The Martian General's Daughter by Theodore Judsen

Spent most of the day (and a good part of yesterday) reading this book.

I really wasn't that impressed.

The reviews made it look interesting. Taking place approximately 300 years in the future in the Pan-Polarian Empire, which replaced the United States after the failure of the republican system, this story follows the life of Peter Justice Black as he tries to do the right thing while serving a despotic emperor. As the reviews on Amazon note it is essentially the story of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus told as speculative fiction.

Unfortunately in my opinion it isn't very good speculative fiction. In 300 years the Human race has essentially reverted to barbarism with no real reason given, nor is any reason given for the fall of the US and the establishment of the Pan-Polarian empire. Yeah, there is the metal plague that is causing machinery to break down, but that is only a generation or so old and the decline of civilization is much more advanced than that.

Also the characters just have no depth. The emperor is an evil cartoon, the hero is an uneducated, unthinking buffoon leading uneducated unthinking savages. The supporting cast are all stereotypes, evil greedy merchants, noble slaves etc. There just isn't any there there.

Overall I say avoid this book unless you are a real diehard speculative fiction fan.