EMPIRE OF THE VOID Book Review

Empire of the Void¹ (book 1 in The Empire Marathon series) by Andrew Valenza, physical, 277 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads: Dex and Lacy Prullen are explorers from an alternate 1950s Earth, sent out into the unknown universe to discover what waits beyond the stars for humanity. What they find will send them on an adventure facing off against an Empire led by a god-like being, and a galaxy of devout followers at every turn with no allies to be found for lightyears.

BOOK REVIEW: This book has been on my TBR for awhile. What I wasn't prepared for when signing up to be an ARC reader for the author's book "Gods of the Void" was getting physical copies of books 1 & 2 as Gods of the Void is book 3. Also want to note that I completely forgot that I asked if I could be added to the list of physical copies and was shocked when the package came in the mail. Any who...onto the review (did not mean for that to rhyme btw).

Just by looking at the cover image and knowing that it is set in the 1950s, I had a combination of images in my head. I was picturing the characters in their space suits similar to what Adam West's Batman wore in the 60s and Robin Williams' Mork from Ork. Made this so much more fun to read. I'm not sure how I pictured Robbie though. Part of me was picturing Wall-E and another part R2D2 but also like an animatronic humanoid kind of robot because it is noted when Lacy and Dex shake his hand his arm flops around and then I only heard Robin Williams voice for Robbie. Here's the thing, it wasn't until I finished the book and read the About the Author section that noted how much of a movie buff the author is that all my visuals made sense.

I need to know what happened with Korr. This isn't going to spoil anything because he literally tells Dex that if things go sideways, he's gonna bounce and not look back so of course that told us that things were going to go sideways and Dex would be left to fend for himself. But like I need to know if he comes back which is why I have already started into book 2 and the review should be posted at the same time as this one along with book 3. That's the plan anyway.

Solid 5 stars. I mean in addition to everything that I've written already, the author has given us such a good villain in the Emperor and has built a great space world to be in. I am curious how Korr and Dex were flying in space but yet they saw the big shadow of the bird thing. That has left me stumped but maybe I missed something about the nebula (trust it will make sense when you read this book). The characters are fun. I don't really know yet if I have any actors specifically that I have cast in this and that's something I haven't mentioned in a really long time. This book is in the KU member library at the time of this review going live and is also available in paperback. The margins are small but the font isn't super tiny so that's a plus!

5/5 Stars

2026 Reading Challenge: 29/55 complete

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