Let’s get real here. We’re seeing the beginning of an all-powerful Galactic Empress. And you love it.
I admired and adored Felice in “Dignity”. Now I have absolutely thrown myself to the marble floor in complete subjugation.
To backtrack a little bit, “Majesty” is the second installment in the “To Be SInclair” series. The first book,” Dignity” introduced us to Felice, the future Empress. Now, in “Majesty”, she is Empress. WIth a capital “E”.
How do I start off with how awesome Empress Felice is? She’s smart and naive, she’s sexy and kinky, she’s ruthless and humble. She is everything I want in an Empress. She is your ultimate “strong, female” character, just to lend a nod to the mainstream debate.
After I finished reading this novel, I sat back and laughed in utter amazement. I was astounded at how epic this was. It certainly upped the ante on female characters. I would definitely add her to the same level as Aeryn Sun and Zoe Washburne (to name a few).
Yes I am utterly gushing about Felice, but this was alllllll about her. The Emperor was nothing but a shadow to her shining, powerful fireball of Badass. Emperor Victor only nodded his head and took care of the political mumbo jumbo as the Empress wrecked it. Literally. She annihilated a whole battalion with her super secret deadly weapon. With no casualties on her side.
Yeah. She just sat there and went “pew-pew-pew” with her weapon and out they went. It was the best anti-climatic brief war. If I was sitting in the ship watching her, I would thank my birth parents that I was allied to the right side.
Oh, that’s not bad ass enough for you? Ahem….
She….creates…stargates. STARGATES.
I can’t even explain why that’s so jaw-dropping awesome. It just is. An Empress that can create stargates is an Empress that I will swear my life to. I don’t want to be on her wrong side.
And just to add another notch to her bad-ass belt, she bitch-slapped the Council with mathematical statistics. Let that wrap around your mind for a bit. They were trying to tax her stargates so she would “supposedly” end up giving them more money. Turns out they were wrong. Oh so wrong. I have to admit, I could not follow her mathematical reasons. But she has a planet killing weapon, so sure 2+2=6. Whatever you say my Empress.
Okay, I did gloss over some important uses for the Emperor. He was able to drag her away from the computer so she could eat and pay attention to her children. And he did relieve her guilt at killing the invading battalion using some S and M. That’s actually the sexiest thing in this book. There are some quick references to how hot they are for each other and the constant sex, but it’s definitely done behind closed doors.
It’s just….ugh he’s such a wet blanket. I had to roll my eyes when something triggered his emotional breakdown. I felt a little bad when more details of what happened to his parents came to light, but the major mental damage points went to the Lady who runs the girls academy. And she’s dignified as hell.
In fact, all the women in this universe are dignified. Even the crazy killer ones. The men are bumbling, whiny brats. As a person who shows every emotion on their face, it freaks me out not knowing what the other person is thinking behind a poker face. Very, uncomfortable.
There is an interesting tidbit regarding the children being made in the Sinclair family. As previously discussed in their wedding agreement, a gestation chamber would be used for the conception of ten children (Yup. The agreement was for the couple to produce 10 children). So the Empress uses fertility drugs to increase her chances of viable eggs and then they grow them in test tubes. MM hmmm. Test tube babies. There is a nod to the society debate over natural birth and gestation chambers. I have to side with my Empress here. I have a loooooooow pain threshold so I’m all for the gestation chamber.
I have to say though, the births are so adorable and touching that I giggled. I giggled and grinned during my lunch break but it was so damn heartwarming.
If you haven’t started on this series, I would highly recommend it even more now. The style is different and takes a bit to get used to, but it makes sense in that world. I would say that the second installment is 95% science/2.5% love and devotion/ 2.5% Emperor.
Length: Novel
Genre: Science Fiction/Space drama
Primary Book Format: e-format
Publisher/Imprint: Amazon Digital Services, Inc
Blush Quotient: Invisible
Smart Girls Rating: 5 stars
Can order it here: Amazon
Find out more info about the author and series here.
(Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher/authors in exchange for an honest review.)
Smart Girls love SciFi 
Creates stargates? Awesome.
I’m going to be honest here. The fact that you classify all the men in this series, so far, as bumbling, whiny brats, makes me NOT want to read it. I hate it when men are portrayed that way.
I also don’t like it when women are so focused on everything else that they’re not interested in being a wife or mother. To me, that’s the highest calling a woman can have. I’ve been on the fence about this series for close to a year now, and the more reviews I see that gush about all the things I can’t stand, the more convinced I am to not read them.
I can certainly understand that, Rachel. Yet I never intended the men to ‘come across’ that way. My intention as an author was to show an Emperor who has mental problems from being traumatized at six years of age, and an Empress-scientist who is suddenly obsessed with her work because she thinks she may have achieved the impossible.
I can assure you, reviewers ‘take away’ many things from a book that were never intended by the author, simply because they have their own perspectives on life. Throughout my series, I write men who deal with their emotions, instead of suppressing them. Some people interpret men as ‘weak’ if they do that, whereas I find ultra-macho alpha male characters unrealistic.
I’m actually laughing to myself about the ‘bumbling, whiny brats’ part because the ones she must be referring to are politicians…. Not sure how realistic that is in our current political arena, but my characterization of them certainly reflects my personal perception of them, particularly when they cast votes for no other reason than to thwart other politicians, with complete disregard for the actual value of the issue. Equal Rights Amendment, anyone?
Very true, Eva.
I also have problems connecting with most female leads, and tend to steer clear of books that are heavily in her POV. It’s one of the reasons I don’t like first person. Nine times out of ten I’d rather be in his head, especially in a romance.
it is true…the bumbling whiny idiots referred to the politicians. the emperor came off as just overwhelmed by the sheer awesome of the Empress…She is just too awesome…like a very shiny star…
Thanks! That’s how I visualize her, too. I wanted a strong female character, but I had to put her in a society where she had to struggle, too. JUST LIKE OURS, hey?
She’s basically a composite of every scientist I have known, male or female, especially when she gets all OCD when hot on the trail of her discovery. She’s actually borderline Aspergers, though she doesn’t really figure that out until the add-on book of the series (four novellas) when one of her sons is dating a lady with autism.
Thanks Rachel, Eva, and Dragonmaiden! So great to see some discussion of the series and our takes on what makes a good hero/heroine. I do love some first person female POV books, but In romance I always miss the male POV a little when it isn’t there. I like to be able to get into the hero’s head. Of course this may say more about the fact that, despite being very simple at times, men still mystify me. LOL
Haha, Charlee! Out of 8 books in my series so far, I only write in 3 female POV’s, and all three are practical, determined, science-minded ladies who don’t tend to think like ‘typical ladies’. The finale I’m working on is the same. All the other protagonists are men. I’ve always felt more comfortable writing from a male POV because I’ve always had more male friends than female friends. Except on Facebook, for some reason; I have tons of female friends there. I don’t know if that ‘means’ anything, though!