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Primae Noctis
It was the first night of humanity, now known as the Calamity: a time of global crisis that led to the deaths of more than 99% of the world's 13.6 billion inhabitants.
Sixty years later, and with the guidance of the Archonae, the survivors live in an idyllic society of secure and protected cities designed to elevate humanity to its full potential and prevent the problems of the past from recurring.
However, not everyone is content with life in the new utopia.
Primae Noctis follows a diverse cast of characters through an expansive, future world:
• Nan Allegra is a political historian with outspoken views. She is in pursuit of a mystery that no one else seems to care about, but could be of critical importance to the future.
• Archon Devlin is responsible for the Recovery, a global programme to recycle the remains of the former cities of Earth into useful, raw materials. He is deeply concerned with the future direction of humanity.
• Jones is a man who doesn’t remember his first name or his past, but hopes to change the future. His mission is to assemble a group of citizens in the world’s second-largest city to aid him on his quest.
• Reginald Mullen is a Knight charged with protecting the citizens from the dangers of the Wilderness. He finds strength in ensuring a secure future for the citizens of his city.
• Franklin Murakami is an administrator and designer at the largest nanotech production facility in the world. His designs help to shape the future.
• Sylvie Mathieu is an AIC administrator in Republica. She has never engaged in an intimate relationship with anyone, and only cares about the future of her daughter, Leila.
• Henry Roston is an engineer who lives a carefree existence and spends his leisure time in the Entertainment District of the city. For him, the future is the present.
Primae Noctis is the first in a trilogy of high-concept, science fiction novels filled with action, intrigue, and suspense. With a tasteful modicum of violence, sexuality, history, and philosophy, Primae Noctis was written for the adult, hard science fiction audience.
Sixty years later, and with the guidance of the Archonae, the survivors live in an idyllic society of secure and protected cities designed to elevate humanity to its full potential and prevent the problems of the past from recurring.
However, not everyone is content with life in the new utopia.
Primae Noctis follows a diverse cast of characters through an expansive, future world:
• Nan Allegra is a political historian with outspoken views. She is in pursuit of a mystery that no one else seems to care about, but could be of critical importance to the future.
• Archon Devlin is responsible for the Recovery, a global programme to recycle the remains of the former cities of Earth into useful, raw materials. He is deeply concerned with the future direction of humanity.
• Jones is a man who doesn’t remember his first name or his past, but hopes to change the future. His mission is to assemble a group of citizens in the world’s second-largest city to aid him on his quest.
• Reginald Mullen is a Knight charged with protecting the citizens from the dangers of the Wilderness. He finds strength in ensuring a secure future for the citizens of his city.
• Franklin Murakami is an administrator and designer at the largest nanotech production facility in the world. His designs help to shape the future.
• Sylvie Mathieu is an AIC administrator in Republica. She has never engaged in an intimate relationship with anyone, and only cares about the future of her daughter, Leila.
• Henry Roston is an engineer who lives a carefree existence and spends his leisure time in the Entertainment District of the city. For him, the future is the present.
Primae Noctis is the first in a trilogy of high-concept, science fiction novels filled with action, intrigue, and suspense. With a tasteful modicum of violence, sexuality, history, and philosophy, Primae Noctis was written for the adult, hard science fiction audience.
- GenresScience Fiction
658 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 2, 2012
2 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Aimery Thomas
3 books9 followersAimery was born in Los Angeles, California. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations (with honours) from the Australian National University.
Aimery has resided in Australia for the past 10 years.
Aimery has resided in Australia for the past 10 years.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 21, 2013
A pretty good story, with a couple of glaring holes. The holes may be purely due to its biggest drawback — which is that it is not book one of a trilogy. It's the first third of a thousand page tome. I really hate that. In a series, every book needs to have some conclusion. In this case, I received this volume free, so it's more like a teaser for the rest, but if I'd paid for it, I'd be more than a little miffed finding it end in a cliff-hanger, without even really much of a clue what the apparent conspiracy is about.
