It became abundantly clear to me why William C. Dietz is a New York Times best selling author of more than 30 novels after reading his latest release "Andromeda's Fall," netting a four star rating.
"Andromeda's Fall," publicized in December is a military science fiction complete with intergalactic travel detailing the realities of governments ruling the world via mass murder and extreme corruption. Ophelia, an empress of evil is very reminiscent of the one percent of the wealthy ruling the world or in her case the universe, who thrives on greed and the destruction of the poor and middle class.
"Andromeda's Fall," is the first of three books in a prequel to "Legion of the Damned" and eight other books continuing where "Legion of the Damned" ended.
"Andromeda's Fall" starts fast and flavorable when androids, sent by Ophelia kill her brother Alfred so she can acquire more power. Ophelia is practically her own government with the money and armies to kill all who oppose her. Ophelia is responsible for the death of Lady Catherine Carletto's parents who had the money and might to combat her.
Carletto also know as Cat has a sole quest to bring down Ophelia and anyone standing in her way. The odds are stacked against Cat, who must dodge and fight military, law enforcement and androids whose single mission in life is to kill Cat via the orders of Ophelia.
"Andromeda’s Fall" takes place 100s of years in the future. There are several planets humans now live on including Earth where Alfred was murdered in Denver
Cat soon joins the Legion, an army unto itself. The Legion is a large and fully functioning military complete with men, women and machines to combat those attacking them. The Legion fights for themselves, not meaningless wars for one percent of the population to get richer.
While in the Legion, Cat is no longer alone in fighting Ophelia and she learns how to use weapons and fight by hand. An intense moment occurs on the planet Drang when some of the Legion members are in ranks, too small to fend off Ophelia's army of androids. A single android is allowed to inspect the ranks looking for Cat. The android has the ability for eye and facial scanning to find a match. It's extremely clever and lucky how Cat avoids captivity and being killed by the android in this moment.
The book has its funny moments as well. Some soldiers were rocketing to another planet and upon arrival puked in their military battle helmets due to the fast motion of space travel, then the orders came; all soldiers put on your head gear.
This book is a four star read, but I do recommend reading Dietz's "Legion of the Damned" and the eight other books following it first. I wish I had done that myself. Despite some things unexplained or vaguely mentioned in Andromeda's Fall," the eloquent writing of Dietz carries this prequel into the richest realms of the imaginations, leaving the reader wanting more.
