The Sundering

The Dread Empire's Fall Trilogy, Book 2

By: Walter Jon Williams

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Space opera the way it ought to be.... Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” (George R. R. Martin)

Following The Praxis, Walter Jon Williams’s critically acclaimed mix of space opera and military science fiction, the conflict grows for the fate of humanity...and the universe.

The Dread Empire of the Shaa is no more, following the death of the last oppressor. But freedom remains elusive for the myriad sentient races enslaved for 10 centuries, as an even greater terror arises. The Naxids - a powerful insectoid species themselves subjugated until the recent Shaa demise - plan to fill the vacuum with their own bloody domination and have already won a shattering victory with superior force and unimaginable cruelty. But two heroes survived the carnage at Magaria: Lord Gareth Martinez and the fiery, mysterious gun pilot Lady Caroline Sula, whose courageous exploits are becoming legend in the new history of galactic civil war. Yet their cunning, skill, and bravery may be no match for the overwhelming enemy descending upon the loyalist stronghold of Zanshaa, as the horrific battle looms that will determine the structure of the universe - and who shall live to inhabit it - for millennia to come.

©2004, 2015 by Walter Jon Williams (P)2021 by Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media, Inc.

is this a romance novel?

i dont really care about the relationship between the manwhore and the broken lady. his lust for her makes me uncomfortable. i feel like Fred Savage in The Princess Bride... "Is this a kissing book?"

i came for some mind bending well conceived sci-fi. instead its rich people being mean to slightly less rich people, while the entire war is won by two emotionally stunted children.

why aren't all tactically minded people up ona arms about the idea that lack of military innovation is a good thing? the idea that these two people are the only ones who thought of anything, because no one else feels comfortable trying to make things better, is pretty lazy. people push and prod and champion thier own ideas.... military orthodoxy is uninteresting. what could possibly happen but these guys use improved tactics and win? that story has been told before without a sexually obsessed douche bag whining about an emtionally unavailable murderer.

i really like this author but this relationship mishmash is kind of boring and contrived. if you like your sci-fi with a sexually vigorous MC then this book might be for you. if you dont really care about healthy relationships or maybe just focusing on an interesting plot, then too.

im going to keep going but, dude, give me something to sink my teeth into.

or just when the action starts, end the novel abruptly. gross.