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Empire #4
Commander
THE EMPIRE’S NEW NAVY
The Emperor Trajan is building a powerful new navy for the Sintaran Empire. Remotely piloted warships can accelerate faster than humans can withstand, and ships spend so much time in hyperspace, a single crew can man multiple ships, solving the perennial manpower problem.
But even with the help of a genius young team of design engineers, there’s a lot of work to do to even get to the point of building new ships. It will take years, years the Emperor may not have. Someone’s causing trouble, and war is coming.
Will the Empire’s new navy be ready in time?
THIS IS THE FOURTH BOOK OF EMPIRE
- GenresScience Fiction
268 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2019
87 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Richard F. Weyand
46books33followersRich Weyand is a computer consultant and digital forensic analyst. He was born in Illinois and lived there almost 60 years before he and his wife engineered an escape to the hills of southern Indiana in 2011. His undergraduate and graduate education is in Physics, and he's never really recovered. He is currently heading up the launch of a computer software start-up.
Check out my blog at .
Check out my blog at .
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November 26, 2022Rating: minus 5
Whether designed consciously or not, books like this degrade critical thinking and detour readers from questioning the world they actually inhabit. They all start with no attempt at plausible world building. This writer assumes that humanity a thousand or two thousand years in the future, will still be organized economically and politically as they are today. From there it goes downhill.
A "rogue" ŷ tech 🙂 will not "Allow" me to see other reviews, "Allow" me to see ID's of my commenter or "Allow" me to remove my last lurker. 🤔🤔🤔
The last lurker is Dr Susan Hamilton (a Maths professor at University of Tennessee ?). She posted nothing for two years since her friend request and has not responded to five requests that she unfriend me. 🤔 It is sad if she desperate to be on my friend list, because I am not that interesting. 😊😊
Write a negative review of "a poorly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero" and suddenly being a communist is a bad thing. Odd. 🤗🤗
See my review either of "Leviathan's War", a boom-boom spacey-space book or Powers of the Earth (a poorly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero) and the comments of a Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi and US patriot).
To Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty. Be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.
These US patriots seem not to believe in free speech, which is odd since they always scream that theirs is being attacked. They do seem to like fascist Russia. Wow!! Maybe there is a connection.
GLORY TO UKRAINE !!! and GLORY TO THE HEROES !!!
The writer made an attempt to create a community of multi-system interstellar polities that copies in some way current geopolitics. The simplistic universe that he has rcreated allows him to introduce his main theme. The established power brokers are bad. The barely educated white working class male is good and has the smarts the elites lack. The books of this type all run the same vision.
The hero does not explore the working man's condition. The hero cuts his connection to his roots at the earliest opportunity. Success is replacing the ineffectual elites. These are poorly written political fantasies. They actually evoke the same perspective and emotional response of the National Socialist slogans of the Third Reich.
The "libertarians" of the working class are the same committed "useful idiots" that enthusiastically marched off to fight for Germany in World War Two. Racial Superiority Check. Male supremacy. Check. The illusion that they will control this new found power. Check. Those three sentences sum up the entire series, I suspect.
As entertainment, it is presented as military science fiction. Yet this type of book is always written by someone who knows nothing about about military/naval reality and is content in his/her ignorance. They know all the answers because they play console games or saw a war movie. So they are expert enough.
I'm not expecting someone to invest the magical ten thousand hours necessary to achieve expert status in a technical field. A writer investing 20 to 30 hours from easily available video sources (no reading required) should not be that great a demand. I will include some good YouTube channels below. As a reader, it might help you enjoy the military fiction more. For these writers I have no hope.
This writer knows two things about war. The first is that supply lines are a major vulnerability. The second is that drone technology exists. Both are true but there is a little more thought required.
That supplies win wars is a simple truth. Logistics is the art of managing the accumulation, storage and delivery of those supplies, when and where the recipients need them. Disrupt delivery or destroy forward depots and having twenty years of consumption of every type of supply sitting in your home country, gives your navy or army no benefit.