The major plot hole is the rebuilding of an incredibly advanced civilization just 59 years after an apocalyptic event. Sure, it looks as if the collapse of civilization may have come 800 years or so from now (some diary entries dated 2814.1 and 2814.2) and so the technology demonstrated is probably less advanced than the tech before the collapse, but you couldn't possibly rebuild our current technology from nothing in 59 years. You need working machinery to build the machinery. It took 300 years to get where we are from the beginning of the steam age. We can be sure that, if we managed to save the know-how, we could do it over in much less time, but you need to show me how that's going to work, instead of assuming it.
Sometimes it reads as if Thomas is trying out words just to demonstrate his vocabulary. Unfortunately, he needs to actually consult a dictionary. There's a difference between wrath and wroth, and between apropos and appropriate.
Edit: May 16
OK, this just took a nosedive from a 2-star review to a 1-star because I received a "thank-you for your review" message from the author, who proceeded to tell me I was wrong.
"There were a few errors in your review that pertain to the details contained within the story. Perhaps it is simply me who has failed as an author, but I would like to point them out to you. There are no spoilers, as you have already read the novel.
1) The events of the novel take place over a time span of 300+ years. This is covered in detail and exposition as the story progresses. The protagonists are simply led to believe that the story takes place over 59 years."
Yeah, except he forgot to tell us that... [oh, and the blurb says it's "Sixty years later..."!]
"2) Primae Noctis is a trilogy, as the books were planned concurrently in a story arc. Many authors choose to write one novel and see where the whim of story takes them, but The Once and Future Lords Trilogy has a story bible for all three books. I apologize if you felt that the end of the novel was a bit of a cliffhanger, but this was my deliberate intention to set the stage for Tempus Belli."
So what if it was your intention? I have a right to feel cheated. And to warn readers that they're likely to, as well.
"3) Wrath and wroth are different forms of the same root word. ... I choose my words quite deliberately and chose the language I use in the novel as a patois of older more formal English and the 'newspeak' of the world of the novel."
Except that you used the adjectival form where you wanted the noun. And that was only the example he actually thought he could defend...
Geez, authors. Take your lumps and be quiet - you can never win by arguing with your reviews.
December 30, 2012
(On my blog, this got a 3.5, which translates to a 3 here. I still wish Goodreads would do half stars, because it would make my life easier.)
This is going to be a really difficult review to write, because I’m kind of conflicted in what I thought about this book. To give you an idea of how many thoughts I’ll be wrangling, I should explain how it works. As I read, I take notes — usually stream of consciousness stuff and first reactions — on my iPhone. I then email said notes to myself, put it into a document and try to turn it into a review.
Primae Noctis is epic length, over 650 pages in its print version. I have four Word pages worth of notes to condense.
Admittedly, the majority of them never see the review. They are reactionary, unpolished, and often relate to spoilers. Still, I have to make sense of the melee to write a decent review. And since I had a lot of thoughts about this book, it’s a lot of melee! I need a sword and shield just to survive it, I think…
…but I digress.
I think I generally liked it, but still found it a little hard to read. Thomas is a very exacting writer, which is okay, but for my tastes, it makes the writing kind of dense. I had been concerned about the “hard” science fiction angle, but the tech/science wasn’t a problem. It was mostly that everything world-building related seems to be described in detail, down to clothing and food. Thomas reminds me of a sci-fi Robert Jordan. That works very well for a lot of people, but I apparently am a little hyper when reading. I tend to want to keep up a quicker pace.
And when the writing is too exact, it can make you feel disconnected from the story and characters, it’s harder to feel what they feel and can give the prose an almost bloodless quality at points. It’s a delicate line and the writing in Primae Noctis tended to straddle the fence for much of the beginning.
I felt like the story dragged through much of the first 40% (roughly 250 pages). The first several chapters don’t seem to see many things happening, but just introduce you to the characters. Which is fine, we need to know them, but I like to see more plot at the same time. I would rather more plot and less world building details. But again, this could just be me.
There was a real feel hearkening back to the cinematic days of “Logan’s Run” and its like, which I think was part of my problem: everything seemed to be written out like describing a movie visual with every detail. I prefer things a little fuzzier, so I can make my own pictures.
