The Praxis (Author's Preferred Edition)

Walter Jon Williams has succeeded in creating the perfect contemporary space opera, revved up and ready to take the SF genre by force with all the artistry and panache one could ask for. --Enigma This is a hugely fun ride. It has empires crashing, civil wars, aliens, humans, scheming clans, plucky young heroes and villains fighting battles in huge starships--- what more can you ask for? --Alien Online Walter Jon Williams has been compared to writers as diverse as Patrick OBrian and Jane Austen; both comparisons, bizarrely, make sense. This is classic space opera, elegantly written and beautifully plotted. --Guardian For millennia the alien Shaa have ruled their empire with a merciless hand. But soon their rule will end, and their subject species are already beginning to bid for power. Will their ruthless competition lead to bloody chaos, or a tyranny even worse than that of the Shaa? Cadet Caroline Sula is a brilliant, beautiful, brittle officer with a deadly secret that could bring her career crashing in ruins. Lt. Gareth Martinez is a provincial who struggles for recognition by the glittering lords of the empire. Together they discover that one of the empires subject races is planning a murderous conquest that will leave humanity helpless, and soon theyre in a fight against overwhelming odds to save humanitys last hope from extinction.