A Game with No Rules

Perimeter Defense #4

by Michael Atamanov

The Empire is splitting at the seams. The Great Houses refuse to obey the Throne World and have begun to conduct increasingly independent politics. Sensing the weakness of the central government, even the most loyal star systems of the Imperial Core are refusing to take orders from above. Is this just a string of coincidences, or a coordinated campaign?

Can a disjointed humanity rally around a strong leader to deflect an alien invasion? Who of the many figures in intergalactic politics can rise to this challenge? And is there a basis to the creeping rumors that some influential aristocrats have joined forces with the enemy and allied with the aliens?

This book will be the last in the series and will give the readers the answers to all their questions, including the most important of all: "What is Perimeter Defense?"

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera

341 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2017

About the author

Michael Atamanov was born in 1975 in Grozny, Chechnia. He excelled at school, winning numerous national science and writing competitions. Having graduated with honors, he entered Moscow University to study material engineering. Soon, however, he had no home to return to: their house was destroyed during the first Chechen campaign. Michael's family fled the war, taking shelter with some relatives in Stavropol Territory in the South of Russia.

Having graduated from the University, Michael was forced to accept whatever work was available. He moonlighted in chemical labs, loaded trucks, translated technical articles, worked as a software installer as well as scene shifter for local artists and events. At the same time he never stopped writing, even when squatting in some seedy Moscow hostels. Writing became an urgent need for Michael, driving him to submit articles to science publications, news fillers for a variety of web sites and a plethora of technical and copywriting gigs.

Then one day unexpectedly for himself he started writing fairy tales and science fiction novels. For several years, his audience consisted of only one person: Michael's elder son. Then, at the end of 2014 he decided to upload one of his manuscripts to a free online writers resource. Readers liked it and demanded a sequel. Michael uploaded another book, and yet another, his audience growing as did his list. It was his readers who helped Michael hone his writing style. He finally had the breakthrough he deserved when the Moscow-based EKSMO - the biggest publishing house in Europe - offered him a contract for his first and consequent books.

Reviews

[Kritch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, the epilogue. God, I loved the series as a whole but the damn epilogue.

It definitely was an enjoyable read, but the epilogue made this feels like the four books I just read was nothing more than a tutorial.

It wasn't clear if the author is going to continue the series, but the book really left it open to that possibility.

Overall, I loved it but the ambiguous ending left me with mixed feelings

[Durian Jaykin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is perimeter defense? Wanna know? Read the last chapter. The last chapter was a full-on wtf. It feels a little inconsistent.

[Peter L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the full series of these books, very unpredictable or should I say nonformulaic compared to the usual grind of story telling 101. Many similar books give you a horrible over powered main character feeling but this series avoided that quite well.
As with other reviews the part of the story that just didn't make any sense was the real world aspects, including the very end of this book which quickly throws together some kind of explanation, told between people that presumably wouldn't be explaining it to each other so it did leave me with a bit of a wtf, eh? ending.
Still great though! First time I think the author probably deserved being paid more for their work which for me has been free on prime, I've paid a few £ for much worse books that did the old: first book only is free amazon trick so if he has something paid for I will look to purchase it.

[Frank Bertino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Game Over

Crown Prince Georg is back in action winning difficult space battles against seemingly insurmountable odds. This time he employs guile and diplomacy as well with excellent results. This has been one of my favorite series. I like the well written seemingly real characters as well as political and military maneuvering. Intrigue abounds as Georg builds his power to protect those close to him and prevent the decimation of humankind. This is the last book in the series, but there is room for future books. I hope to see more books with Crown Prince Georg in the future.

[Alexander Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a thrilling conclusion to a wonderful series. This entire series kept me on the edge of my seat, I couldn't wait to see what was happening next. I do feel that there were parts of the book that could have been expanded further to include more details. Although, there was great detail throughout to paint a picture of the universe within Perimeter Defense. If you like this, then you should read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline if you have not already read it. Off to find the next series.

[Rohit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!

Very good book and satisfying end to a great series!! I started reading it last night thinking I’d get a few chapters in before sleeping, ended up binge reading the whole thing in one go and stayed up all night! Since I don’t want to spoil it I’ll just say that anyone not enjoying it should atleast try to read the last chapter or two and the ending, make it worth it!

[David Howey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Amazing

Each book in this series has been truly amazing but this one was captivating from the moment i started reading it. I didn't want to put it down and when i had to stop reading, i couldn't stop thinking about it and looked forward to picking it up again and continuing the story. Truly amazing story telling.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and purchased every book of the series because they are fantastic, well thought out, and intriguing. There were plenty of times that upcoming events were predictable but many weren't, especially the end of it all!

Every book reminded me of Eve Online, lol.

I loved it all and will happily read them all again in the future.

