Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Tyler Barron is about to lead his fleet into a trap. He is sure the enemy is laying in wait, but he has no choice. After four years of unexpected calm along the front line, the Senate and the Hegemonic Council are demanding action, and the Pact’s commanding admiral has no choice but to set out on a mission to liberate the enemy-held regions of the Hegemony. While Tyler prepares for an offensive he believes can only end in disaster, Andi Lafarge is preparing to continue her quest for the mysterious weapon the doomed empire used to defeat the Highborn centuries before. That search has largely been one of combing through old data and artifacts…until now. Andi’s path leads into the region of the Hegemony now know as Occupied Space, right past the Highborn defenses, to the shadowy and mysterious coreward regions of the old and fallen empire, and the ancient imperial capital itself.The fleet will fight, struggling for a victory that may be out of reach, but even as they risk all, a new threat is growing, one far in the rear, along the regions of Confederation space that have been stripped of their defenses to support the war effort. The danger is real, and it is deadly. Tyler Barron and his spacers could see their home space invaded and destroyed, even as they fight for to achieve victory hundreds of lightyears away.Blood on the StarsBook 1 - Duel in the DarkBook 2 - Call to ArmsBook 3 - Ruins of EmpireBook 4 - Echoes of GloryBook 5 - Cauldron of FireBook 6 - DauntlessBook 7 - The White FleetBook 8 - Black DawnBook 9 - InvasionBook 10 - NightfallBook 11 - The Grand AllianceBook 12 - The ColossusBook 13 – The OthersBook 14 – The Last StandBook 15 – Empire’s AshesBook 16 – Attack Plan Alpha (coming soon)The Andromeda Chronicles (A Blood on the Stars Trilogy)Book 1 – Andromeda RisingBook 2 – Wings of PegasusBook 3 – Into the Badlands (coming soon)

413 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2019

665 people are currently reading
128 people want to read

About the author

Jay Allan

78 books1,262 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
506 (53%)
4 stars
311 (32%)
3 stars
110 (11%)
2 stars
18 (1%)
1 star
8 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
Profile Image for Michael Bennett.
126 reviews15 followers
May 17, 2021
What's interesting is that you know exactly where he's going with the story, but still I find the ride/read engaging enough to sick with it. I have invested a lot of time with these very likable characters and their always dire situation.

Just when you think the fire is out...you find yourself following them in to the next burning building. Yes, it very predictable and repetitive, but Mr. Allan still weaves a great tale.

So, "Once more into the fray"!!!!
8 reviews
September 15, 2020
Great story, but to much repetition of things repeated over and over again and again. Terrible editing as well, words misspelled, and bad grammar. I had to read the book to get thru it. I skipped a lot of the repeated stuff. I will finish the series but won't

Great story, but to much repetition of things repeated over and over again and again. Terrible editing as well, words misspelled, and bad grammar. I had to speed read the book to get thru it. I skipped a lot of the repeated stuff. I will finish the series but I won't read this author again. In my opinion the whole series of books I already read have similar problems.
Profile Image for Jim.
1,234 reviews50 followers
December 27, 2019
Little did I know that some day I’d find a sci-fi war series that I am getting tired of. No, not tired of reading it, but tired of all the war that has gone on for so long. I could never have survived the amount of conflict that Admiral Tyler Barron and his Confederation troops have been through.

In the beginning of this series, Captain Tyler Barron and the CFS Dauntless fought an unknown enemy from the very first book when he was the rear guard for the Confederation and encountered the Palatians. He not only fought that war, but also fought against the Union much later. Then, without much rest, he and his crew had to turn and fight the Hegemony. That enemy was far superior to the Confederation, but they had an enemy of their own that resurfaced. And now, the Confederation and the Hegemony are allies against the Highborn! War never stops for these people and I’m worn out!

Still, last we left, the Hegemony had just lost their capital Calphron to the Highborn, but the battle also cost the Highborn a lot of assets. So, a kind of peace had been experienced for just a little over three years. Yet, everyone knew that the war was going to come again soon, and this might really be their last war.

