“Awakened Horror” by Quill Holland

Fantasies work on our willingness to suspend our disbelief of fantastic events. Right off the top, this book requires a real stretch. At the end of Book One, a rebellion was successful, but apparently the only way to maintain order was for Raith, the leader of the rebels, to have his mind transferred into the body of Tynan, the evil emperor. So in this book, a good leader wears the face of evil, and deals with mixed reactions from his subjects. If you can get your head around that, everything else flows beautifully.

Fears of the old empire surface, and traces of the old Emperor remain in Raith’s mind. This sets up some great conflicts on different levels, because his political problems mirror his internal struggle, and this affects his family life.

The plot gets into gear when supporters of the original Emperor clone a new version, using the hero’s own mind as a template. In a twist of fate, the template isn’t perfect, and some of the hero’s qualities seep over into the old Emperor’s new personality.

Which gives us two avatars of the emperor fighting over the leadership: an old, evil character with some good impulses, and a new emperor trying to govern morally, but forced by the situation to use some of the evil that resides in him.

The reality of this situation is aided by a believable and sympathetic main character, as we watch him struggle with that old problem; the use of immoral actions to create a greater good. This temptation is deftly presented, and his agonizing is fascinating.

The only flaw in this presentation is the aforementioned tendency to push our belief to the limit. Tynan is overly psychotic, the tortures he inflicts are impossible for the human mind to bear, and the coincidences are sometimes too convenient. And I mean, a battle station half an AU in size? Can you picture how big that is?

The presence of a huge, alien, world-destroying robotic battle station is a good example of the overkill, but it does add urgency to the rest of the story, which ends by wrapping up most of the conflicts neatly enough, leaving only the small matter of an all-powerful alien entity still out there, waiting for the next book in the series.

Recommended for those willing to stretch their imaginations.

4 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

This review was originally published on Reedsy Discovery.

About the Author: Gordon Long

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