[Samveen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rare satisfying end

This is one of the very very few LitRPG series that ended perfectly. I do want more, but in the same universe. Thank you Mr Atamanov, for not forcing the series to continue. Well done!!!

[Nick Dorogavtsev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Серия заканчивается классно и логично :-)

Но, у серии действительно есть продолжение. Роман ещё выпьет настоящего кофе :-) читайте серию Искажающие Реальность :-) две серии очень классно сливаются в единый поток :-)

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last book did not particulary lost quality in matter of storytelling or pacing or things that I enjoyed in previous books, but there were many things that was just really bad
1) In previous books I thought many times - this is too easy, but bigger numbers, higher stakes etc still increased. And apart from it being easy for Ruslan/Georg the numbers were like wtf in the end - throwing around huge sumes that would probably not make sense at all, throwing numbers of ships in fleet to previously absurd numbers. Like really? If those were the numbers at the beginning - I do not believe that previous books would pan out as they did
2) Many writing errors - I got irritated by "it is my word as crown prince" and other shit of giving words here and there from many sides. Also - Astra is just his "favourite" who is stupid and pretty, he fucks her like twice throught the story if I recall correctly - same as Valian ton Corsa (or what was her name) and author writes about Flora (his send best truthseeker and probably top 10 in the universe in the end) as Astra's sister. Like what? Imagine you are are CFO in the company, there is CEO's secretary that is your sister, she fucks him and your colleagues talk about you as "you know - she is sister of bosses secretary)
3) Main part - ending is too underwhelming. Like what? Ok, from the beginning of the book you KNOW he will be emperror, you just want to see how - and once again - easy - we get ships for free, because "someone" has honor, there is this massive consipiracy who suddenly start to work in his favour and the explanation of what it is really about (explanation if that is a game or reality and what are the consequences. Apart from that being partially stolen, it once again does not make sense when you remember HOW some things in the past happend.

This has 3 stars, but it is just tempting me to award it 2 stars due to reasons above or 4 stars, because honestly - it was fun majority of the book

[Max Ganas · Rating 5 out of 5]

«Игра без правил» — заключительная книга серии «Защита Периметра». Несмотря на открытый финал, позволяющий автору при желании продолжить историю, на данный момент сюжет выглядит завершённым и логически замкнутым.

Книга, как и предыдущие части, читается легко и динамично; она не перегружает читателя сложными конструкциями, а подаёт материал живо и доступно.

Если взглянуть на всю серию целиком, становится заметно, что не обошлось без логических нестыковок, особенно в финальной части. Некоторые из раскрытых тайн и деталей устройства мира конфликтуют с событиями и фактами, изложенными в первых трёх книгах. Однако эти огрехи не оказывают серьёзного влияния на общее восприятие — они скорее воспринимаются как мелкие шероховатости.

В центре — приятная, местами захватывающая история, за развитием которой действительно интересно наблюдать. Можно упрекнуть автора в том, что главному герою многое даётся слишком легко, но, с другой стороны, искусственное нагнетание трудностей для прославленного флотоводца с целой армадой кораблей выглядело бы ещё менее убедительно.

В итоге серия вполне подойдёт тем, кто ищет лёгкое и увлекательное фантастическое чтиво без необходимости глубоко погружаться в хитросплетения политических интриг. Здесь всё то же самое — только в доступной, ненавязчивой и развлекательной форме.

[Eric Cooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story horrible ending

I loved the first book. I hated the second books ending. Third was pretty good. This was good until the ending.

Personally it was a low, but still 5 star until he just screwed up the ending. It is an interesting story where the main character is brilliant. Then suddenly at the end of the second book becomes a complete imbecile.

You can definitely feel this is a story by a Russian with intimate knowledge of Russian culture. I've visited there and they are an amazing people if a bit harsh souled.

This story is really interesting except for the job game parts which are bad continuity with the rest of the story. So bad I've docked 2 stars as it really leaves you going WTF! In a bad way. The first book is solid and pretty good. Sadly, it leaves a cliff hanger that you need to read the second book.

Anyway I've got this author on my follow as I've totally enjoyed his game that bends reality so far. Net is the dark herbalist series for me.

He is very talented and whoever translated the books did a great job too!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole series is almost good. There is a lot about the story line that I like, however there are some very stupid mistakes and poorly thought through points along with annoying plot holes.

I see this whole series as an excellent first draft/overall plan with a bit of effort this could have been truly excellent.

Dear Michael Atamanov, I honestly enjoy your writing. It's seems you get bored or rush a storyline after the first or second book in a series and therefore making some mistakes. This could easily be solved by doing two things.

1) after finishing a book leave it for several months then go back to it and re-read it.

2)After doing this send out your finished work to some proof readers. Listen to constructive criticism, you don't have to act on it but if a few people are making the same point it might be worth thinking about.

