Empress of a Thousand Skies (Empress of a Thousand Skies, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Jun 07, 2017 Lindsay rated it did not like it

A fight for the sole rule of a barely-fleshed out generic space empire between very stupid people which doesn't even have the grace to come to a conclusion in this disappointing YA SF.

The Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta'an (Rhee) is the last surviving member of the Ta'an dynasty, the rulers of the Kalusian Territories which seems to be at least the planet Kalu (and more, the text is completely opaque about anything to do with the what, who and how of government). Until Rhee becomes an Empress at the A fight for the sole rule of a barely-fleshed out generic space empire between very stupid people which doesn't even have the grace to come to a conclusion in this disappointing YA SF.

The Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta'an (Rhee) is the last surviving member of the Ta'an dynasty, the rulers of the Kalusian Territories which seems to be at least the planet Kalu (and more, the text is completely opaque about anything to do with the what, who and how of government). Until Rhee becomes an Empress at the age of 16 (?!?) the Empire (it's never called that) is being run by the Crown Regent Seotra. Rhee is also quite convinced that Seotra killed her family and wants her dead as well. Of course.

So on the way to her sixteenth birthday celebrations and coronation, her long-time mentor and martial arts teacher tries to kill her. She fails to stop this (get used to it, Rhee is not only amazingly stupid and ineffectual, she's immature for even a 15-year old), but is saved by somebody else (get used to this too). Suddenly the planets that she's on are full of ~~stormtroopers~~ Tassin guards who seem to be looking for her, even though she's supposed to be dead. The Tassin's are also stirring up racial hate and xenophobia and whoever is in charge of them seems determined to start a war with Kalu's neighbors.

Meanwhile, the young guy that's been framed for the murder of Rhee has a whole series of adventures of his own which often come tangentially (and stupidly coincidentally) close to Rhee's. He also befriends a mysterious character whose identity is pretty much obvious from the first time she appears.

Well, fairly early on and I was rooting for the bad guys (but not so much - see below). Under no circumstances should Rhee Ta'an be allowed near the throne. Her concepts of evidence and revenge would have just about guaranteed that the interplanetary empire that she would have gained control of would be suffering extinction level events in pretty short order. However, the bad guys are deeply incompetent as well. In a system of pervasive neuro-technology, space travel and an all-encompassing monarchy, surveillance systems and intelligence services would have to be ubiquitous and sophisticated, right?

Nope.

After the apparent murder of the only member of the royal family, the powers-that-be and apparent conspirators can't find either the deeply stupid princess or the just-as-stupid supposed-assassin even though neither of them make much effort to avoid capture. In fact, the bad guy with a really obvious bad guy name, is so dense that I'm actually thinking that the best thing for society is for this lot to have their apocalyptic war and let's see if the cockroaches can start over with a better one ... ...more

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Mar 24, 2018 Justine rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, 2018-read

This book has very mixed reviews. While I agree that it was in a lot of ways pretty standard and predictable, it actually made for an enjoyable audiobook. The narrator, Rebecca Soler, has done a lot of YA books and I like the kind of intensity she brings to her performances.

In many ways Empress of a Thousand Skies reminded me of a Star Wars book. Not one about a main character, but one of those side character books where, unless you are really knowledgeable about the SW universe, things can be ...more

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Jun 15, 2017 Amanda rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars

9 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2018 Helen rated it liked it

Enjoyable opening to this series. Audio was read well. Awaiting book 2 from the library.

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Jun 20, 2017 Jo rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I feel sad when I finish a book I enjoy. Finishing this felt positively triumphant. I saw the "twist" coming from a mile away, and I'm pretty bad at spotting these things. The main character was super annoying and juvenile. Didn't like her at all, so it was hard to remain engaged and root for her since half the book is from her POV. Aly was a little better than Rhee, but it irritated me that it seemed like he just kept thinking with his d- all those thoughts about Kara when he had only just met ...more

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Feb 09, 2019 Leticia rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, science-fiction, series_i_may_finish_eventually, 2019-tbr-clean-up, tbr-tome-infinity-and-beyond, empty_shelvie2019

I felt quite divided about this book, Rhee's POV was interesting and vital to the story while still too rushed up; while Alyosha's felt mostly like repetitive filler, dragging to a point I set the book aside for two weeks and considered not finishing it.
I did finish it though, up to a very rushed up end. I think this book would have been better if it had only told Rhee's story in a deeper way. ...more

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