The Necropolis Empire

Bianca Xing is a foundling who dreams of getting away from her life on a farm and going to the stars. Her wish comes true when an alien race called the Letnev arrive on her backwater planet to annex it for the Barony of Letnev. They tell Bianca that she is the daughter of a rich man and she needs to come with them to claim her vast fortune.

Bianca quickly learns that she was lied to and has to escape the Letnev. She manages to escape with the help of her new friend Sev and a crew of smugglers. Together, they search for Bianca's origin. What they find is so much stranger than Bianca ever dreamed.

I loved this book. The world building is fantastic! I cared what happened to the characters. Great book! I hope to read more books by Tim Pratt.

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Twilight Imperium book The Necropolis Empire by Tim Pratt, published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.

So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.

I am going to try my best to not let that cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.

What is Twilight Imperium
Twilight Imperium is a much beloved strategy board game published by Fantasy Flight Games that’s currently in its 4th Edition.

First thing to know, it’s very long, my pal Drew, one of the owners of the amazing Meeple Perk, tells me it’s an 8 hour game as a minimum!

Secondly it’s an epic space opera, set in the power vacuum left behind by the decline and collapse of the Lazax Empire, as various races and factions vie for dominance and to become the new galactic superpower.

The Story
The story is about a young girl, Bianca Xing from a remote farming world, whom has spent a lifetime yearning to leave her provincial planet and travel to the stars, but she has a yearning to travel to a certain part of space.

But when her world is annexed by the Barony of Letnev, she is whisked away, told she is the daughter of a scientist of ancient renown, and the heir to a great fortune. But in actual fact, she has a hidden secret hidden within her DNA, secrets that could change the course of the galaxy.

Teaming up with Dampierre a determined Letnev captain, and a crew of treasure hunters turned smugglers, she goes on an adventure to the edge of known space to discover the home world of an ancient civilisation.

This was a big improvement on the last story and in all honesty I expected this to be a continuation of the last story, but its a totally different one with only two recurring characters.

This worked better because there were fewer obvious clichés and it just felt a lot more natural.

Conclusion
As with the Fractured void, this is a fun and enjoyable space opera, just my taste and this is exactly what I needed to read.

There was humour and the clichés that were there, were very well done.

I really struggled to put this book down and was awake until 3am two mornings running because I was just enjoying it so much.

I am really not sure what else to say, its a great read, and even if you have no background knowledge of the game or universe, this is utterly entertaining and wonderful to read.

I know Tim is a great writer and I know I had some mild criticism of his last book, but this seems to have acknowledged all of that, and gone on to produce a better book that takes the good qualities of that and knock it up several notches.

I expected this to be a straight sequal to the last book, but this was a totally different story and it really feels like Tim is doing a lot of world building here, that is really deep and most of all, fun.

More please.

5 out of 5

Pratt has is quite prolific and a good bet if you like his type of sci-fi. This has a big cast, good tech, and is interestingly told, and includes a little humor. Recommended.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

I would like to thank the author and publisher for kindly providing an electronic review copy of this book.

"The Necropolis Empire" by Tim Pratt is a fun space adventure. The story starts with the heroine Bianca Xing on a backward plant longing for a more interesting life. Her wish is soon granted as her planet is invaded by the militant Barony of Letnev, and she finds herself in mysterious circumstances as a "guest" of the Barony as she finds herself zooming across the galaxy as an integral part of their search for the mythical lost riches of the mythical planet of Ixth.

The plot involves farmers, rogues, soldiers, massive living robots, forgotten but still present ancient races with god-like technical powers, spaceships, wormholes, and super-powers. This is an entertaining and humorous science fiction adventure tale.