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Traitors’ World by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is #7 in the ten book series about the agents of the Imperial Special Investigation Service, and I found it to be one of the better ones. I like Goldin’s writing which I discovered through E.E. “Doc”Smith. This book is a combination of Space Opera and Spy Thriller. The two problems they have to deal with are first, that the conspiracy against the Empire is still out there and still trying to overthrow the Tsaritsa. Second, they have found a person who was supposed to be safely imprisoned on the planet Gulag, and how had she gotten out? Is there something going on there. The two husband-and-wife teams are separated, with one team going to Gulag to work from within and see what is going on, but for this to work they have to commit treason at a level below the kind that earns the death penalty but will instead earn them a sentence of banishment to Gulag. The other team will try to infiltrate the pirate fleet that is known to be part of the conspiracy. And there is a deadline because the Tsaritsa is coming of age and will be invested with full Imperial power, and this will be the obvious signal for the conspiracy to act.

As this is the part of 10 book series that has its own arc, I do not recommend it as a stand-alone novel. But it you are the kind of person who enjoys reading a multi-book series, give this a look. The books are light and a good read.



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Stellar Revolution by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In book 5 of Agents of ISIS, the wedding of Tsaritsa Natalia is the big event, but first Pias takes Eva, his fiance, to his home planet of Newforest. There he gets an initial warm reception, until he says he cannot stay. And he can’t explain why, since ISIS is very careful about letting out information, particularly about thier top agents, like Eva, and Pias is destined to join ISIS formally himself. He gets ostracized as a result and has to leave without anyone acknowledging him. But on the ship back to Earth, they are captured by pirates, and they are part of the same organization headed up by Lady A. What do they want with the passengers of this ship? And Pias and Eva are of no use to them, so they are scheduled to be killed. And who is C, who just has come up? Is he or she above Lady A, below, and is there a B? In the climax, Judah saves the day by killing a robot who was going to kill the Tsaritsa, and the wedding does eventually come off. And Judah marries his fiance Vida, and Eva marries Pias, so all is well in the end.



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Sanctuary Planet by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In Book 4 of the Agents of ISIS series, a problem has turned up. It seems that a number of prominent criminals have gone missing without a trace. And then the daughter of thee head of ISIS has also gone missing. They suspect she went undercover to try and solve the problem of the missing criminals, but she really doesn’t have field experience and is up against a very ruthless enemy. So the top agents of ISIS, Eva and Judah, are once again called into action to try and rescue the daughter, find out where the criminals have gone, and save the Empire. Two important new characters are introduced in this book. One is the mysterious Lady A, who seems to be the head of the conspiracy against the Empire. The other is Pias Bavol, who Eva falls in love with (and vice-versa). Another space opera romp.



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Robot Mountain by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a continuation of Goldin’s reworking of his previous Family D’Alembert series as a new series called Agents of ISIS. The previous series was based on an idea by E.E. “Doc” Smith, and it was Smith who got all of the attention, so I think Goldin wanted something with his name on it. I enjoyed the story, which involves a threat to the Tsaritsa that is set to happen while she is meeting prospective husbands. The top agents of ISIS, Eva and Judah, are on the case but what does it mean that there is a bomb set to go off? And how does a planetary ruler with a fortress mountain filled with robots figure into the plot? Its a nice romp.



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Treacherous Moon by Stephen Goldin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is the second book in the series, and once again it pretty closely follows the original from the previous Family D’Alembert series (see my review of Tsar Wars for the details on that). Suffice it to say, this is a pleasant enough romp, but I didn’t see any substantial changes over the original. I don’t mind that exactly, but it gave me no reason for a higher rating. The first book managed to improve on the original in some respects, whereas this one simply filed off the serial numbers and changed the names. I read it on a plane and it was a perfectly good way to kill time, but not a lot of meat on these bones.



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