A fleet takes a system but has no method of supplying itself from an entire system's resources? Why? Planetary installations and ground forces prevent collection and distribution of planetary resources. In the book, no. Space borne enemy fortresses prevent the transfer of goods and bulk material from the surface to orbit. In the book, no. There are no troops available to land, collect materials and load shuttles. In the book, who knows. It is never explained.
A system has been taken but not occupied and is useless. That makes sense. 🙂 Why? How? In what universe? The universe of this series.
Remote controlled vehicles were designed and used in World War Two, if I remember correctly. Over the millennia that must have passed for this region to be inhabited and present populations to develop, there was war. Over two, three or four thousands years of periodic or continuous warfare, no navy or army in this region considered the use of remote controlled weapons systems. Why? In the book. No explanation.
The only military mind in two, three or four thousand years to consider the possibility, direct research and development of the concept, create the technology and operational doctrine, deploy the weapons and complete the training of an entire military spread across more than 150,000 Star systems (if 1 of every 2 systems has a habitable planet, then the number is 300,000) in a year or two is a low level infantry officer. WTF.
FTL communications. Check. Instantaneous communications and data transfer. Check. Tactical and situational awareness across dozens of light years, at least. Check. The enemy WARSHIPS have no weapons to destroy incoming ordnance. Check. The enemy supply ships are not escorted. Check. The empire/kingdom whatever has unlimited production facilities and materials to produce millions of throwaway warships for use as drones. Check. WTF.
There is a term "magic" technology to refer to technology in science fiction that currently violates known physics, utilizes materials of a type not yet discovered or created, requires power sources that have not yet been discovered and/or power generation methods that have not yet been developed.
This series and series like it are "WTF" fiction. When the writer is so lazy and ignorant of science and engineering that they invent magic technology to fix every plot hole or provide every contrivance that their poor writing requires, what kind of book will result. A WTF book.
I am taking apart every book that I reviewed previously and undoing my self-censorship. I have bitten my tongue in notes to myself to keep maniacs from bothering me. Yet these maniacs have still given me grief. These books do not merit any discussion of writing skill, because the writers have none. What is far worse is that they have no intention of remedying that lack.
Everyone takes their entertainment in different forms at different times for different reasons. There is no right or wrong but there is a personal responsibility of self-awareness. This is No Effort fiction in both book and series. It's just a thought.
This writer actually has put more effort into his world building than almost every other low end book that I have tried over about five years. It just is too thin and limited imagination hampered him.
The bulk of US low end science fiction is Low Effort, Minimal Effort or No Effort. They dominate Amazon's catalogue. Rather than read, I watch my science fiction at the moment. The streaming services all seem to offer some science fiction, all of which is superior as entertainment and usually of better quality than low end print. There is also a large multinational offered by Netflix, which is very nice.
YouTube introduced me to documentary sites and book tubers. For documentaries, I began using Curiosity Stream/Nebula at a cost of about $15 USD for a year's subscription. I think that all of them are worth a look.
The book tubers are wonderful. 😍😍 The reader community that they foster is serious, cosmopolitan and excited about all things bookish. I recommend a visit to several book channels for any reader and have listed some below.
My YouTube picks of the moment.
TVP News, The Juice Media, NFKRZ, Dr Stephen Kotkin, Cruising Crafts, Tom Nicholas, Breaking Points, Diane Morgan, Ben and Emily, With Olivia, Philosophy Tube, Ozillo News, Between the Wars, Owen Jones.
Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.
