GODS OF THE VOID Book Review

Gods of the Void¹ (book 3 in The Empire Marathon) by Andrew Valenza, physical book, 342 pages

Synopsis from the back of the book: THERE IS NO MORE RUNNING...

Captain Dex and Lieutenant Lacy Prullen, explorers from Earth, have successfully freed the tribes of jungle planet Taranok from the manipulation of the Empire of the Void. For the first time in the planet's history, the tribes are coming together, and peace looks to be on the horizon. But even as the humans and natives attempt to remain optimistic about the fate of their world, rumors of an apocalypse are spreading - rumors that will test the earthlings and the limits of faith.

The Emperor's promise of salvation may have been a lie, but the Emperor's Wrath seems more real than ever, and is drawing closer with each day. Now, with fears reaching a boiling point, Dex and Lacy must travel to the darkest parts of the universe, and their own hearts, and discover who the Emperor really is.

As they proceed with their mission, one burning question remains: can one ever truly return from the depths of the void?

BOOK REVIEW: Holy moly. We have yet another great continuation for Dex and Lacy with this one. I wasn't sure how this was going to end but can without a doubt say I didn't see that coming. This still has all the great visual descriptions that make me picture old movies and tv shows and I still love it. There were a few chapters I had to restart because I found myself not being able to shut out "life" so I could be in The Void and couldn't figure out how I had gotten to where I was in the book.

I love Robbie. I think he might be one of my favorite characters. I think one of my favorite scenes might be when Dex and Lacy leave Robbie with the ship and they find the station they have landed at seems deserted. They go into a restaurant of sorts and Dex attempts to make Lacy something that could possibly be pancakes without knowing what ingredients he was actually using. Nothing like a good improve with cooking!

This was 5 stars all the way. I laughed. I got choked up. I got angry. I felt awe! I love the way the author writes. He does such an amazing job keeping this story going. His descriptions and characters and worlds are great even if I cannot pronounce a lot the names and places. He has another fan in me! I have no idea what he has up his sleeve but he says in the acknowledgements that there is more to come in the series and I can't wait to see what it is! I want to thank the author for graciously sending me all three books in this series to read and I appreciate that included a physical advance copy of this book. It means the world to me and I'm so sorry that it took me this long to finish it and couldn't get it reviewed before release date!

5/5 Stars

2026 Reading Challenge: 34/55 complete

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