Semi-related to the “hearkening feel,” the book had a strange quality of sliding between originality and stereotype. I found the world building and technology to be very precise and intriguing, even if I didn’t feel like I needed to see as much as I did. I liked the cohort marriage idea, though I worried that the book would end up demonizing the idea as being part of the “bad” society, but that didn’t happen. (Hopefully it won’t in the next book.) There were elements of the story — such as the history of the Calamity and the connections of the Anarchon’s early comrades, along with a few other things — that stood out and I liked.
Yet on the other side, a lot of the book didn’t feel very new or ground breaking in the genre. Which is fine, few books truly do and no story can be truly original, but with a book of such heft, I guess my expectations got a little high.
Sometimes it felt like character development was sacrificed for world building: emotional reactions in scenes went from A to C without time on B. Like, person A says something that person B reacts hugely to, when what A said wasn’t yet that big a deal You want to see more emotional build up before B hits the ceiling. To understand it and feel it yourself. Such as the Reveal talk between Jones and Nan. I would have liked to have seen more foreshadowing in Nan before she accepts it so easily.
And sometimes there were large events that caused interpersonal schisms, but we only returned to those characters when things were good again. We didn’t see the changing and the healing, even if we saw the breaking.
Despite the slow start, around 40% there is a Major Event, and things really do start picking up after that. While what I said above about sacrificing a bit of a character and a little too much world building remains true, it wasn’t as pronounced. Emotional reactions we saw started making sense.
In fact, it almost felt like I was reading two different books. In the first half, I didn’t really like how many of the female characters were portrayed, but that improved in the second half. The prose felt a little bloodless in the first half, but that improved in the second. None of the characters really “grabbed” me in the first half, but they did in the second… etc., etc.,
I did like a lot of elements of the story. By the end, I was very much keeping my fingers crossed for the cohort, and I liked Jones and Prospero a lot. I ended up liking Reg and Alysha and Ito, too. I thought the Major Event around 40% was well done, if naturally harsh, and I thought Ito’s Big Scene towards the end was very well done.
So, here’s where I’m conflicted. If I would review/rate this book based on the first half, I probably wouldn’t like it. Just on the second, I would… but since I usually judge a book more by how it ends than by how it starts, I’m going with I liked it. Although I struggled early on, I did get into it in that latter half and I want to know what happens next enough that I’ll probably get the next book.
I think I gotta give this one 3.5.
This is going to be a really difficult review to write, because I’m kind of conflicted in what I thought about this book. To give you an idea of how many thoughts I’ll be wrangling, I should explain how it works. As I read, I take notes — usually stream of consciousness stuff and first reactions — on my iPhone. I then email said notes to myself, put it into a document and try to turn it into a review.
Primae Noctis is epic length, over 650 pages in its print version. I have four Word pages worth of notes to condense.
Admittedly, the majority of them never see the review. They are reactionary, unpolished, and often relate to spoilers. Still, I have to make sense of the melee to write a decent review. And since I had a lot of thoughts about this book, it’s a lot of melee! I need a sword and shield just to survive it, I think…
…but I digress.
I think I generally liked it, but still found it a little hard to read. Thomas is a very exacting writer, which is okay, but for my tastes, it makes the writing kind of dense. I had been concerned about the “hard” science fiction angle, but the tech/science wasn’t a problem. It was mostly that everything world-building related seems to be described in detail, down to clothing and food. Thomas reminds me of a sci-fi Robert Jordan. That works very well for a lot of people, but I apparently am a little hyper when reading. I tend to want to keep up a quicker pace.
And when the writing is too exact, it can make you feel disconnected from the story and characters, it’s harder to feel what they feel and can give the prose an almost bloodless quality at points. It’s a delicate line and the writing in Primae Noctis tended to straddle the fence for much of the beginning.
I felt like the story dragged through much of the first 40% (roughly 250 pages). The first several chapters don’t seem to see many things happening, but just introduce you to the characters. Which is fine, we need to know them, but I like to see more plot at the same time. I would rather more plot and less world building details. But again, this could just be me.