The Russian Dude, Ship Happens, Munecat, Novara Media, 2 Steps from Hell, Tara Mooknee, Some More News, Ben and Emily, Karolina Zebrowska, The Armchair Historian, Minimal List, France 24, Alice Cappelle, Alize, Jessica Gagnon, DW News, Double Down News, Sarah Z, Neringa Rekaslute, Sabine Hossenfelder, Kings and Generals, Zoe Baker, A Life of Lit, Lady of the Library, Prime of Midlife, Books and Lala, Daniel Rubin, Celtica, The Narrowboat Pirate, Camper Vibe, Mythic Concepts, Tom Nicholas, Steam Punk, Between the Wars, DUST, The Shades of Orange, Adult Wednesday Addams, Autumn's Boutique, Jill Bearup, Rebecca Watson, Abbie Emmons, Adam Something, The Sweet Spot, Nerd of the Rings, Swell Entertainment, IzzzYzzz, Philosophy Tube, We're in Hell, Make Better Media, Fall of Civilisations, History of the Earth, Lady knight the Brave. Celtica, Austin McConnell, Spacedock, Jessie Gender, Noelle Gallagher, Enby Reads, Zoe Bee, Practical Engineering, Chris Animations, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, Tom Nicholas, Mala Armia Janosika, The Great War, World War Two, Make Better Media, Tibees, Cruising Alba, Cruising the Cut, Denys Davydov, Nikolay Kutuzov, Tulia, Lily Alexander, Sufficiently Advanced Lena, Mythology and Fiction Explained, Lilly's expat life, Steam Punk, Dead Good Books, Nerdstalgia, Boat Time, Traveling K, Euronews, Noah Sampson, Cold Fusion, Renegade, Natasha's Adventures, The People Profiles, History of the Universe, What Vivi did next, Brittany the Bibliophile, Patrick is a Navajo, Three Arrows, Mark Felton Productions, Lily Alexander, Yanis Varoufakis, Terra Mater, Wion, Anton Petrov, Petrik Leo, A Cup of Nicole, Jack in the Books, Hello Future Me, I'm Rosa, Alexa Donne, The Radical Reviewer, Books with Emily Fox, Max Joseph, Dr Becky, Joe Scott, A Life of Lit, SandRhoman History, Book Odyssey, MWG Studios, Ryan Chapman, UA Courage, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Chugging Along, Kathy's Flog in France, Art by Annamarie, A Clockwork Reader, Alt Shift X.
I wish you a glorious morning, an exhilarating afternoon, a brilliant evening, a superb night and may we all keep learning.
Censorship is criminal, Self-Censorship is tragic.
Rules, Sisters of the Light
Whether designed consciously or not, books like this degrade critical thinking and detour readers from questioning the world they actually inhabit. They all start with no attempt at plausible world building. This writer assumes that humanity a thousand or two thousand years in the future, will still be organized economically and politically as they are today. From there it goes downhill.
A "rogue" ŷ tech 🙂 will not "Allow" me to see other reviews, "Allow" me to see ID's of my commenter or "Allow" me to remove my last lurker. 🤔🤔🤔
The last lurker is Dr Susan Hamilton (a Maths professor at University of Tennessee ?). She posted nothing for two years since her friend request and has not responded to five requests that she unfriend me. 🤔 It is sad if she desperate to be on my friend list, because I am not that interesting. 😊😊
Write a negative review of "a poorly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero" and suddenly being a communist is a bad thing. Odd. 🤗🤗
See my review either of "Leviathan's War", a boom-boom spacey-space book or Powers of the Earth (a poorly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero) and the comments of a Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi and US patriot).
To Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty. Be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.
These US patriots seem not to believe in free speech, which is odd since they always scream that theirs is being attacked. They do seem to like fascist Russia. Wow!! Maybe there is a connection.
GLORY TO UKRAINE !!! and GLORY TO THE HEROES !!!
The writer made an attempt to create a community of multi-system interstellar polities that copies in some way current geopolitics. The simplistic universe that he has rcreated allows him to introduce his main theme. The established power brokers are bad. The barely educated white working class male is good and has the smarts the elites lack. The books of this type all run the same vision.
The hero does not explore the working man's condition. The hero cuts his connection to his roots at the earliest opportunity. Success is replacing the ineffectual elites. These are poorly written political fantasies. They actually evoke the same perspective and emotional response of the National Socialist slogans of the Third Reich.
The "libertarians" of the working class are the same committed "useful idiots" that enthusiastically marched off to fight for Germany in World War Two. Racial Superiority Check. Male supremacy. Check. The illusion that they will control this new found power. Check. Those three sentences sum up the entire series, I suspect.
As entertainment, it is presented as military science fiction. Yet this type of book is always written by someone who knows nothing about about military/naval reality and is content in his/her ignorance. They know all the answers because they play console games or saw a war movie. So they are expert enough.
