Fate of the Free Lands

Empress of the Endless Sea #3

by Jack Campbell

Trapped inside the Empire, Captain Jules of Landfall has to use every deadly trick and strategy she knows to avoid recapture by the Emperor’s legions, and stay alive despite every attempt the Mages make to kill her. The only chance to get away may require walking back into the trap she barely escaped the first time. But even her freedom won’t be enough. The prophecy that consumes Jules’s life demands she has an heir to carry on her line. Yet how can she satisfy that while being hunted everywhere? And what might the prophecy cause to happen if she doesn’t have a child?

Battling wind, waves, implacable Mage assassins, and Imperial ships, Jules is forced to turn to an unlikely ally—the hated Mechanics. She must gather men, women, and ships from all of the new settlements to face the Imperial legionaries and galleys. For only Jules can lead the free people of the west in the final battle that could be their salvation—or the destruction of all that she’s fought for.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Pirates, Romance, Audiobook, Young Adult

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 26, 2020

About the author

Jack Campbell is a pseudonym for American science fiction author John G. Hemry.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

John G. Hemry is an American author of military science fiction novels. Drawing on his experience as a retired United States Navy officer, he has written the Stark's War and Paul Sinclair series. Under the name Jack Campbell, he has written four volumes of the Lost Fleet series, and on his website names two more forthcoming volumes. He has also written over a dozen short stories, many published in Analog magazine, and a number of non-fiction works.

John G Hemry is a retired United States Navy officer. His father, Jack M. Hemry, also served in the navy and as John points out was a mustang. John grew up living in several places including Pensacola, San Diego, and Midway Island.

John graduated from Lyons High School in Lyons in 1974 then attended the US Naval Academy (Class of '78) where he was labeled 'the un-midshipman' by his roommates.

He lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids. His two eldest children are diagnosed as autistic and suffer from Neuro immune dysfunction syndrome (NIDS), an auto-immune ailment which causes their illness, but are progressing under treatment.

John is a member of the SFWA Musketeers whose motto reads: 'The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, but the Wise Person Carries Both'.

Reviews

[Mary Catelli]

The end of the Jules trilogy. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes

Jules has escaped and is trying to reunite with her crew, and protect the free lands. The Mechanics still think they control her, which wins her some advantages. The Mages are searching for her and manifesting strange birds. Meanwhile, Jules is worried about having her child, between the father and the question of safety.

Much happens, including the Empire deciding to do something, and the free lands acting.

[Virginia Boylan]

What a satisfactory way to end this series. Really like this narrator. The worst part is that the story is too short.

[Woody James]

The trilogy was a pretty good prequel to the original series. It could have been rounded out a little better with another 50-100 pages. It seemed to end rather abruptly. But still good all the same.

[NormaCenva]

I want MORE!!!

[Rune Nielsen]

Over the past few weeks, I sailed through (pun intended) the three books in the Empress of the Endless Sea series by Jack Campbell.

It was a swift voyage. The pages almost turning themselves. A great story with an exciting end to the last book in the series. Overall a truly enjoyable swashbuckling pirate adventure. I can't recommend Jack Campbell's books enough.

Relatable main character
The books revolve around the life of pirates fighting not only for loot but to free people from imperial rule. Read this series if you like smoothly written books, full of naval engagements, and discovery of new lands, all centered around the any-person hero, Jules of Landfall. She is a lieutenant in training when we first meet her. A very likable young woman with a hard center. The sort of person who wants to do the right thing, but welcomes a fight.

I think a lot of readers will relate to Jules quite easily, respect her sense of decency, and admire her commitment and drive.

Read the rest of the review on my blog: https://runesnielsen.com/book/2020/3/...

[Howard Brazee]

I recommend starting in book 1.

This series takes place on a world where there is an empire, a mechanics guild, and mages. The mechanics have guns and powered ships but seem to have forgotten technology which they say they brought from the stars. They also don't believe the mages really have the power that they obviously do have.

In the first book a mage prophesizes that the someone from the line of the protagonist will defeat the guilds and emperor. Mages have been trying to kill her, the empire has been trying to capture her, and mechanics have been using her, as she has been building up new settlements outside of the empire.

I've seen progress in the story (important to me in any series).

[Mary]

I liked the series since the first book I picked up. This trio tells how the world was divided and remade. I like it a lot. I can see where some spots were a little awkward trying to tell a story to fit into the previous story. Of course with these types of prophesy and self-fulfilling prophesies there's a lot of ... repeating themes. I still liked it, I'll likely come back to this again later it was that good.

[Daniel Johnston]

I was not aware that I needed to read the prequel series until it was presented to me. Then I could not get enough. So much so, that I am about to start a re-read of the original series to see where the changes happened. It was a little heavy handed with the prophesy part, but I wasn't too worried since that's the main drive of the later books. It was interesting to see the parallels between Jules and her heir.

[Scott Sharp]

Excellent series. It needs a better editor; spellcheck is not good enough. I came to this series via the lost fleet novels. I'm not a big fantasy fan, but the nautical adventures, exploration, and steam punk were very well done. I look forward to continuing this series with the next book chronologically - Dragons of Dorcastle

[Marjo]

I like how the author avoided something that could have been redundant to the readers of The Pillars of Reality, it was a neat trick that made perfect sense for this story.

[Dave Stone]

Best of the trilogy
Wile this never gets quite as good as the parent series, Each book gets better than the last.

[Volpot]

3.5 stars. OK conclusion. This book, as well as the entire "Empress of the Endless Sea" series, is well written and fairly interesting but suffers a bit from the clear need of the author to reach a certain conclusion required by the series' status as a prequel to the author's "Pillars of Reality" series.

[Virginia Boylan]

What a satisfactory way to end this series. Really like this narrator. The worst part is that the story is too short.

[Stephanie]

This was painful. I assumed it was coming, but watching this struggle, especially as a mom, was very brutal. And a big battle to wrap it up? Excellent finish to this prequel trilogy.