The Empire by Elizabeth Lang

It will be interesting to discover which will make you beg. Will it be the pain or the pleasure?"

How do you tame a man without breaking his spirit?

The galaxy is under siege from alien invaders. The Empire is the only force that stands in the gap, trading the freedom of its citizens for a tenuous security.

Amidst this chaos, Lt. Adrian Stannis is a brilliant scientist trying to stay out of the limelight. He hides on a research vessel plying the Outer Rim and finds peace of a sort with Kali Mirren, a psi-enabled humanoid. But his days of anonymity may be coming to an end. Someone has discovered his secret and is determined to make him pay for his treachery. He must finish the project he abandoned years ago, one the Council deems essential in its fight against the aliens, but things are never that simple where Adrian is concerned.

Is he more man than machine, or have years hiding behind a mountain of logic eroded his humanity? Can he learn to love and will he be able to survive the tangled web of political expediency and psychological manipulation that surrounds him?

Will Kali be able to save him from himself, or is there a mystery surrounding him that may explode in their faces?

Everyone wants to know the truth, but will it set them free?

Goodreads Summary

There are qualities in this book that will tempt just about every reader to pick it up.  The science fiction in the novel is tame, most readers won't have a hard time understand the plot and the dialogue between the characters.  There are increasingly heated hints of romance between the main characters.  This book is chock full of action as well, the events are fast-paced and the very fate of humanity is dependent on crucial decisions and actions.  Mystery lingers in some of the sub-plots to round out the book. 

The main characters are very well-developed.  The reader will meet Adrian and Kali early on in the book.  Adrian is secretive, enigmatic, and highly intelligent.  Kali is the softer character; she is compassionate, brave, and headstrong.  They are very compatible and work well together.   The secondary characters are interesting, the reader's opinion will vary as he/she continues to read the book.

This book has the perfect ending, a hint of a teaser at the end.  The plot was detailed and easy to follow and the characters were fun to read about.  This book is recommended to young adults/adults.

5 Stars