I'm not expecting someone to invest the magical ten thousand hours necessary to achieve expert status in a technical field. A writer investing 20 to 30 hours from easily available video sources (no reading required) should not be that great a demand. I will include some good YouTube channels below. As a reader, it might help you enjoy the military fiction more. For these writers I have no hope.
This writer knows two things about war. The first is that supply lines are a major vulnerability. The second is that drone technology exists. Both are true but there is a little more thought required.
That supplies win wars is a simple truth. Logistics is the art of managing the accumulation, storage and delivery of those supplies, when and where the recipients need them. Disrupt delivery or destroy forward depots and having twenty years of consumption of every type of supply sitting in your home country, gives your navy or army no benefit.
A fleet takes a system but has no method of supplying itself from an entire system's resources? Why? Planetary installations and ground forces prevent collection and distribution of planetary resources. In the book, no. Space borne enemy fortresses prevent the transfer of goods and bulk material from the surface to orbit. In the book, no. There are no troops available to land, collect materials and load shuttles. In the book, who knows. It is never explained.
A system has been taken but not occupied and is useless. That makes sense. 🙂 Why? How? In what universe? The universe of this series.
Remote controlled vehicles were designed and used in World War Two, if I remember correctly. Over the millennia that must have passed for this region to be inhabited and present populations to develop, there was war. Over two, three or four thousands years of periodic or continuous warfare, no navy or army in this region considered the use of remote controlled weapons systems. Why? In the book. No explanation.
The only military mind in two, three or four thousand years to consider the possibility, direct research and development of the concept, create the technology and operational doctrine, deploy the weapons and complete the training of an entire military spread across more than 150,000 Star systems (if 1 of every 2 systems has a habitable planet, then the number is 300,000) in a year or two is a low level infantry officer. WTF.
FTL communications. Check. Instantaneous communications and data transfer. Check. Tactical and situational awareness across dozens of light years, at least. Check. The enemy WARSHIPS have no weapons to destroy incoming ordnance. Check. The enemy supply ships are not escorted. Check. The empire/kingdom whatever has unlimited production facilities and materials to produce millions of throwaway warships for use as drones. Check. WTF.
There is a term "magic" technology to refer to technology in science fiction that currently violates known physics, utilizes materials of a type not yet discovered or created, requires power sources that have not yet been discovered and/or power generation methods that have not yet been developed.
This series and series like it are "WTF" fiction. When the writer is so lazy and ignorant of science and engineering that they invent magic technology to fix every plot hole or provide every contrivance that their poor writing requires, what kind of book will result. A WTF book.
I am taking apart every book that I reviewed previously and undoing my self-censorship. I have bitten my tongue in notes to myself to keep maniacs from bothering me. Yet these maniacs have still given me grief. These books do not merit any discussion of writing skill, because the writers have none. What is far worse is that they have no intention of remedying that lack.
Everyone takes their entertainment in different forms at different times for different reasons. There is no right or wrong but there is a personal responsibility of self-awareness. This is No Effort fiction in both book and series. It's just a thought.
This writer actually has put more effort into his world building than almost every other low end book that I have tried over about five years. It just is too thin and limited imagination hampered him.
The bulk of US low end science fiction is Low Effort, Minimal Effort or No Effort. They dominate Amazon's catalogue. Rather than read, I watch my science fiction at the moment. The streaming services all seem to offer some science fiction, all of which is superior as entertainment and usually of better quality than low end print. There is also a large multinational offered by Netflix, which is very nice.
YouTube introduced me to documentary sites and book tubers. For documentaries, I began using Curiosity Stream/Nebula at a cost of about $15 USD for a year's subscription. I think that all of them are worth a look.
The book tubers are wonderful. 😍😍 The reader community that they foster is serious, cosmopolitan and excited about all things bookish. I recommend a visit to several book channels for any reader and have listed some below.
My YouTube picks of the moment.
TVP News, The Juice Media, NFKRZ, Dr Stephen Kotkin, Cruising Crafts, Tom Nicholas, Breaking Points, Diane Morgan, Ben and Emily, With Olivia, Philosophy Tube, Ozillo News, Between the Wars, Owen Jones.
Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.
The Russian Dude, Ship Happens, Munecat, Novara Media, 2 Steps from Hell, Tara Mooknee, Some More News, Ben and Emily, Karolina Zebrowska, The Armchair Historian, Minimal List, France 24, Alice Cappelle, Alize, Jessica Gagnon, DW News, Double Down News, Sarah Z, Neringa Rekaslute, Sabine Hossenfelder, Kings and Generals, Zoe Baker, A Life of Lit, Lady of the Library, Prime of Midlife, Books and Lala, Daniel Rubin, Celtica, The Narrowboat Pirate, Camper Vibe, Mythic Concepts, Tom Nicholas, Steam Punk, Between the Wars, DUST, The Shades of Orange, Adult Wednesday Addams, Autumn's Boutique, Jill Bearup, Rebecca Watson, Abbie Emmons, Adam Something, The Sweet Spot, Nerd of the Rings, Swell Entertainment, IzzzYzzz, Philosophy Tube, We're in Hell, Make Better Media, Fall of Civilisations, History of the Earth, Lady knight the Brave. Celtica, Austin McConnell, Spacedock, Jessie Gender, Noelle Gallagher, Enby Reads, Zoe Bee, Practical Engineering, Chris Animations, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, Tom Nicholas, Mala Armia Janosika, The Great War, World War Two, Make Better Media, Tibees, Cruising Alba, Cruising the Cut, Denys Davydov, Nikolay Kutuzov, Tulia, Lily Alexander, Sufficiently Advanced Lena, Mythology and Fiction Explained, Lilly's expat life, Steam Punk, Dead Good Books, Nerdstalgia, Boat Time, Traveling K, Euronews, Noah Sampson, Cold Fusion, Renegade, Natasha's Adventures, The People Profiles, History of the Universe, What Vivi did next, Brittany the Bibliophile, Patrick is a Navajo, Three Arrows, Mark Felton Productions, Lily Alexander, Yanis Varoufakis, Terra Mater, Wion, Anton Petrov, Petrik Leo, A Cup of Nicole, Jack in the Books, Hello Future Me, I'm Rosa, Alexa Donne, The Radical Reviewer, Books with Emily Fox, Max Joseph, Dr Becky, Joe Scott, A Life of Lit, SandRhoman History, Book Odyssey, MWG Studios, Ryan Chapman, UA Courage, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Chugging Along, Kathy's Flog in France, Art by Annamarie, A Clockwork Reader, Alt Shift X.
I wish you a glorious morning, an exhilarating afternoon, a brilliant evening, a superb night and may we all keep learning.
Censorship is criminal, Self-Censorship is tragic.
Rules, Sisters of the Light
January 5, 2022
A definite set up book for the trilogy introducing new characters and nations.
If you want to learn about spaceship design then this is the book for you. A lot of exposition, not enough action, a definite set up for the books to come. It was too slow for me but I guess a necessary piece of the puzzle. Read it or skip it I really don’t think this particular book matters.A set up book for the next trilogy. Not enough action.
If you want to learn about spaceship design then this is the book for you. A lot of exposition, not enough action, a definite set up for the books to come. It was too slow for me but I guess a necessary piece of the puzzle. Read it or skip it I really don’t think this particular book matters.A set up book for the next trilogy. Not enough action.
February 21, 2021
Book four
Mistakes: Another extremely well written book.
Plot: This book is a build up to war with the other kingdoms in space.
Characters: Still want to follow their adventures.
9/10
Mistakes: Another extremely well written book.
Plot: This book is a build up to war with the other kingdoms in space.
Characters: Still want to follow their adventures.
9/10
March 26, 2022
What a Space opera!
I sat on the edge of my seat thru out this instalment.p I roundly remember the change in cup size when my wife was pregnant. I greave for the crews in the firing ships.
I sat on the edge of my seat thru out this instalment.p I roundly remember the change in cup size when my wife was pregnant. I greave for the crews in the firing ships.
October 7, 2020
Good
Good read , but there should have been more about the twins. Most all stories are about people and how they react to each other.