The Highborn were still intent on crushing the remaining Hegemony planets and then moving on to the Rim. They didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be totally successful and without too much of an effort. Their technology was supposed to be far superior to either the Hegemony or the Confederation, but they did admit that these humans did have a lot of fight in them. Some of that fight was taken out when Admiral Jake Stockton was captured after his starfighter was destroyed. Much to Jake’s distress, he was not killed, but has beomce a slave to the Highborn via a collar around his neck. That device controls all his thoughts and makes him obedient to the Highborn. While he has some small notion that what he’s doing is against everything he’s ever done, he can’t control himself to stop it. So, the Highborn have used him and his knowledge to train Thrall starfighters. Thralls are what Jake has become. A slave of the Highborn.

Now the Highborn have returned and they have starfighters spewing from small carriers. While this surprises the Confederation fleet, it’s thought that these can’t be very good pilots since they have just started learning how to fight in small craft. Things start turning out very bad for the Confederation and the Pact when they realize that someone very, very talented has been training the Highborn in starfighter tactics.

Meanwhile, Andi, Admiral Barron’s wife and mother of Cassie, has gone on a mission of her own. She beilieves that there is something the ancients did before the Cataclysm that drove the Highborn from civilized space. She needs to find what that something was and can only do so by searching what is known as the Badlands. And to make things, worse, the area of the Badlands she needs to search is in Highborn controlled territory. Still, as we’ve learned, nothing stops Andi when she sets her mind on doing something.

Another good read in this very exciting, but tiring series. This series has made me so tired of war that I actually hesitate to read another book, except I think this particular war should be about to end. That is unless the author finds another enemy lurking in the depths of space!
Profile Image for Derek Doyle.
2 reviews
December 3, 2019
there be spoilers here




















book 15 picks up 4 years after the events of book 14 with the tragic loss of stockton to the Masters he gives them the one thing they were lacking fighters to fight the newly named Pac nations (hegemony,paltians,confederation forces and the free members of the union .

the book springs the surprise on us that the masters have fighter craft and we are treated too the pac's outposts being taken out as what appears to be a prelude to invasion by the masters

good mix of horror at imagining how stockton is feeling about all of it (and we are told about it frequently) as he has to kill former allies and former friends and the usual combat brilliance that jay allen brings to the table mixed with the grim resolve of our favorite Barron once again jumping into the breech . this book throws more twists at us then usual but the 4 simultaneous
plots are all well delivered and executed. from villienues return to power and well amusing come uppance near the end, the andi being once again the key to barrons continual fight to save his people and his allies,the drama of stockton basically forced to do the unthinkable to him ,and barron once more pulling a rabbit out of his hat to keep his beleaguered force fighting

and now the waiting game begins for book 16 which hopefully ends with a bit more direct hope then this one did

hope my hiding spoilers worked
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Amy.
1,008 reviews54 followers
June 1, 2022
CONTENT WARNING: Suicidal ideation/thoughts.

With the war against the Highborn having been stalemated for four years, both sides push encounter problems. For the Highborn, the war to conquer the humans takes resources and attention from the 'primary conflict,' and for the humans of Pact - especially the Confederation - continuing to route resources and energy to the conflict by wrangling increasingly hostile civilians and senators far back from the front is becoming more and more difficult. When Barron is baited into a trap, he must salvage the fleet in order to keep the war effort from being lost then and there. Meanwhile, Jake Stockton - unknown to Pact powers - has spent the last four years captured by the enemy and subject to a mind control implant for the express purpose of creating a Highborn fighter corps to combat the advantage of Pact wings. Andi, frustrated with the fact that her data chips don't provide as much information on how the pre-Cataclysm Empire combated the Highborn, decides to take a small expedition Coreward, into Highborn-controlled space, to search the capital planet of the old Empire for more information. On the Rim, Gaston Villieneuve allies with the Highborn to end the Union civil war in his favor, but finds that his savior's price is something he cannot avoid paying.
5 reviews
August 19, 2025
I really want to give up on this series, but at this point I'm committed to completing it.

However it seems like the author, editor, and publisher are taking no pride whatsoever with their work anymore. The book is full of grammar mistakes and typos. for example, I am reading on a Kindle, which allows you to see sections of the text that a lot of other readers chose to highlight. Several sentences towards the end are duplicated, and I can see that 37 other users have highlighted that duplication and likely reported the content error, but no one has bothered to correct it.

Plot is inconsistent, with directly contradictory information. Ex. in one chapter a discussion occurs about how the Hegemony pacification is going so much better than expected due to the use of collars and a cultural bias towards following the orders of the masters, then in another chapter they discuss how much more resistance is occurring than was expected in the Hegemony, and a suspicion it will be even worse in the other Rim nations.

