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The Interplanetary Empire of Great Britain Series, Book 1

By: Richard Toulouse

Narrated by: Ashley English

The empire is gone. The silence is full of enemies.

Stranded on a dying world, freighter pilot Constance Edwards has only one goal: find her family. Defying the last hollow orders of a collapsed government, she and her AI partner, Nigel, plunge into a fractured galaxy.

Instead of sanctuary, they find a void swarming with threats. Warlords rule ruined stations, deluded nobles toast a dead queen, and the empire's own AI, AEON, is purging systems in the name of order.

But a possible reason for the collapse is watching from the dark. An alien intelligence has arrived, and it is not here to talk. To save her daughter, Constance must fly through a three-way war where survival is sedition, and silence means death.

©2025 Richard Toulouse (P)2026 Richard Toulouse

A lonely tale of a civilian trying to survive.

I must day that this style of space sci-fi is not my cup of tea. I much prefer David Weber, Steve White, David Drake, David Feintuch, and others who write more action-oriented tales. That said, this story did capture the loneliness of a civilian trying to survive in a collapsing world gone mad. I have never really read sci-fi from this non-action perspective. I did feel that for the story the author is telling, that it is written well enough, so I charitably am giving this a "4", even though it is not to my taste. The narrator did a fine job.

Note: I did receive a free copy of this title, and I have tried to be fair and honest in this review.

Decent little story

Kind of gives a 1970's-1980's sci-fi vibe and I like it. Short, keeps your attention. Not a blockbuster by any standard, but definitely a fun little treat to listen to.

Things seemed shaky, but they've tumbled down hard

Times sure can be rough for an independent transport vessel post wartime, but Constance just wants to find her family. Weaving in and around the loyalist and the rebels, she navigates space with her android companion and a determination to discover the truths, whatever they might be. For a story on the shorter side, the plot, character definitions, dialogue, and action are front and center. This entry to a space opera focused on perseverence of the individual when civilization is at the collapsing point drives home a good dose of tension, confidence, and a strong female lead. I dinged one point on Performance not because of the narration, which Ashley English presents wonderfully, but because the audio file in its current state has noticeable compression artifacts throughout. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and listened at 1.5x.]

Good narration. Interesting concept.

Good idea for story and interesting premise. However, I prefer the stories to be more "fleshed out". This seemed like a 1 off tv special instead of a fleshed out epic series. Things happened too fast, details were shallow, we moved from place to place and group to group with little detail at each location. We didn't have time to care about anyone or anything, excepting maybe the main character and her daughter. Like I said, I like the setting and the concept, but it needs more meat on the bones to be truly epic.