5 star review - Heirs of Empire by S. A. Melia

Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers’ Favorite

S. A. Melia’s Heirs of Empire returns to the twelve-planet Dodecahedral Empire, where teenage King Teodor emerges from six months in the wilds of frontier planet Sas Darona to find his cousin Tomas Storm on his throne. Teodor’s healer and beloved, Nuria Valvanchi, lies unconscious after saving his life as London burns beneath fire domes built to contain a deadly plague. Guy Erma, Teodor’s childhood friend and a Dome Militant officer, has learned that Imperial blood gives him a claim to the throne, placing him inside the same succession crisis. Tomas commands the rival Magpie forces as political lines shift across the Twelve Worlds. With several heirs now linked to one crown, Teodor must protect the people depending on him as family ties merge with the future of his kingdom.

S. A. Melia’s Heirs of Empire is a fantastic space opera with inventive world-building that places every detail naturally inside its universe. The technology feels at home in everyday life, with personal spiders sealing a rider’s clothing with silk before a hunt. The cast has real character at every level of the story. The big, main characters are all great, and readers who are this far into the series will know that, but what's impressive is how fleshed out all of the characters are, primary and ancillary. Marline is a favorite, bringing sharp social intelligence to her role as one of the few Scavengii translators whenever her work enters conversations. That same imagination carries through the setting on Freyne, where a Renaissance court conceals advanced systems inside jewelry beneath artificial weather. Military hardware receives equally thoughtful treatment, shown through a mobile communications unit linking operators to satellites through the Stargate. There is a wonderful sense of scale here, matched by a world that feels inhabited at every turn. Readers who appreciate sprawling space operas built around imperial rivalry are in for a treat.