GAME OF EMPIRE

Rating:
Summary: The end of Dominic Flandry
Review: Game of Empire is the final installation of the Dominic Flandry series of stories. As an avid Poul Anderson, and specifically Dominic Flandry, fan, I found this novel a complete disappointment. It is evident that the author has lost interest in this series, and that the novel was written to satisfy the publisher.

The book is hardly a Dominic Flandry novel at all. Flandry is an aging admiral who makes several appearances. The protagonist is Diana, a daughter of Flandry. The character has much potential, but is never truly developed. Even worse, Anderson has already used the basic plot in the short story 'The Warriors from Nowhere', the novella 'The Rebel Worlds', and the novel A Stone in Heaven. Throw us a bone, and use some imagination! The only saving grace of the novel is Anderson's (as usual) masterful craft of language and detail which bring these fictional worlds alive.