Product Description
All will must bend to the perfect truth of The Praxis

For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order . . . and bloody chaos.

Customer Reviews (34)

Great Action, Not So Great Background Narrative
It takes over half the book to get to any action, but then it really heats up with great space ship battles. Two interesting main characters with flaws and quirks that make you want to follow them.

On the whole I prefer the Lieutenant Leary series by David Drake, very similar, but Drake's world is set up in a more interesting and believable way.

Superb Character-Driven Novel That is Both Fable and Hard Sci-Fi
I don't have a great amount to add to the comments by the other positive reviewers. The series' cheesy title, "Dread Empire's Fall," initially put me off, but it only took a few chapters to put me in a state that required me to get the other two books and read the story straight through.The most difficult achievement, I believe, for Sci-fi authors is to create characters and personal drama that are as engaging as the epic story and setting they inhabit.Off the top of my head, the only Sci-Fi novels that have pulled this off as well (for me) are Simmons' Hyperion series and Hamilton's Commonwealth novels.

Just okay...
I found this book to very boring.It wasn't the worst book I've ever read but it's far from the best.I regret wasting money on this purchase.If your looking for a well written, interesting sci-fi book I recommend "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi.I am extremly suprised that this book has such a high rating.

Dread-fully boring
Man, I couldn't even finish this book. When I was younger, I would finish books no matter how bad they were.

The action is way too slow, there are really only two action scenes. The flashback story with Caro was interesting, but I figured out the twist way before it happened. I found the technology in this book really dull. It seemed like it was written in the 1950's.

It was a good idea for a story, the disintegration of a galactic empire, but the author did not pull it off in an interesting way.

Space Opera fun
Well paced, fun read. No major unexpected twists, but well written and a joy to read. ... Read more

Product Description
This trade paperback reprint of a the limited-edition Boskone 35 Book contains 10 stories, including “Solip:System,” “Wall, Stone, Craft,” and two previously unpublished stories, “The Bad Twin,” and “The Bag Lady” (a “Wild Cards” prototype). Dustjacket and interior illustrations by Omar Rayyan. Introduction by Gardner Dozois. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential reading for WJW fans
______________________________________________
This excellent collection features "Prayers on the Wind", WJW's best story to date,and lots more Good Stuff.As always, NESFA books are a pleasure to read & hold: smooth, creamy paper, solid, full-cloth bindings and exceptional cover & interior art, here by Omar Rayyan. Recommended.

Contents:

Introduction by Gardner Dozois. Excellent.

Solip:System (direct sequel to Hardwired). Kinda grim. My rating: B+;
yours may be higher, if you like gritty.

Broadway Johnny:a "deeply unserious" story of magic and mayhem
in an alternate 1930s China. "A-"

Woundhealer:sword-and-sorcery in Saberhagen's "Swords"
universe
-- not for me.

The Bad Twin (never before published). A rousing time-travel tale
with "as many paradoxes as I could devise" -- "A".

Red Elvis: like it says, from the "Alternate Rebels" anthology. "A-" or
"B+" -- I didn't reread it. So sue me.

Prayers on the Wind (Nebula Award nominee): A+ -- featuring the
Big Library, Buddhism & Bad aliens -- not to be missed.
G00gle for my full review.

Bag Lady (never before published). The prototype Wild Cards story
and Modular Man's ('New Prometheus, my ass') debut, later
reworked into "Unto the Sixth Generation." Silly & fun, "A-".

Erogenoscape:Babette's new body -- sex, surgery, prurience &
paranoia. "A/A-"

Foreign Devils (Sidewise Award winner). Wells' Martians invade
China, encounter Righteous Harmony Fists. "A-"; or "A" for alt-hist
buffs. Hmm, you couldn't really call this alternate-history -- maybe
'shared-world with a dead author'?

