Empire Rising · #17 / 22
Debt of Deceit
The Empire faces a hidden enemy unlike anything they have encountered before. Lurking in the shadows, Silizzeras agents seek to draw Humanity’s sector of the galaxy into a never-ending war. Yet now that their secret has been discovered, James and Christine can finally begin to work against their new enemy and wrest the Empire from their control.
Agent Rarmanca has other ideas, however. Both south and north of the Empire’s borders, and at its very heart, she has set in motion plans to cripple the Empire’s war machine and leave them open to Karacknid invasion.
James, Jonathan, Georgia, and Emilie must split their forces to combat this hidden enemy and put out the fires Rarmanca has started before they consume the Empire. Along the way, James will find the deceits of his past are finally catching up with him and the cost may be more than he or the Empire can bear.
Debt of Deceit is the seventeenth book in the military science fiction series; Empire Rising.
The series
In a future shaped by starships and shifting alliances, Empire Rising delivers a galaxy on the brink—and dares readers to step into its war-torn heart. This expansive military sci-fi series begins not with glory, but with the quiet tension of a commander burdened by duty. At its core is James Somerville, a Royal Space Navy officer navigating the fine line between loyalty and survival as humanity stretches its reach across the stars.
Read full series description
What sets this space opera apart isn’t just the scope of its interstellar conflicts or the precision of its tactical warfare—though those are delivered with grit and clarity—but the weight of consequence that hangs over every decision. Empires don’t rise without cost, and here, each battle scars more than just hulls. The political games are as dangerous as the dogfights, and the galaxy is far from black and white.
With a tone steeped in realism and a clear respect for naval tradition, the series blends grounded strategy with far-reaching stakes. Readers are drawn into a universe where no victory is simple, and peace is always temporary. As alliances crack and new threats emerge, Somerville and his crew must navigate not only hostile alien forces, but the very ambitions of the human powers they serve.
Tense, deliberate, and steeped in atmosphere, Empire Rising offers a vision of the future shaped by conflict, command, and the unshakable belief that even in the darkest corners of space, leadership matters. It’s a series that rewards those who savor intricate world-building, evolving character arcs, and the moral grey zones of war among the stars.
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