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The galaxy stands on the brink of war, yet hope remains that the vast web of schemes can be exposed before it’s too late, in this astounding space opera from the acclaimed game, Twilight Imperium
The balance of power is shifting, with bold new alliances, unknown invaders, and the rumored return of the galaxy’s ancient masters. When black-ops spy Amina Azad saves a Hacan ambassador from assassination, she draws him into her investigation of a vast conspiracy: unseen forces are destabilizing the whole galaxy, at the worst possible time. Pursued by agents from dozens of other factions, they can only make progress by allying with their apparent enemies. But even they might be compromised – duped into action by a secret puppet-master. How can they trust an alliance when they can’t trust themselves?
| Dimensions | 13 × 2.29 × 19.71 cm |
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sjhigbee –
The first thing to get out of the way is the Twilight Imperium aspect. Apparently, this entertaining series of space opera adventure books is a spin-off from a popular board game, Twilight Imperium. I mention this in case some fans of the game are prompted to pick up the books. However, if you are a reader who generally avoids reading books connected to TV series, films and games (like me!) you can ignore this nugget of information. If I hadn’t told you the origin of the novel, there’s nothing in the storytelling, characterisation or worldbuilding that would give it away.One of the aspects that I really like is that although this book is set within the same world as The Necropolis Empire, it is essentially a standalone, even though there are characters from previous adventures that pop up, giving us further insights into their motivations and vulnerabilities. This time, the conspiracy our plucky black-ops heroine is scrambling to head off is truly horrific. Space opera is difficult to write well, as the storyline is often pan-galactic in scope and requires frequent changes of scene and character in order to fully explore all aspects and consequences of the narrative arc. Pratt’s upbeat, energetic style skilfully avoids all the pitfalls, instead giving us intriguing, layered characters, despite the necessary scene changes; and a clear plotline that emerges from the twisty conspiring which held me from the beginning.I very much like that fact that Pratt’s characters are morally ambiguous. Our protagonists are often self-serving and a bit dodgy. While the ultimate antagonists are not necessarily evil monsters – even though the fate they have in mind is a terrible one for millions of unsuspecting sentient beings. One of the big attractions of Pratt’s writing is that while he is often dealing with dark deeds, the tone of his books tends not to get overly grim, as there are some nice touches of humour throughout to leaven the enormity of the threat. I understand that this is the last of his Twilight Imperium novels – which I very much regret. As ever, tucking into this adventure was a blast and I look forward to reading more from this skilful, entertaining author. While I obtained an arc of The Veiled Masters from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.9/10
Michael S. Lawson –
The best book in this series yet!
The Veiled Masters by Tim Pratt is the third book set in the “Twilight Imperium” universe. As with the first two books, this one can easily be read as a stand-alone. There is some overlap between the books but never the less the story is complete without having previously having read any of the other books.In this one, someone has framed a Hacan diplomat for murdering his good friend. He is broken out of jail by a human operative and the story takes off from there. This story is a mix of political machinations and investigative spy sci-fi intrigue. The story will take many twists and turns and in my opinion, it is the best book in the series yet. If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, you will find this one even more satisfying.
Julian Sanchez –
Fun SciFi Popcorn—And the best of the TI Novels
“The Veiled Masters” shares the defects and virtues of its predecessors, but on balance the virtues are more pronounced and the defects less glaring this time around, making it by a wide margin the best of Pratt’s Twilight Imperium trilogy.So, let’s be clear about what this is and isn’t: It’s not (and is not trying to be) Phillip K Dick or Gene Wolf or Iain Banks. Graded on that curve it’d rate around 2.5 stars. But for what it’s aiming at—sci-fi beach reading with a fun, fast space opera adventure story–it’s successful. The prose is still functional but bland; the characters are still thin bordering on cartoonish (with an irritating habit of telling-not-showing you what kind of person they are and what motivates them); the plot is still a variation on stuff you’ve seen plenty of times before. But it’s better on all those fronts than the previous efforts in the series, and propels you along enjoyably enough that you never really mind. Here we finally get a taste of the sort of intra-factional scheming and political gamesmanship I’d hoped to find in a story rooted in the Twilight Imperium universe, in what is essentially a paranoid espionage thriller with spaceships. Felix Duval, Amira Azad, and Captain Severyne from the previous books reappear, and new protagonist Terrak, a Hacan ambassador, may be my favorite of the lot. If you enjoyed the previous two books, you’ll probably like this one even better, and if you were disappointed in the first two, you may find this one more satisfying.
Darth Zorg –
The finale of Pratts work on TI to date it was worth it!
The finale of Pratts work was worth it! Filled with some previous books characters, fun twists, and humor. The character development hinted at in the first two books really comes together with a couple of clever ahaa and whodunnit moments. Trust issues and conflicting alliances between several reoccurring characters collide in what turns out to be surprising and informative way. While still making an awkwardly dangerous romantic entanglement between two characters from very different worlds seem almost sweet.A couple of fun political machinations and investigative spy sci-fi intrigue moments, mixed with more witty repartee, and a dash tart sardonic humor. From beginning to end the series has been as advertised… An epic sci-fi, bubblegum for the brain, joy ride across the perilous Twilight Imperium galaxies leaving me inspired to know more of the universe—which is the point. I consumed these books like the hard candy literature it was, while being happily surprised with the twists, it was like getting to the center of a tootsie pop.
greyjoy1 –
Random POV change
I enjoyed the other two Twilight Imperium novels. But for some reason this one starts in first person POV and then switches back and forth with other POV styles. I call this novel unreadable. I didn’t finish it. I’m very sad about that, but… consistency.