12. The Colossus
13. The Others
14. The Last Stand
15. Empire’s Ashes
16. Attack Plan Alpha
17. Descent into Darkness
18. Empire Reborn

The Andromeda Chronicles (A Blood on the Stars Trilogy):

1. Andromeda Rising
2. Wings of Pegasus
3. Into the Badlands

©2022 Jay Allan Books (P)2022 Audible, Inc.

great series, not so great book

this is one of my favorite series, but this book was a bit of a disappointment. it seemed author trying to stretch out the story with redundant and duplicated musings by the characters to the point of rambling on and on. yet the conclusion seemed abrupt and hurried. out of nowhere, a powerful savior appears and destroys the antagonist 'POOF!'.

The evolution of Jay Allan: trauma or greed?

Narrator was awesome, as usual.

If you're reading this review prior to purchase, have read the preceding 17 novels, and can't imagine living without some degree of closure, then make the purchase and suffer through. A conclusion, though admittedly odd, will be reached.

I enjoyed most of this series and eagerly awaited the final installment. Whether my standards were different at the time I read or listened to the first 17 novels, I cannot say with certainty. I was tempted to go back and read one of the first novels again to validate my current position, but cannot bring myself to invest any more time at this point.

What I can say with certainty is that my perception of the author's writing has declined to a previously unparalleled degree. While waiting for this novel, I purchased the first book from Jay's new series (title is Invasion), and was left entirely perplexed by the amount of senseless repetition and filler material the reader had to suffer through to advance the plot. This novel comes across precisely the same.

Character 1 feels, believes, ponders that they are in a hopeless situation. He / she thinks there is no hope, yet still has some hope. Things are so dire though that the situation is hopeless. No possibility of success exists.

Repeat for characters 2 through 10. Insert chapter that explains events in a battle. Characters repeat previous content while reader waits for plot advancement. Throw in some ancient Greek mythology, without any back story or context. Rinse and repeat again. Good guy does what good guy's do - despite 20% of the book being dedicated to finding new ways of explaining the hopeless situation from all perspectives . Nonsensical ending.

So, considering the plot advancement delivered in this novel would have neatly fit into 4 paragraphs of a previous book (along with the dumpster fire of a read that is Invasion), my single question is: whiskey, tango foxtrot. Jay is either dealing with some personal trauma and his writing is suffering, or he enjoys seeing how many new books he can get people to purchase sans providing measurably new content or value.

A perfect end to an incredible story

These books have started me into the sci fi genre so much so that they have become my backbone in my new book choices, thank you Jay Allen for creating this amazing world and thank you for all the hours I have gotten lost into it. And thank you Jeffrey Kafer for bringing both the world and its characters to life.

Great but not the best of this series!

Its been a great read. But the last years of Jay Allan books got a bit too depressed for my taste. I guess he has gone thru something and its hard to get that this is the same author as the first 15 books. But still its a great read just not on the same level as before.

had to skip half the book

repeated everything over and over 14 hour read down to 7. repeated within the chapter and the next and the next. once you start skipping over the long repeats of horrible inter monologues it was a decent ending. but you will suffer to get that ending

Speechless

I have loved this story and Jay Allen as an author since I read his first book in the Crimson Worlds series currently I am only halfway through this book and I cannot express how wonderful it is. I AM SPEECHLESS in the most recent twist and reveal of the final faction. I wish there were more to this series to come but I think I will now need to go back and start reading and listening from the begging with crimson worlds again.

Great series that was ready to end

This book shows as 14 hours long, but I would guess it's really about 5 hours long. I have loved this series, but this book repeated the same thing over and over and over and over..... and over again. If you're wonder what Jake Stockton is fearing, no worries, you will hear his thoughts at least 15-30 times. Some chapters are legit exact copies of previous chapters. Buy the book to end the series, but be ready to skip a ton of redundant prattle.

Algorithm

if you keep repeating inner dialogue content is created. The story is good but the redundant inner dialogue is suspect.

Good ending to the series, if somewhat long-winded

i have read/listened to each of the books in the series and lived all of them. this is the first I feel i can't give a full 100%.
The author tends to give the characters long and in-depth inner monologues that explain allot of their thinking and - at times - that could get a bit long. in this book though, the characters repeat themselves over and over and over again. I feel that this book could easily loose 15 - 20% of unnecessary fluff and still be the same great story. knowing this ahead of time I still would have bought it, but I would had much less reason the say the words "Get to the frigging point, we've heard this already x times" so many times under my breath.

still happy to have listened to it though, great tie-in to other series which i totally did not see coming.

Buy it if you've read the rest

If you've gotten through the 17 prior books, then this is a must buy. You'll get an ending to the series, and that is the most important point. I'm sad that this book is the way it is, but I'm glad I stuck around to an end.

Positives: the narration (JK is amazing as always) and there is a clear ending to the series

Negatives:

-too much repetition. i've never rolled my eyes so much during a book. half the book is essentially people saying or thinking the same thing over and over again. this also between characters. some of them are essentially having the same thoughts and feelings as someone else that you just heard from. that person would then repeat that thought/feeling over and over again through speech or their own internal monolog. i spaced out in various stages of the book and was able to follow along.

-the story doesn't make any sense. i'm glad there is an end to the series, but the majority of the book is a lead up to a specific action. this action has essentially zero bearing on the outcome of the book except in how one ship escapes being destroyed. additionally, the highborn take a very specific action of revenge that has no conclusion. it was like there was an overall goal for this book, but that there weren't bullet points hashed out for that plan. in essence, i don't think the author knew how to get from the end of book 17 to the ending he wanted.

-the way that the story was put together seemed rushed so that this could be the last book. all of the main characters from prior books get a spotlight, but essentially they are brought in to repeat the same things over and over again to themselves or others. there is a wrap up in the epilogue, but to me, most of the characters don't get their due/don't have a real part to play in the book other than brief appearances that don't make sense. one long time foe was brought in (as you know they would be), but their ending made zero sense considering what happened previously to them in this book. don't expect each character to get a real subplot.