Author TJ Hapney

Description/Blurb:

In the final volume of THE FIRST EMPRESS Trilogy, the Kreelan warrior priesthoods, once charged with teaching and preserving the tenets of the Way, have sown the seeds of their own destruction by allying themselves with the Dark Queen and letting loose the ancient evil of Ka’i-Nur.

All that stands against the looming darkness is young Keel-Tath and a handful of surviving priests and priestesses of the Desh-Ka. Battered and bloodied from their own brief, vicious civil war, their honor and swords are now bound to the Child of Prophecy, come what may.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

I have been waiting for this book since I read the last page of the second book in The First Empress trilogy. As expected, the author did a fantastic job with this story. I’ve fallen in love with the universe and the characters he has created. Not only did I enjoy reading this story, but it couldn’t have come at a better time. I was really looking for some distraction and it fit the bill very nicely as it whisked me away to the Kreelan empire to watch as Keel-Tath prepared to confront her nemesis. It was also intriguing enough to drag me away from my summer fun for which I have to give it some credit. When a story starts traveling with me everywhere I go, I consider it a win.

In this story we get a lot of action as one would expect from a warrior race. This is a sweeping epic that casts you from one side of the universe to the other in the blink of an eye. Needless to say a lot of characters die given that Kreelan society is entirely a warrior society that follows The Way, the Kreelan code of conduct. The Dark Queen’s forces are blessed with overwhelming numbers as Keel-Tath’s forces prepare to respond to the threat offered in this latest installment of the series. I was surprised and pleased with the turns the story took, but don’t want to give away too much since we’re so far along in the series. Pretty much everything was well done. The foreshadowing for the very end wasn’t as subtle as I had expected and I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen with that, but it did leave the doorway open for another book in this quite enjoyable series.

Michael Hicks has done a great job. There’s battle, strategy, plotting, trickery, love and much more to keep you interested. I was pleased with the story and the outcome of the arc as a whole. I can’t wait to see what the next story in this epic series brings to the table. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Michael R. Hicks gives away the first book of the trilogies that start this series so if you want to check it out, it won’t cost you a thing.