Wall, Stone, Craft (Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Award
nominee). Mary Shelley meets Lord Byron; they *don't* go to bed
together. "A-" for me; perhaps "A" for most readers.
The author's afterwords are interesting and entertaining. Forex,here's WJW on a panel, discussing virtual surgery in graphic detail:"I became aware that the audience was staring at me in horror. I looked to my left, and saw Vernor Vinge scribbling in his notebook. I looked to my right, and there was Bruce Sterling likewise taking notes.... I better write this story [Erogenoscape] *fast*, I said to myself."

review copyright 2000 by Peter D. Tillman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Haunting
Seemed like a slow-starting neo-Western novel for a while. Not a lot of science, and not even all that fictional. Built smoothly toward a stunning climax, pivoting on very plausible physics, and almost mystical "new daybreak" denouement. Truly cinematographic writing; dozens of clear images remain when the words are gone. One of those novels I had to re-read almost immediately.

For fans of helicopters, Vietnam tales or stories where loners find themselves reborn in very different (but perhaps karmically "correct") circumstances, I recommend Layne Heath's novel CW2. Certain similarities are so striking that one wonders if WJW might have read CW2 before writing this one.

interesting how science mirrors science fiction.
sooo....great read, found it on the shelf at my forward operating base back in 2007, and it kept me entertained for a few days.the plot was great, lots of interesting turns, and I love the characters, particularly the ATL head of security..he's a pretty accurate representation of an SF washout if I've ever seen one.now as far as the Large Hadron Collider in the story,CERN just released some interesting info that suggests there may be some truth to the book's time travelling cows and people:They're detecting temporal distortions around the LHC, and found a piece of breadcrumb buried deep in the machine last year...you could write that off as a clumsy frenchman doing a working lunch... or consider that the physicists in charge of the machine are claiming it was somehow placed there in the manner that the cows, and eventually Loren were in the book....food for thought.look it up on CNN after you read the book.

Really Good Book
I read this book about 10 years ago when I was getting into the sci-fi genre and have loved it ever since. Like more than a few of Williams books, it does start a little slow, but has a great build up to a very pleasing, if a little sad, end.

Rambo vs Einstein
Remember the small town cop from the first Rambo movie, First Blood? He's a good comparison of our main character, LorenHawn, the small town, good ole boy, sheriff who gets things done, even if he has to break a few laws to do it.

He loves his family, his town, his way of life.

But forces come into play that try to upset everything.

Drug dealers, local teen hoodlums, mean drunks, crazy street people, eco-terrorists all turn on Loren and try to change his town and the people he has sworn to protect.

Then there is the strange goings on at the new local Physics lab.William Patience, Hawn's nemesis, is the head of security of the lab and does everything by the book, his book, that is.

On top of all the other problems for Loren there is the Murder. The recent murder of someone who died in a car wreck 20 years before. And Loren is sure Patience and his lab are somehow mixed up in it.

As Loren tries to find the killer many of the towns dark secrets are pushed out into the light. And his hard-knock methods cause his friends to turn on him.

But that's alright, Loren gets things done anyway as he sets out to right wrongs because he is the Sword and Arm of the Lord!

This book shows Walter Jon Williams' versatility as a writer. Although it has Sci-Fi and cyberpunk elements, it's really nothing like my other two favorite books of his, Voice of the Whirlwind, and Hardwired.

If you are fans of those works, be ready for a change of direction.

A fantastic story of one man's fight for what he thinks is right!Days of Atonement

Not Free SF Reader
Excruciatingly full of American small town boring crap. If he wanted to write a book about a small town in New Mexico, fair enough, but why throw in the universe creating bit. I would think if someone from another
country had have pitched that, with all the same stuff from there own
little locality, it would have been edited harshly. Very harshly.

This would have been ok if it was a Graham Masterton novel, and you
knew this would not go on for long, especially 300 pages , and a large
percentage of them would die horribly.

Bad, and even worse, dull. Very dull. Except for one tiny spot of
physics. I have enjoyed just about everything else I have ever read of
his, but this was just woeful.