Please keep up the writing and I'll keep buying your books. I enjoy seeing your work improve with each new book.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very irritated with the transition from book 2 to book 3 in this series. How could his body be used while he was in a capsule festooned with wires? With the information we had, that was impossible, yet it was being used as a prop to explain why he was addicted once he came out of the game after cleaning up the first time. I'm not sure I agree with the solution, but in this installment, we see the solution to this dilemma, and we also see some seriously interesting foreshadowing for the next part of the series. I say well done, and although this book had some errors in it (proofreading should have caught them, but didn't), it wasn't anything that would break the story while reading it, so again, I say good work. I anxiously await the next book in the series, I'm interested to see where this is going next.

[Lubos Elexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ďalšia séria uzavretá. Teda aspoň dúfam, lebo už sa autor asi nemal kam posunúť, hoci podľa epilógu by ešte mohol byť ďalší vývoj naznačený, podľa mňa by už išlo len o opakovanie toho istého. Nový nepriateľ, nová rasa, väčší nepriateľ, viac lodí, väčšie lode, lepší veliteľ. Schéma z predchádzajúcich kníh bola dodržaná, autor opäť vygradoval dej, i keď skončil trochu predvídavo. Stále sa však neviem vcítiť do reality deja, najmä faktu, ako má veliteľ aktívne riadiť súboj flotíl, kde len tá jeho má 6000 lodí. Bez A.I. Samozrejme, sci-fi znesie veľa, ale to neznamená, že sa všetko dá odôvodniť technologickým pokrokom.

[Martin Zoul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dostáváme se do úplného závěru strhujícího příběhu Obránce perimetru, který nám nabídl mnoho zvratů, až je mi líto, že série končí.

Kniha je naprosto čtivá, jednoduchá, má obrovský spád. Líbilo se mi na ní spousta věcí, které tu ale kvůli lidem co ji nečetli nemůžu říct(spoilers). Opět neuvěřitelné politické machinace a ten závěr?? :O opravdu neskutečné. Můžu jen a jen doporučit všem fanouškům vesmírného scifi válčení a politických machinací.

Jako zápory vidím hlavně onu lehkost, kterou George prochází celou sérií, ale to je problém všech knih v sérii a celkem i zanedbatelný. Závěr děje byl skvělý ale zároveň takový MEH..., ti co knihu četli určitě pochopí.¨

Hodnocení 9,5/10.

[Guillem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books I absolutely love for the story throughout the whole book, but have trouble giving a five star rating because of the ending. While it definitely was not a bad one, I feel like its "because why not" nature contrasted with the rest of the story where most things have a good explanation. That having been said, this still remains one of my favorite series and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Sci Fi and political intrigue with a good bit of strategic action thrown in.

[Katharine v Knihách · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jsem neskutečně ráda, že jsem se pustila do nového žánru a celou sérii dočetla. Atamanův jazyk mě neskutečně baví. Vesmírné bitvy jsou uvěřitelné a co se týče tohohle dílu, tak mě nezklamal. Četl se velmi rychle, bavilo mě to a největší překvapení na mě čekalo v epilogu. Sice něco neočekávaného jsem očekávala, ale tohle bylo prostě... wow. Jestli váháte, jestli si do tohoto žánru pustit a máte rádi sci-fi a hry, tak vřele doporučuji tuto sérii.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad if you don’t mind the constant political machinations and exposition of these waring Great Houses of the Perimeter Defense universe. But my favorite LitRPG sci-fi series is still...
Opening Moves
(The Gam3, #1)
by Cosimo Yap.

So far only two books in the series, but you’ll love them.

Date of this review Feb 3, 2018

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected twists make this book an excellent reason to read the series. The space physics took a suspension of disbelief after reading Jack Campbell's excellent novels, but the plot and characters made it well worth reading.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book four

I don't know if this is the end of the series, but I hope not. I've really enjoyed reading this series and want more.
There are a handful of errors scattered throughout this book, but the story itself is a lot of fun.
I recommend this series.

[Ian Denner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

Better than the previous book, but not by much, in my opinion it’s just the somewhat confusing ending that dragged the rating up a little. But the last 2 books in the series was really a waste of time.

[daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great release

I've read the whole series to date and it's one of my favorite lit rpg ones. I look forward to the next expansion. Thanks

[Kian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the series too bad it had to come to an end. I hope there would be a continuation of the story in another series of books.

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent conclusion to the series.. yet' open for the option of a continuation .

[Martin Hájek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion was very disappointed for me. There is no real conflict for me, instead I had feeling
"yea yea, squabble...". Unfortunately. Otherwise the whole series was great.

[Jay Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars, Not as strong as the other books in this series but still very good and I enjoyed it.

[Deconinck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff, to bad its over.. recommended

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best book series if ever read.