Where ships are located and how fast they travel is also completely dependent on whatever the author wants to happen at the moment, and he hopes you forget what rules he puts in place as he changes his mind, often during the same battle.

The series started off as fun enough B tier sci-fi, but the quality has dropped to the point of being actively frustrating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
35 reviews
August 6, 2020
Repetition ad nauseum

I just can't Mr. Allan. You've written many fine books and I cannot disparage your skills as an author but what is going on? Is no one giving you feedback like say NOT using "punched in the gut" to describe every single time a person feels shocking negative surprise? This must be what like 2 to 3 dozen times now? The storyline IS interesting and you don't need my validation to know you're a good writer but either write them properly or just let it die man. The content is still there but this is absurd.
9 reviews
January 4, 2020
Rip off

This series if written by anyine else would be done but this author is trying to Mike every penny he can from us. The story is not worth the money paid for the episodes and should have fininshed 4 books back.. Absolutely no reason for 15 books to have covered only a part of the story and certainly nit worth $3.99 per episode. They really cant be called bioks since they would be magazine articles if you cut out the reputations telling over and over again the same descriptions just to attract it out.
Now yhere is a book 16? I think I'll save my money. 💰
259 reviews2 followers
January 2, 2021
Oh Jay, you've done it yet again. Every time Andi Lafarge got in Pegasus and took off for parts unknown, or through the Highborn ships, my heart was up in my throat with worry for her and her crew. I so wanted her to exceed at these hidden agendas. And poor Jake Stockton. We all though he was dead and it would've been better if he was. The poor guy. What a way to have to live now. And Admiral Tyler Barron. He is a great strategist, even if he's still trying to live up to his grandfather. Sounds like he has far exceeded him. I love how he does the totally unexpected and it works. Now I must go and get started on Book 16. I am so hooked on this series.
Profile Image for Peter.
230 reviews1 follower
June 16, 2021
I really am churning through this series, only 2 books to go.

The war has raged forty years or more, the callow youths are now graying admirals, stalked by the ghosts of fallen comrades. Many hostilities have run their course, some blazing brighter than ever.

We finally glimpse the Old Empire Capital, rendered to a cinder hundreds of years ago. Will history repeat?

Yes, Allan is still delivering page turning SF even this far into the series.
821 reviews3 followers
December 8, 2019
Empire's Ashes

The latest book was a fun read and had errors throughout. I have enjoyed this series a great deal. I like the plot overall and the characters development. It was not as exciting as the other books, even with the overall fighting and finding new was to kill the Hegemony. I look forward to the next book.
Profile Image for Anders Berglund.
15 reviews
December 11, 2019
I just love the way Jay Allan way of writing. This series is the best one I’ve ever read. All the characters in this series just grows on you. And I don’t want the book to end. Please give us 15 more books in this series! I usually do not read kindel books I always listen to them on audible but this series is so great that I can’t wait for the audiobook to be released.
29 reviews
December 12, 2019
Good but a bit of a downer!

The first 90% of the book has the confederation suffer one gut punch after another with little to no relief in sight. The last 10% of the books ends an epic battle. Hopefully the next book in the series allows for the confederation to gain some traction.
4 reviews
December 29, 2019
Great read and story

I have followed the series with delight. Story is great and fast paced. However, the whole Villenueve arc seems to have run its course and is just kind of annoying and distracting at this point. The series could well do without him and be all the better for it. Otherwise a well-developed story with interesting characters.
Profile Image for Henry.
30 reviews
January 8, 2020
Time to finish

This series is time to finally finish this . It has been long enough. It would be nice if the other series who were trapped away from earth and there own super humans to deal with all meet up and help the admiral out. Both series need to come to an end and it they did this together so much the better.
568 reviews10 followers
January 11, 2020
Tyler Barron, Andi LaFarge and their Confederation allies continue their quest to defend humanity against the Highborn, a race of "super beings" that consider themselves above everyone else. This is a space war fought over millions of kilometers and untold number of 'transit' points. Interesting continuation of a long running series.
12 reviews
Read
January 31, 2020
Too many separate plots

Too many impossible situations for the heroes to handle all the time. Too much unbelievable advanced tech, even for scifi. Was almost on the verge of science fantasy at times. Jumped from plot to plot too frequently for my puny mind to follow at times. Then just as I thought I had a handle on the story, it stopped.
213 reviews
Read
February 24, 2020
The struggle continues

For me, the question of possible escape for Jake Stockton continues with a little hope from the author at the end of the read. This does not take away from the the battle that Tyler's fleet must continue against the high born. I have volume 16 ready to go.
20 reviews
April 21, 2020
Well written and interesting

Again enjoyed another good book in a series of good reads. I was convinced they were going to find a way to block the collars. Save the fighter pilot and turn things around. Seems they are going a different direction. Can't wait to see how it works out.
138 reviews4 followers
May 4, 2020
Boring nothing new!

