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The Praxis

The Dread Empire's Fall Trilogy, Book 1

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The Praxis

By: Walter Jon Williams
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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About this listen

“Space opera the way it ought to be.... Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” (George R. R. Martin)

The first book in the completed Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy, followed by The Sundering and Conventions of War.

All will must bend to the perfect truth of the Praxis.

For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The Dread Empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order...and bloody chaos.

A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid - the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others - to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains - as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.

©2002 Walter Jon Williams (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media First Contact Military Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Interstellar Emotionally Gripping
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Story well written, but I think I’d enjoy this military space opera better in print.

Deep voice narrator is not for me

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this is an epic story and series. the world building is fantastic. binged the whole series and waiting for the next to come

true space opera with grand scope

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I had no prior knowledge of this author when starting the book and while it was not a fast paced action packed story the characters and intrigue kept me listening.
it was good enough for me to go onto the second and third book. If you enjoy solid science fiction this is for you.

A slow burn that was surprisingly good

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story was ok but hard to listen to as there was no emotion in the telling

story was ok but it was so flat to listen to

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The series does have a science fiction setting but is pretty much just a story of social snobbery, political frustration and emotional confusion, with a war time backdrop.
The narrator really doesn’t get into it and lacks enough variety for the number of characters.

This isn’t for the military sci fi fans.

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