On the Imperium's Secret Service

Imperium Cicernus, Book 1

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Genvieve Bevier

The Imperium: a million worlds, trillions upon trillions of humans and aliens, an empire that dominates half the galaxy... an empire that is falling into chaos, revolution and civil war. Only a handful of people are struggling to keep the Imperium together, knowing that the brutality of its rule is infinitively preferable to the chaos of its fall. This is their story. Mariko and her sister were independent shippers and ace pilots, until they ran afoul of the law on a minor planet and ended up jailed and enslaved. Their new owner, Lord Fitz, seems to be nothing more than another harmless aristocrat with more money than sense - and besides, at least they can keep flying spacecraft. But Fitz isn't all he seems. He works for Imperial Intelligence, attempting to track down and destroy the Secessionist Movement before it launches a plan that threatens the very heart of the Imperium - and Mariko and her sister have just become his latest tools. But as they are drawn deeper into the seedy underside of the Imperium, one question comes to dominate their minds... Does the Imperium even deserve to survive?

©2014 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Amazing

Normally, I do not write review. This book was so amazing I thought I could at least write that AMAZING!!

B Sci-fi

Struggled to finish this. Just not at the level I wanted in both characters and story line.

Good, but I'm not chomping at the bit for book #2.

The story was good and the narrator was good, but I don't think I'll get book #2 unless it's on special.

Light on honor, heavy on psychopathy

The main protagonist is a heir to a thrown who is a futuristic James Bond type who hardly gives a second thought toward killing people on his mission to "save the Imperium".

Examples include killing a highly advanced Worm Hole professor simply because it was expedient; even though he had no proof that the good professor had been compromised. Earlier, he had saved a sister pair from enslavement who had been wrongly imprisoned after resisting being sexually harassed by some petty lordling. Later, one of the sisters decides to simply go all vigilante and cut the lordling's throat when he was part of a prisoner group they were attempting to save. The lordling had never raped either of the sisters but after seeing her, now lover, savior expediently "off" people on his path to save the Imperium, she lost little sleep rationalizing the deed.

risqué business

I like Nuttal's stuff, especially his Stocker's Stalkers in The Empire's Corps series. This book takes place after Han but not by much. The Child Roland is still presumably the Emperor, but nobody really knows. The main characters in this book are the Japanese sisters Mariko and Mei. They are excellent pilots but naive otherwise, and get into trouble and subsequently sold as slaves to a sexual sadist. But before they can be violated, they are bought by someone else who proves to be much more gentlemanly. They are his pilots, but then join him in his secret missions.

The sci-fi aspects of the story are good. You've got worm holes, aliens, insurrection and treachery. What loses this book a star is the way the girls behave. Mei, the younger sister, immediately develops a crush on their new owner but is just fine with it when Mariko gets the man. This isn't really a spoiler since anyone would see it coming from the point they meet.

It is as if this is sci-fi for women (or what Nuttal thinks women want). The girls have very little personality, are too sexy and too quick to cuddle up. Mariko wants to save Mei the afront and shame of "dealing" with men, so she goes alternately all shy and proper and then slutty. For a proper Japanese girl, she sure knows a few things even though she is horrified to consider doing them. Then the story winds up rather too quickly and neatly.

There is a lot of conversation about the treatment of aliens. It seemed strange that no aliens were ever mentioned in The Empire's Corps books. This book leads me to think that Stocker should have had more trouble with them.

But as a precursor to the collapse of the Empire, this gives us another interesting side of the universe, and we can see some different events happening than what Stocker sees. It is interesting, but not as satisfying as the Marines.

The narration is okay, but not great. A few times, she forgets to give Mariko her voice.

I would like to see more of this universe, but hope it will be more sci-fi than romance.