Nothing new or remotely original Mr Allan seems to reuse the plots from his last two books but the characters are less interesting and he restates their charter flaws over and over this could have easily been a boring short story but Alan decided to write a boring repetitive book!
Profile Image for Harvey Dick.
118 reviews3 followers
June 11, 2020
Bringing the fight to the Highborn!

Tyler Barron goes to war again! This time he brings the fight to the Highborn!! This book in the series is getting interesting and really held my attention all the way through. I am so excited to jump in the installment of the series. Jay has hooked me hard with his writing.
Profile Image for Clifford Schulze.
100 reviews1 follower
October 4, 2020
The setup

Empires ashes refers to the attempt to find out how the empire have repelled the others originally. This book is a setup for the climatic battle between the free universe and the others. The book starts a little slow but picks up speed and ends in ... Not losing? Regardless, I will pick up Attack Plan Alpha.
56 reviews
December 5, 2019
Epic read!

I waited patiently and in 2 days I am done and begging for more. I really thought I figured something out early on and was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. No spoilers here. Read this series and get ready to wait with me for the next installment!!!!
Profile Image for Sean Sheldon.
63 reviews1 follower
December 6, 2019
One hell of a dark path

Either Jay Allan has a LOT of personal demons to work out or he REALLY hates his characters. These poor bastards can't catch a break. And Jake? Holy hell. That's just messed up.

I can't wait for the next book!
Profile Image for Michael  Keller.
937 reviews10 followers
December 31, 2019
Jake Stockton alive and encollared by the Highborn had trained a force of fighter pilots in a remarkably short timeframe. Now thousands of Interceptors have added to their force.

Almost more than the Pact armada could handle and train for. It had been years since Interceptors had been used in combat. The bombers that had been proven effective against the Highborn years before were totally at the mercy of the new fighter craft fielded in the latest clashes. The Lightening bombers and the pilots had to relearn dogfighting.

Besides that, the weapons of the Highborn battleships had greater range and more powerful destructive force than the Pact fleet was armed with, greater range and deadly accuracy, making combat planning an adventure in calculating acceptable losses.

Andromeda was off on a mission to find the Empire's lost tool that had driven off the Highborn, even though too late for the Empire's survival. A dangerous romp into the heart of old Imperial space, now controlled by the Highborn.

Terrific reading, as expected after so many shining examples of masterful writing, and characters we know so well by now provide the heroes we love and admire, and the enemy we detest with a passion, an amazing battlefield to exercise their animosities. Weapons rain death and destruction on both sides of the conflict and our heroes face the worst enemy in the known universe.

Amazing reading and terrific action are found on every page of this book. Damn near impossible to put down, also impossible to find a slow spot in the story to take a break. Grab this now!
Profile Image for Robert Konka.
69 reviews
December 28, 2019
Well Done

I think this is what we need to be reading more of,this was a very well written story line and keeping the characters as strong as they were individually established. The following story was a strong continuing Saga of these heroes of their story.
Profile Image for DAVID.
583 reviews5 followers
December 29, 2019
Great Storyline

Well that was another great storyline hopefully book 16 will be even better with plenty of twists and turns. You would have thought the Union would have known not to aid the Highborn but vengeance is blind.
Profile Image for Greg Inman.
81 reviews
January 17, 2020
Empire’s Ashes

This book was full of excitement and action , I just hope that Conner and Andi find a way to pull the Confederation and the Alliance through to victory from the Highborn.
234 reviews
January 31, 2020
Great Reaf

Another great book with multiple characters and plots following the Hegemony, Confederacy, Union, Highborn as well as key personalities and impact on the war. It will grab and hold your attention.
61 reviews1 follower
February 20, 2020
Blood on the Stars-Perfectly Named

Sit on the edge of your chair reading each chapter thinking you know what's going to happen..then the next sentence, chapter takes a slight turn.

Still my only really annoying thing are the spelling errors or wrong words.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.