The Crucible of Empire

By: Eric Flint, K. D. Wentworth

Narrated by: Chris Patton

The intricate and action-packed sequel to New York Times bestseller and master tale-spinner Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth’s ground-breaking Course of Empire.

Humanity is first subjugated by haughty alien colonizers calling themselves the Jao when Earth is unexpectedly attacked by the implacable and nearly-unstoppable Ekhat, exterminators of all intelligent life not their own. Now the fragile Human-Jao alliance is put to the test. A devastating encounter with the Ekhat in a distant nebula reveals a powerful alien society that may hold the key to defeating the Ekhat once and for all. There’s one big problem: they utterly loathe humanity's ally, the Jao. And why shouldn’t they? It was the Jao who drove them into hiding in the first place. Once again, everything depends on those innovators and idea-generators, the humans, to quell a brewing war and forge a tripartite alliance of very different species - or be blasted to empty cinders if they don’t succeed.

©2010 Eric Flint & K.D. Wentworth (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Great Sequel to The Course of Empire

I enjoyed this book even more than the first. The Jao race's character is better developed and individual characters are better developed. The story is exciting but also gives the reader much to think about in terms of relationships between humans and the alien races as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each. Chris Patton does a superb job of reading, making the characters vivid and compelling. Sadly, there is no mention of a sequel on Eric Flint's web site, and with the death earlier this year of coauthor K. D. Wentworth, this is probably the last in the series.

Very likable, but don't expect hard sci-fi.

Like the first book, Course of Empire, the story is all about the character interaction, and straight forward action. I very much enjoyed the switching viewpoints between the three species and their interaction, but you will really need to suspend disbelief in a lot of places. If you are a fan of realistic sci-fi, which takes science seriously, this is not it.

Wanted more from the denouement

This is decent and dependable. Knowing the sort of book I was getting, I found it more enjoyable than the first. The alien cultures are interesting and I enjoyed the interplay. I felt the book ended a bit abruptly, and wanted more from falling action.

Not spectacular, but enjoyable. Three for story, three for performance, but since I wanted more of the same in the falling action...I wound up with four overall.

Good enjoyable read

As a fan of Eric Flint this was a good enjoyable read. I can't wait to get to book three.

An excellent follow-up to Course of Empire

Any additional comments?

A long delayed follow-up to Course of Empire. Crucible of Empire is enthralling because of the interesting alien culture represented by the Jao, now the series authors add an additional culture to the mix. This is done extraordinarily well.I am writing this review without having yet finished the audio-book, I have another few hours to go. The reason I am writing this now is that unlike so many other stories in the military-scf fi genre I do not know for certain how this story will end. There is a genuine opportunity for tragedy, and in a genre where the good guys inevitably win in the end my uncertainty is a rare and special gift. I hope the Authors won't take another decade to continue with this excellent series.