Swords Over the Stars: An Epic Military Space Opera: The Eternal Series, Book 1

by Roman Zlotnikov

Humanity, having reached the Space more than a hundred years ago, fights against an aggressive civilization which contains a huge number of races and species and tries to take people over, too. There’s a more peculiar point, as the leading race representatives look like devils. They are extremely strong and viable and, moreover, have ability of hypnotizing sentient beings and controlling them. They are rumored to be almost immortal. Also, among the creatures they control there are legendary ones such as tolls, orcs and demons. Due to the specific of ultrahigh space physics, which allows to exceed much the speed of light, the warfare turned back to the age of pirates of the Caribbean. It turns out that offensive aid in ultrahigh space lost its efficiency, but when the ships approach each other, no matter at which angle even head-on, they can not help moving in course line. As a result, close and boarding fight came back into use. Thus, technical excellence dives way to personal courage and dare to meet the enemy in hand-to-hand battle. Owing a lot to this fact a new brotherhood (if not a class) of professional warriors has emerged, and they receive the name of ‘Dons’. This multinational and multicultural society is highly religious due to the specifics of the clash. A lot of customs and traditions popped out, such as obligatory moustache for men or personal nickname, some of them quite curious as Balky Bull, Fungus Face or Beer Cask, often pointing out the most important feature or trait. Futhermore, nicknames such as Ironhand or Blackdeath would immediately inform any Don that its owner is a dude never been in a combat. Unlike nicknames, surnames are not as frequent, neither are other means of identification. It is widely believed that a man cuts himself off his previous life by joining the Dons. Yet, the war with ‘Devils’, much better known as ‘Red Princes’, has raised the religious spirits of the society. It happened more or less in this or that country, however, soon after the war broke out, the Pope declares the restoration of religious orders. Also men spread all over the galaxy have created quite a few new social institutions. For instance, there is a kingdom where men and women exchanged roles completely. Women used to be warriors there while the men were mostly househusbands.

478 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2019

About the author

I spent twenty years as a military officer before I started writing. A colonel in the Russian Interior Forces, firearms instructor, combat psychology teacher — I didn't study war in libraries. I lived it.

When I finally picked up a pen, I wrote what I knew: men under impossible pressure, codes of honor tested by blood, and civilizations hanging by a thread. Sixty novels and over ten million copies later, I became Russia's bestselling military science fiction author.

My flagship series The Eternal follows an immortal warrior fighting a centuries-long war against alien invaders — with a sword, a code of honor, and the weight of humanity's survival on his shoulders. Fans of David Weber's Honor Harrington and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga call it "the hidden gem of European military sci-fi."

The Eternal is now available in English for the first time as "Swords Over the Stars."

Awards include Aelita (Russia's highest sci-fi honor, 2013), Sci-Fi Writer of the Year (RosCon, 2011), and over a dozen national literary prizes.

This Goodreads page is maintained by me and my son Ivan.

Reviews

[Willow Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading it! It was a really good book and I could not put it down until I finished it!