There was a real feel hearkening back to the cinematic days of “Logan’s Run” and its like, which I think was part of my problem: everything seemed to be written out like describing a movie visual with every detail. I prefer things a little fuzzier, so I can make my own pictures.
Semi-related to the “hearkening feel,” the book had a strange quality of sliding between originality and stereotype. I found the world building and technology to be very precise and intriguing, even if I didn’t feel like I needed to see as much as I did. I liked the cohort marriage idea, though I worried that the book would end up demonizing the idea as being part of the “bad” society, but that didn’t happen. (Hopefully it won’t in the next book.) There were elements of the story — such as the history of the Calamity and the connections of the Anarchon’s early comrades, along with a few other things — that stood out and I liked.
Yet on the other side, a lot of the book didn’t feel very new or ground breaking in the genre. Which is fine, few books truly do and no story can be truly original, but with a book of such heft, I guess my expectations got a little high.
Sometimes it felt like character development was sacrificed for world building: emotional reactions in scenes went from A to C without time on B. Like, person A says something that person B reacts hugely to, when what A said wasn’t yet that big a deal You want to see more emotional build up before B hits the ceiling. To understand it and feel it yourself. Such as the Reveal talk between Jones and Nan. I would have liked to have seen more foreshadowing in Nan before she accepts it so easily.
And sometimes there were large events that caused interpersonal schisms, but we only returned to those characters when things were good again. We didn’t see the changing and the healing, even if we saw the breaking.
Despite the slow start, around 40% there is a Major Event, and things really do start picking up after that. While what I said above about sacrificing a bit of a character and a little too much world building remains true, it wasn’t as pronounced. Emotional reactions we saw started making sense.
In fact, it almost felt like I was reading two different books. In the first half, I didn’t really like how many of the female characters were portrayed, but that improved in the second half. The prose felt a little bloodless in the first half, but that improved in the second. None of the characters really “grabbed” me in the first half, but they did in the second… etc., etc.,
I did like a lot of elements of the story. By the end, I was very much keeping my fingers crossed for the cohort, and I liked Jones and Prospero a lot. I ended up liking Reg and Alysha and Ito, too. I thought the Major Event around 40% was well done, if naturally harsh, and I thought Ito’s Big Scene towards the end was very well done.
So, here’s where I’m conflicted. If I would review/rate this book based on the first half, I probably wouldn’t like it. Just on the second, I would… but since I usually judge a book more by how it ends than by how it starts, I’m going with I liked it. Although I struggled early on, I did get into it in that latter half and I want to know what happens next enough that I’ll probably get the next book.
I think I gotta give this one 3.5.
January 10, 2013
This is a difficult review to write as I don't want to pepper it with clichés and superlatives. But this book is epic in every sense of the word .
Aimery Thomas takes into a post-apocalyptic world were a dystopian society lives on lies and manipulation of a trusted few. All appears good on the surface but just beneath there is a more sinister and darker side. A cast of well-developed characters takes on a wild ride building up to a thrilling ending. Yes the story does seem familiar in places and yes it is a long read. But the complexity of the story and the world the author build upon the pages had me enthralled all the way to the end. I wait expectantly for the next instalment of this epic saga. If you read only one book this year make it this one.
Aimery Thomas takes into a post-apocalyptic world were a dystopian society lives on lies and manipulation of a trusted few. All appears good on the surface but just beneath there is a more sinister and darker side. A cast of well-developed characters takes on a wild ride building up to a thrilling ending. Yes the story does seem familiar in places and yes it is a long read. But the complexity of the story and the world the author build upon the pages had me enthralled all the way to the end. I wait expectantly for the next instalment of this epic saga. If you read only one book this year make it this one.
