Empire (In Her Name: Redemption, Book 1) by Michael R. Hicks

Book Description: Empire is the coming-of-age story of Reza Gard, a young boy of the Human Confederation who is swept up in the century-long war with the alien Kreelan Empire. Nightmarish female warriors with blue skin, fangs, and razor sharp talons, the Kreelans have technology that is millennia beyond that of the Confederation, yet they seek out close combat with sword and claw, fighting and dying to honor their god-like Empress.

Captured and enslaved, Reza must live like his enemies in a grand experiment to see if humans have souls, and if one may be the key to unlocking an ages old curse upon the Kreelan race. Enduring the brutal conditions of Kreelan life, Reza and a young warrior named Esah-Zhurah find themselves bound together by fate and a prophecy foretold millennia before they were born.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

I read the In Her Name: The Last War series before beginning on the Redemption trilogy so I could read it in chronological order and am really glad I did.  I feel it gave me a better understanding of the Kreelan culture before beginning Empire. That said, the character building and overall storytelling involved in this book was fantastic. The story is compelling, harsh and brutal at points while allowing the reader to love the same characters who sometimes make the harshest decisions as well as delivering a love story to rival some of the classics. It's so easy to tell someone why you didn't like a book, but when a writer produces a story that really has that extra something so captivating that it draws you in to where you sit up all night reading even knowing full well that you have to be up early for work and that you'll be tired all day it's harder to express. How do you share that with someone else?  So, I'll do my best to tell you that it was heartwarming and fascinating to follow Reza. You share his fears, friends, struggles, accomplishments, love and heartbreak as he grows up in the alien culture of the Kreelans that become more his family than any he had ever known. Mr. Hicks has created a host of interesting and complex characters to draw the reader into this story. Tesh-Dar became a favorite character while reading The Last War trilogy and I was glad to see her and other intriguing characters were explored much more in depth in Empire. It was a great read and I'll be sad when I run out of books in the series.  Mr. Hicks has done an outstanding job of telling his tale. If you love great storytelling I'm sure you'll enjoy Empire.