The Sword of Jupiter

Imperium, Book 1

By: Travis Starnes

Narrated by: Kevin Kemp

Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

An uncertain future in a new past.

During the test flight of a prototype faster-than-light craft, Lt. Commander Ky is flung into an ancient past that never existed. Rome has fallen, defeated by the mighty Carthaginian Empire, its survivors chased off the continent and onto what had been the remote province of Britannia.

Hounded by the Carthaginians bent on conquering the known world, Rome is on the verge of destruction. Stranded and alone, except for a tactical AI implanted in his head, Ky has lost everything and must find a way to live in a world different than anything he's ever known.

For Ky to survive, he needs a new home. For the Romans to survive, they need a miracle. But can a man from the future work with people so far in his past, or is this match doomed to failure?

©2021 Travis Starnes (P)2022 Podium Audio

Worried it was going to be too big to succeed

Wonderful idea and so much fun. Lots of ways to go from here. Highly recommend

A Masterpiece

I seriously think this is probably one of the very best series on Audible. It's very similar to Destiny's Crucible but with a much better main character. I was hooked the entire time.

Loved the story!

I really enjoyed how this book was written. It was descriptive without feeling like author was trying to pad the book. The narrator has a voice that keeps you engaged with the book.

Lots of fun. Could not put it down.

It was a great book. I found I enjoy this plot. Could not put it down.

The blending of history and foreseeable future advancements in technology and genetics.

The performance was very good- he kept the story moving, and added enough differences in accents to add interest while remaining intelligible.

Starts out slow but worth the read or listen

Starts out slow but worth the read or listen. Really good story completely engaging. Read it

Really fun alternate history well worth a credit!

I really enjoy a good alternate history book and this is well up there with the best. The entire series is fantastic. I hope there are more coming.

Interesting premise brought low by an inexperienced author

tl;dr I'm dropping it from an initial 5-star based on premise and first couple hours of the audiobook to a 3 or 3.5 about halfway through. This seems to have been Starnes' first book, and it shows. If you like the premise, read David Drake's "Belisarius" series or the follow-up series "The General" instead. They have the same basic premise (futuristic knowledge and abilities given to a leader in ancient Rome for Belisarius / an original setting with 19th century technology for The General). He wrote them in the late 1990s and he was a more experienced author so the characterization is much stronger.

Regarding Sword of Jupiter:

- The protagonist is emotionally flat
- Characterization is shallow; it's hard to remember who the different secondary characters are
- The protagonist is so physically superior that he is never threatened at any point
- The protagonist never faces any real challenges. People who oppose him are defeated or convinced quickly, usually within the same scene
- It feels like some scenes get repeated with names swapped, e.g. "Hey, I'm introducing this new thing and I know change is hard but it's going to make you rich."
- There's too much focus on the Connecticut Yankee stuff ("I am going to introduce fractional reserve banking and new metallurgy") and not enough on (use rot13.com to unspoiler) svaqvat bhg jub cbvfbarq gur Rzcrebe or
cebterff gbjneqf uvf vzcynagrq NV orpbzvat fncvrag naq gur vzcyvpngvbaf gurerbs or gur ernpgvbaf sebz gur yrtvbaf jura orvat gbyq gurl nera'g nyybjrq gb ybbg naq nurz nalzber which seem much more interesting but have been largely (but not entirely) forgotten.



To be clear, the book isn't awful and I did finish it, although I set it to 2x partway through. It's got an excellent premise and the problems are easily ascribed to author inexperience. I am sure later books in the series will shake off these issues if people want to keep reading.

Excellent storytelling!

This was an excellent story with masterful performance in the reading. Bvvvvvvvccc hvgvvvvhg hhgfvvvh hhgvvvhhh

Yes Yes Yes

excellent book. excellent reading. finally a good scifi/fantasy book. it has been too long since my last good find.