December 14, 2012
There are writers that can capture depictions of a future society but there are very few that are able to look outside the boundaries of our consensual reality and can accurately render a realistic portrayal of humanities existence after a major catastrophe. Author Aimery Thomas does just that in the first in a series of what is truly a sweeping epic. Characters and multilayered plots unveil themselves with exceptional attention to detail as the plight of humanity swings in the balance and the reader is caught up in a sense of urgency that makes it almost impossible to put this book down. Aimery Thomas
January 3, 2013
As a huge fan of classics such as '1984' and 'Brave New World', I am always on the lookout for new authors who share with us their creative vision of a future world. To this end, I have had some disappointment over the years with novels that come with an excellent premise and much promise but in my opinion, the authors generally fail to fully realise their ideas and leave me noticing gaps and shortfalls rather than enjoying the book. Of course even "The Hunger Games" has such a strong premise, but the opportunity to flesh it out was limited by its genre of Teenage Fiction
You will NOT be disappointed in this way by Primae Noctis. In fact you will be refreshingly in awe of the level of intelligent detail contained in the future world. Not only is the world's current situation full of imagination and intellegence, the backstory is also fully explained.
Aimery Thomas has suceeded in addressing every facet of the the modern future world. This includes sexuality and relationships, vocation, leisure, entertainment, spirituality and philosophy ,food, a vast array of technology, warfare and of course the all-encompassing and powerful new political structure.
In addition, the characters are strong and likeable and the story flows well with lots of twists and turns to keep you interested and yearning to know what happens next.
My only tiny critism of this book is that I did get lost in some of the scientific detail. But that is more a comment on my lack of knowledge in this area rather than of the book itself. After all, it IS science fiction, and science is there in abundance.
An important note: This book has been published independently. SO, once you have read this book, PLEASE review it so that it can begin to gain the attention it well and truely deserves! There are a number of high profile success stories of independently published novels of late, and I am here to tell you that Primae Noctis WALKS ALL OVER THEM!
You will NOT be disappointed in this way by Primae Noctis. In fact you will be refreshingly in awe of the level of intelligent detail contained in the future world. Not only is the world's current situation full of imagination and intellegence, the backstory is also fully explained.
Aimery Thomas has suceeded in addressing every facet of the the modern future world. This includes sexuality and relationships, vocation, leisure, entertainment, spirituality and philosophy ,food, a vast array of technology, warfare and of course the all-encompassing and powerful new political structure.
In addition, the characters are strong and likeable and the story flows well with lots of twists and turns to keep you interested and yearning to know what happens next.
My only tiny critism of this book is that I did get lost in some of the scientific detail. But that is more a comment on my lack of knowledge in this area rather than of the book itself. After all, it IS science fiction, and science is there in abundance.
An important note: This book has been published independently. SO, once you have read this book, PLEASE review it so that it can begin to gain the attention it well and truely deserves! There are a number of high profile success stories of independently published novels of late, and I am here to tell you that Primae Noctis WALKS ALL OVER THEM!
January 9, 2013
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for a honest review.
This is huge story and was a lengthy read. Initially the plot started slow, but picked up about halfway through the novel. I enjoyed the rich, complex world-building of Archonae. In the beginning, the reader gained the perspective of life from those living in Archonae and then slowly the viewpoint shifted to outsiders' perspective of this civilization. With this change of context came large revelations. I found the descriptions of the various aspect of daily life interesting and the big reveals enjoyably shocking. Thomas did a wonderful job building tension and shifting perspectives.
I struggled with the characters. At times some of them seemed to be caricatures or stereotypes (and there were many characters---although it didn't feel like too many). However, I became fans of Nan Allegra Prospero, and Jones.
This novel was a great start to an interesting story line. I am looking forward to see how it unfolds as Thomas continues to tell it in the next book.
This is huge story and was a lengthy read. Initially the plot started slow, but picked up about halfway through the novel. I enjoyed the rich, complex world-building of Archonae. In the beginning, the reader gained the perspective of life from those living in Archonae and then slowly the viewpoint shifted to outsiders' perspective of this civilization. With this change of context came large revelations. I found the descriptions of the various aspect of daily life interesting and the big reveals enjoyably shocking. Thomas did a wonderful job building tension and shifting perspectives.
I struggled with the characters. At times some of them seemed to be caricatures or stereotypes (and there were many characters---although it didn't feel like too many). However, I became fans of Nan Allegra Prospero, and Jones.
This novel was a great start to an interesting story line. I am looking forward to see how it unfolds as Thomas continues to tell it in the next book.
