Synopsis: Caught in the middle of a war in which they have no voice, the neutral planet of Antares launches a desperate plot to end the conflict that threatens their world. The seven royal daughters of Emperor Agreios face both their enemies and challenges to their resolve. The universe will shake from their actions.
The Antaran Legacy begins with the choices facing the small planet of Antares during the Human-Proxan War.-Goodreads
Review: For Duty is a sensational beginning to The Antaran Legacy series. Right from the opening scene it was the epitome of smart science fiction. Not smart as in throwing too much scientific jargon at the reader or focusing more on the facts than the story, but in that Matthew C. Plourde obviously has crafted a well fleshed-out future for humanity, created intelligent characters and managed to draw the reader into his novel right from the first chapter.
The world(s) that Matthew Plourde has created for this book is what made For Duty really stand out in my mind. Generations have passed since humanity left Earth, and since then we have splintered off into three very distinct cultures that are drastically different, rarely get along and seem to have forgotten their common heritage. The Antaran’s are easily the most overlooked faction and barely seem to have a voice that the other societies bother to hear (actually, they don’t even seem to have a universally recognized claim to their own planet) so it becomes that much more interesting to watch them try to claim a place for themselves on a galactic scale. I know I tend to root for the underdog so I sympathized with this group of people right from the get go, even when they had to be somewhat underhanded to achieve their goals.
At times the reading was a little too heavy for my taste and I found myself missing some of the finer details, but taking that into account against the grand scheme of the book, it was a minor setback to a great story. For the most part, For Duty is beautifully written, clever and actually had my heart racing from time to time. I loved gradually getting to know Helena and found many of the supporting characters to be engaging and well developed as well.
I don’t know much about where this series is headed, how many books are planned or the timeline it will cover but I’m very interested to see how the Antaran people (and hopefully their leadership) face whatever is coming next. I was really impressed by this book and highly recommended it for sci-fi fans. Whether you like character driven stories, strange alien cultures or military strategies this story covers so many of the aspects that make science fiction so fantastic.
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Rating
Looks interesting… hmm