Wars, Spies, and Empires: Review of Andrew M. Seddon's "Wreaths of Empire"

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS

Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/

 

December 29, 2015

 

Wars,  Spies,  and  Empires  In  Outer  Space  

 

A Review of

 

Andrew M. Seddon Wreaths of Empire (Splashdown Books, 2015)

                                258 pp   $12.32   ISBN: 978-1-927154-45-8

 

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

 

     Wreaths of Empire is a well developed and well written story about espionage and political intrigues in advanced civilizations in outer space about 500 years in the future..  You will find enough discussion of the pertinent science and technology to give the story verisimilitude and to qualify it as "space opera", but not enough for it to be regarded as "hard" SF.  The central character, Space Navy Officer Jade, is attractive and easy to empathize with, esp. because of her concern for people and for the ethical and philosophical significance of the events in which she is involved, which focus upon an inept attempt to end the warfare between two empires -- one which is human and the other alien.  Like Isaac Asimov, I have never seen a story with a believable alien, but, as in most well written SF, I was able to accept the aliens in this tale for the sake of the story, and soon found myself even empathizing with them, which is a sign of a good writer.

 

     Information on the author is available at http://www.andrewmseddon.com/  and www.splashdownbooks.com/our-authors/andrew-m-seddon