March 18, 2013
This is a lengthy book, but worth every minute you put into it!! The book does start out slow, Aimery Thomas is building the world, giving you the background, getting you ready for the action. The characters and world is well written and detailed. I felt like I lived there while reading the book. When the action starts look out!
What if the world you lived in was a lie? What if everything you did was controlled? Everything you did was for the good of civilization? For your own protection and good of course! Never in a millions years would the Archonae/governing body do anything to harm their flock. NEVER! The Archonae struggle to keep hold of the perfect peace, but it comes at a price and no matter what they do, society will never be perfect.
It was bitter sweet that I finished this book. I was so engrossed in the book, I couldn’t put it down. But I knew by reading as much as I did it would eventually end. I eagerly await book 2 and 3! I will be plugging this to all my sci-fi friends and even some who aren’t sci-fi and are looking for a GREAT READ!
What if the world you lived in was a lie? What if everything you did was controlled? Everything you did was for the good of civilization? For your own protection and good of course! Never in a millions years would the Archonae/governing body do anything to harm their flock. NEVER! The Archonae struggle to keep hold of the perfect peace, but it comes at a price and no matter what they do, society will never be perfect.
It was bitter sweet that I finished this book. I was so engrossed in the book, I couldn’t put it down. But I knew by reading as much as I did it would eventually end. I eagerly await book 2 and 3! I will be plugging this to all my sci-fi friends and even some who aren’t sci-fi and are looking for a GREAT READ!
January 8, 2013
Not good at writing reviews, but I really enjoyed this book!
January 22, 2021
First Night
This futuristic dystopian saga is about a society waking up from the comforts that distract it from reality. Sound familiar, well this entire way of life was crafted and actively cultivated for Lord’s Rule. What’s our excuse?
I hate to admit but there was a pleasant bliss in the ignorance and distraction of this world. I thought the entire concept was interesting. It’s a slow burn with a happy ending at least. Even though the title claims this is book one of a trilogy, I couldn’t find any follow up books.
This futuristic dystopian saga is about a society waking up from the comforts that distract it from reality. Sound familiar, well this entire way of life was crafted and actively cultivated for Lord’s Rule. What’s our excuse?
I hate to admit but there was a pleasant bliss in the ignorance and distraction of this world. I thought the entire concept was interesting. It’s a slow burn with a happy ending at least. Even though the title claims this is book one of a trilogy, I couldn’t find any follow up books.
October 3, 2014
Disclaimer: I did receive a free eBook version of the book for review.
I absolutely loved the entire book. It seemed to start off slowly for me and the journal entries at the beginning of each chapter were confusing until the plot had advanced enough for me to recognize who wrote those journal entries. After that I had to go back and re-read the earlier ones again because I felt they added a lot to the story.
For me this was a fresh take on a post-apocalyptic world, there were enough new ideas that I didn't ever feel like I was going over old ground. There were of course some things that were reminiscent of Brave New World or 1984 but only at a high level, the actual implementation of those ideas was done quite well.
The characterization was great and once I got past the first third or so of the book the plot started moving along at a nice clip. I felt genuinely invested in the characters and I can't wait for the next volume to be released.
I absolutely loved the entire book. It seemed to start off slowly for me and the journal entries at the beginning of each chapter were confusing until the plot had advanced enough for me to recognize who wrote those journal entries. After that I had to go back and re-read the earlier ones again because I felt they added a lot to the story.
For me this was a fresh take on a post-apocalyptic world, there were enough new ideas that I didn't ever feel like I was going over old ground. There were of course some things that were reminiscent of Brave New World or 1984 but only at a high level, the actual implementation of those ideas was done quite well.
The characterization was great and once I got past the first third or so of the book the plot started moving along at a nice clip. I felt genuinely invested in the characters and I can't wait for the next volume to be released.
April 19, 2015
Over-written, so far. Don't know if I have the patience to read on -- at least not yet. UPDATE: Can't finish this -- writing is too pretentious and nothing is happening.
November 3, 2013
Interesting book and premise. The suspense was handled very well and the author kept you guessing throughout. The sex was a little over the top for me though...
July 19, 2015
Loved this one.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews