Barbarians at the Gates

I have been after a solid hard sci-fi book for a while, one with a strong military foundation but that offers a wider view of the book’s universe than a purely action focus. Some politics, some universe building, but not one of those hard sci-fi books that makes you have an existential breakdown as you begin to question what existence really means (I’m looking at you, Revelation Space). I’ve been through a lot of novels in my search, some good, some not so good, but within a half hour of listening to Barbarians at the Gates, I knew that I had found exactly what I had been searching for.

So first off, don’t let the series’ rather stretched-out title of ‘The Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire’ put you off. Yes, it’s a bit wordy for my liking, and frankly a bit on the nose, but the fact that this book is exactly what it says in the title doesn’t diminish the content at all. We start off in a human dominated galaxy (or at least as much of the galaxy as humans have spread to) where every encountered intelligent alien race has either been subjugated or exterminated by we plucky humans after a rather disastrous first contact war. The first ETs we met tried to conquer us, but we ended up conquering them, and now the iron-clad rule with regards to aliens is that if we can’t control them and confine them to their home world under human ‘supervision’, then we have to destroy them. This policy has allowed humanity to spend a couple of thousand years spreading through space setting up countless colonies and forming into a sprawling federal republic based around Earth. However, said republic has grown fat off its success with a de facto political aristocracy evolving whose sole purpose is to squeeze every last resource out of the colonies so that they can all line their pockets on Earth and provide all the required amenities for the largely illiterate, skill-less, and constantly reproducing masses on our mother planet to keep voting them into power time and time again. Sounds like the perfect basis for a good old rebellion? You’re damned right. I’ll stop there to avoid spoilers, but what we get with this book is a great backdrop of political and social upheaval upon which some brilliant hard sci-fi action can occur. In short, exactly the kind of nerd-tastic sci-fi I love.

The book is third person perspective with two main characters plus a whole host of smaller perspective shifts to various others throughout the story. Our two protagonists are Admiral Marius Drake, a practical man of action who has spent years vainly fighting pirates whilst lacking the resources to get the job done properly, and young Cadet Roman Garibaldi, a final year at the federation’s military academy, orphaned after his parents were killed in a pirate raid. These two characters are fantastic. We get enough character development for them and their surrounding companions to make us thoroughly invested in their success whilst also throwing in enough secondary character perspectives to give us a truly broad view of the situation from all angles. Nuttall has walked this balance perfectly, and if I had to make a comparison for similar books, I would say it is more in line with the amazing Star Fire series than it is the legendary Honour Harrington books, but fans of either should love this novel. One of the other great aspects of the many smaller character perspectives is that a lot of them end with the character’s death. This really does keep you on your toes as not a one of these secondary characters has any sort of plot armour. Great stuff.

The pacing of the story is also on point. I won’t be giving anything away by saying that this book takes place over many years, and in some novels the inevitable time jumps required for such a long story can seem jarring. Here though Nuttall manages to keep the story going fairly seamlessly, with enough brief info dumps worked into the narrative that we always know exactly what has occurred in the time that we skipped, and never does the story slow enough for that ever-present action itch to take hold. There are some pretty brutal parts of the story as well. Nuttal doesn’t hold back, but it is never done to excess or without purpose. This book also has a strong sprinkling of my all-time most hated type of character: officers who are terrible at their jobs and appointed only for political reasons, and oh boy do I love to see them get what’s coming.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It kept me both hooked and entertained throughout, and I had Book 2 already lined up for when I finished Book 1 despite the next instalment in my all-time favourite series being released whilst I was listening to Barbarians at the Gate. It never quite reached those dizzying emotional highs and lows that would claim it one of my very rare 5 Star reviews, but it was a damned good listen. Good enough that I am now looking forward to listening to more of Nuttal’s work once I have smashed through this trilogy.

As for narration, well, it’s Tim Gerard Reynolds. The man is an artist, and after his exceptional performance in the Red Rising series, anything his name is attached to is probably going to do well with me. The man has range, portrays emotion like a few others, and has a way of making characters come to life as if they were in the same room as you. Fantastic performance as ever.  

Score: 4.5 stars

Like the way I write a review? Then you might like the way I write a novel. Link to Book 1 in the Blood and Balance series below, or for more info on my book series click HERE.

Buy 'The Sage's Lot (Blood and Balance, Book 1)' here!