On the Imperium's Secret Service

Imperium Cicernus, Book 1

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Genvieve Bevier

Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Read Pete's evil overlord list

What was most disappointing about Christopher G. Nuttall’s story?

The day is saved by Deus Ex Technobabble. The villain is a moron. The plot is practically a paint by numbers spy cliche.

Not my thing.

When a story starts out with men groping a young partially naked girl and pulling out his manhood for a another caged young girl to have oral sex with....... I know this this was not for me.

Interesting

This is book one of a new series by Nuttall entitled Imperium Cicernus. The story begins with Maiko and her sister May stuck in prison. They ended up in prison because Maiko refused the forceful advances from the son of a powerful man with her knee. There are awaiting auction, the highest bidder will own them. Along comes Fitz, a very wealthy man. He apparently bought them because he needed a pilot and both girls are pilots.

The name of his ship is The Bruce Wayne. It turns out he is an agent with the Imperium’s Secret Service and he’s on the trail of a conspiracy that could bring the Imperium down.

The plot is good and the character develop is better than the first book of Nuttall’s other series. May stayed in the background so I am not sure what Nuttall has in store for her in future books. She is off to be in the worm hole engineers and Maiko is now an agent in the secret service. The story is easy to read and may have potential; there is lots of action and suspense to keep one reading. Nuttall seems to be improving as a writer. Genève Bevier narrated the book.

B Sci-fi

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

Outstanding Book

Would you consider the audio edition of On the Imperium's Secret Service to be better than the print version?

Yes, I don't have time to sit down and read a print version so I rely on Audiobooks. This was an outstanding read and look forward to book two.

Who was your favorite character and why?

All three were equal.

What about Genvieve Bevier’s performance did you like?

Very good she kept me interested through out the complete book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was just an outstanding read with a great ending.

Another Awesome Book

Would you listen to On the Imperium's Secret Service again? Why?

I would listen to this book again. It has strong characters and an intriguing story.

What other book might you compare On the Imperium's Secret Service to and why?

I would compare this book lightly with "Angel in the Whirlwind", also by Christopher. A strong, seemingly overachieving female character that you want to rally around.

Which character – as performed by Genvieve Bevier – was your favorite?

Mariko, although it took me awhile to get used to Genevieve's excessive breathiness and dynamic fall offs at the ends of sentences. I still enjoyed it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction but thoroughly enjoyed.

Any additional comments?

I am hopeful there will be more of "On the Imperium's Secret Service" books offered as audiobooks!!

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.

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.

immature, choppy mess

unlike author's other works.
painful to listen to.
of no redeeming value.
immature writing, choppy plot, simplistic characters, stylistic mess.

This book barely held my interest.....

The reader was lacking enthusiasm, the story left much to desired, it just didn't capture my interest. I love all the other books by Mr. Nut tall, but this one left a sour taste.
Blaah!

Fun listen. Although unlike other books from CN

In the grim dark future the aristocracy has risen!

A fun listen, which was well performed by Genvieve, although I couldn't quite believe it when the end credits rolled and I realised the author. Besides being set in space, pretty much nothing like CNs Ark Royal series. That's not to say however that I wouldn't recommend.
It's (at least to me) a very unique story, which in terms of genre I think would have to be described at times as action/adventure/romcom.

Would recommend as a fun sci-fi adventure.

OK nothing special

The story was ok although it couldn't seem to decide who were goodies and baddies. The characters are somewhat two dimensional.
I didn't enjoy the narrator, she fires sentences at you and is awful at speaking mail parts.

Excellent

Rivetting and compelling story containing a well written plot with good character creation. Thank you.

Perfectly good narrator, dreadful story

The narrator is fine. The attitudes to female characters are appallingly sexist. I understand it’s a different society, but there’s nothing to suggest the author disagrees. Some of the arguments on enslavement of aliens are very similar to human slavery arguments which was presumably deliberate. I listened for a couple of hours and kept expecting some kind of turn to the plot. I gave up after two hours or so, so perhaps it improved later. If so, it came too late for me. I was only sorry I couldn’t return it.

Nice story, but it does not manage to shine

The novel is a nice, if unimaginative, story, which "borrows" far too many tropes from the spy novel genre. Coupled with a narrator without a very wide vocal range, it does not manage to emerge from the mass in any meaningful way. I won't seek the sequels