Good read , but there should have been more about the twins. Most all stories are about people and how they react to each other.
Read
September 14, 2023Good read
Fun read. I laughed a lot while reading this book. Now I need ten more words to finish this review.
Fun read. I laughed a lot while reading this book. Now I need ten more words to finish this review.
January 8, 2020
Weyalnd hits this one out of the park! It is interesting to see how one small decision can set off a chain of events that will change history.
In interviews, Weyland talks about his 'seat of the pants' writing style. He doesn't so much write a story as just document it as it comes to him. It makes for interesting results. I don't think that if he had plotted out the whole story arc from the beginning we would have had such an interesting chain of events. It just would have felt too contrived. As it is we see how a simple question can lead to dramatic results even interstellar war.
With the Empire growing and thriving under the rule of "Trajan the Tyrant". Focus now shifts to the larger area outside the Empire. We are introduced to the independent realms and the other big player in humanity's space the Democracy of Planets. Success breads contempt and it is no less true whether it's business or politics, even among empires.
In interviews, Weyland talks about his 'seat of the pants' writing style. He doesn't so much write a story as just document it as it comes to him. It makes for interesting results. I don't think that if he had plotted out the whole story arc from the beginning we would have had such an interesting chain of events. It just would have felt too contrived. As it is we see how a simple question can lead to dramatic results even interstellar war.
With the Empire growing and thriving under the rule of "Trajan the Tyrant". Focus now shifts to the larger area outside the Empire. We are introduced to the independent realms and the other big player in humanity's space the Democracy of Planets. Success breads contempt and it is no less true whether it's business or politics, even among empires.
October 5, 2019
Off the mark
I was strangely disappointed by this volume I have so enjoyed. I was not bothered by the limited bedroom oceans. I was terminally bored with the recurring rather graphic details of a major supporting character's breast growth in pregnancy. Details that did nothing to contribute to the story line. It is not an unusual occurrence in life so why spend time on it and complaints about breastfeeding her twins. This broke my interest and several times I put my reader. Down and turned on my television and watched some program or other. I would not recommend this volume.
I was strangely disappointed by this volume I have so enjoyed. I was not bothered by the limited bedroom oceans. I was terminally bored with the recurring rather graphic details of a major supporting character's breast growth in pregnancy. Details that did nothing to contribute to the story line. It is not an unusual occurrence in life so why spend time on it and complaints about breastfeeding her twins. This broke my interest and several times I put my reader. Down and turned on my television and watched some program or other. I would not recommend this volume.
September 1, 2019
So good! Quick, write the next one!
This is a great series and I've enjoyed every one of the books more than the one before it. The action and the descriptions are wonderful I just can't say enough good things about it
This is a great series and I've enjoyed every one of the books more than the one before it. The action and the descriptions are wonderful I just can't say enough good things about it
September 18, 2019
Great but A -Ick Ending
I really enjoyed reading this very interesting entertaining fast paced action packed science in the fiction story. I am really upset with the cliffhanger ending.
I really enjoyed reading this very interesting entertaining fast paced action packed science in the fiction story. I am really upset with the cliffhanger ending.
September 17, 2019
Great
Couldn't put it down. Second book. Can't wait for the sequels. Highly recommend this book and all the other books in this series.
Couldn't put it down. Second book. Can't wait for the sequels. Highly recommend this book and all the other books in this series.
August 31, 2019
Good Read!
Continues a very entertaining story. To bad our Country’s leaders of today are not like the Emperor. Looking forward to next volume.
Continues a very entertaining story. To bad our Country’s leaders of today are not like the Emperor. Looking forward to next volume.
September 20, 2019
Good read
This is a good story that sets the tone for the next few books. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.
This is a good story that sets the tone for the next few books. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.
December 8, 2019
Still going strong
This series is making me loss to much sleep. One book ends I rush to the next. Start with book one
This series is making me loss to much sleep. One book ends I rush to the next. Start with book one
December 19, 2019
Fantastic Series
Space opera at its very best by one of the best authors. Empire is great but read the previous books in order.
Space opera at its very best by one of the best authors. Empire is great but read the previous books in order.
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