... Read more

Product Description
The alien Naxids have won a shattering victory at Magaria, a victory that clears the way for an advance on the loyalist capital, Zanshaa. To help save Zanshaa comes Lord Gareth Martinez, formerly a despised provincial officer, now, in the aftermath of a brilliant victory, a celebrated war hero. But no sooner does Martinez arrive at the capital than he finds himself entangled in intrigue, first by political enemies intending to deprive him of command, then by his own brother Roland, who wants to use him to further the ambitions of a Martinez dynasty. Destiny also waits for Martinez, in the form of the mysterious survivor Caroline Sula, a woman whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, and whose brilliant mind holds the key to victory over the Naxids. While Martinez prepares to engage an enemy fleet that has long been prepared for his assault, Sula is put in command of a guerrilla force that must engage the enemy in a desperate, dirty war fought in the teeming slums of Zanshaa. Both sides claim the legitimacy of the Praxis, but the very real danger exists that there will be nothing left for the victors to rule... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
Not very interesting, it seems.I may give it another chance some time.

Presumably this is meant to be a grand, sweeping space opera, but I
could not get interested in the setup, the aliens, the protagonists, or
any of the setting, so just found this rather dull.


... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
A Science Fiction Story

Evolution specialisation inflexibility devastation.


4.5 out of 5 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Masterpiece
A blend of fantasy and science-fiction, with an emphasis on fantasy, Williams spins a story involving war, politics and ethics set against a fascinating cultural backdrop. The various societies Williams develops in the novel are fascinating -- almost characters unto themselves. I've read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi over the years, and this is easily one of my all-time favorites.

A masterpiece of Science Fiction
This book has been around for over twenty years.Read today, though, it remains to me what it was then, one of the half dozen greatest science fiction novels.

Williams, almost alone among those who have spent their careers as science fiction authors, is able to gift his characters with familiar adult feelings, responses which have the feel of maturity, not adolescence, which is much more prevalent.His characterizations, though perhaps unique for their skill in the genre, are only half the picture though, his stories can be, as they are here, absolutely delightful, entertaining, witty without pretense or arrogance.He manages, with all this, to give a little history lesson which you must find for yourself, and challenges the reader to consider the world we have, and why it is what it is.

This is this author's best work, and considering the fellow wrote Hardwired, that is the highest praise.

Unlike nearly any Sci-fi novel I have ever read.
But that is true of nearly all of WJW's work.There is sophisticated character developement, and some interesting plot twists. This book deals with racism and segragation in a fictional society, as viewed through theeyes of an outsider.

You are kept guessing through the whole book whatthe mysterious purpose of the outsider is, and whether the two groups ofpeople are even truely Human.A good read. ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 1801. ... Read more

Product Description
The adventures of The New Jedi Order continue in YLESIA by Walter Jon Williams—the latest Star Wars eBook publication, from Del Rey Books.This original novella includes an exclusive excerpt from the eagerly anticipated STAR WARS: THE NEW JEDI ORDER: DESTINY'S WAY (on–sale 10/15/02) and an interview with the author.

RIPE FOR THE PLUCKING

That’s Jedi Knight Kyp Durron’s opinion about the planet Ylesia, home base of the so-called Peace Brigade, a group of traitors dedicated to hindering the war efforts of the New Republic and hastening the ultimate victory of the merciless Yuuzhan Vong. Kyp’s plan calls for a lightning-fast strike, backed with overwhelming force, to destroy the Brigade’s offensive capabilities and teach prospective traitors that betrayal carries a heavy price. But young Jacen Solo, still bearing the scars of his imprisonment by the Yuuzhan Vong, has a better idea: a daring raid into the heart of Ylesia’s capital, with the objective of capturing the Brigade’s top leaders—including the newly sworn-in President, Thrackan Sal-Solo, cousin to Jacen and his twin, Jaina.

But unknown to the Jedi and the New Republic forces, Supreme Overlord Shimrra of the Yuuzhan Vong has dispatched reinforcements to the Ylesia system. Instead of a swift surgical strike, Jaina, Jacen, Kyp, and their comrades are about to find themselves locked in a desperate battle for survival, with the odds stacked against them and time running out. . . .

No Star Wars fan will want to miss this exciting eBook exclusive adventure from Nebula Award-winner Walter Jon Williams, author of the forthcoming Star Wars The New Jedi Order hardcover novel, Destiny’s Way. ... Read more