In Her Name: From Chaos Born

From Chaos Born by Michael R. Hicks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The In Her Name series continues with a new trilogy, the first book of which is "From Chaos Born". The story takes place thousands of generations in the past when the Kreelan people were still fragmented and their society living through cycles of death and rebirth as technology outpaced their social development.
Without giving too much away the events in the book expand upon the histories of the Desh-Ka priesthood and the Kreelan Empress as told in the previous six novels and we begin in the time before the one that was to unite the people was born, the nations/regions are involved in a global war led by a Dark Queen who had appeared out of nowhere and slew all who challenged her. Prophecies from the fallen second age of the Kreelan people foretold of one that would be born with white hair and red talons who would bring together the people and ultimately curse them and it is such a child that is born to Ulana-Tath and Kunan-Lohr of the city state Keel-A'ar. The Dark Queen Syr-Nagath has her own secrets and destiny and sees the child as the ultimate threat to her plans and her actions to remove this threat drive the story and the epic battles and struggles which follow.
From Chaos Born is a much faster paced story then those that preceded it although that may have more to do with the detail and scope required when dealing with one on one conflicts and ground battles rather than space based combat. That is certainly not a negative though, with a slightly smaller pool of characters and events the dialogue and emotional/logical reasoning of the characters is every bit as compelling and you accept the fact that there are no humans in this story as the lives and deaths strike at the core of what we regard as being human.
The question is often asked, what does the individual believe and is right or wrong and how will they act on that belief and it's the tragedy of this world that the people's honour and loyalty has been given to one not worthy who has her eyes not only on this world but all the worlds in the skies and the slaughter of an innocent is nothing but one step in the process.

A purchase of "From Chaos Burn" is a no brainer for anyone who got the slightest bit of pleasure from the previous books and it's not that bad a place to start if you are new to the world Michael R Hicks has created.

View all my reviews