The Dark Lord

I've been waiting and waiting for my library to get this last book, and when it finally came, I was thrilled! The pace was fast, and the staging was great. I was not thrilled with the alterations made to Martina, but then, she was fairly minor, so no harm done. However, I do have one complaint. There are way too many loose ends! What happens with Mohammed now that he's back? Does Maxian keep his power? Is he truly a god (bit arrogant, there, he was). What happens between Vladimir and Betia? Is Thyatis really dead this time? Was Kore the K'Shapacara queen (assuming that Kore, another name for Hecate, was also the Queen of the Night)? Too many questions were left unanswered, and so I am pleading with Mr. Harlan to give us a fifth book and tie everything up! I admit, I like my books nice and neatly tied up, so a fifth book would be particularly welcome. All in all, though, a gorgeous read! Thank you, sir, for such a lovely series.

I've enjoyed the entire Oath of Empire series. It is pretty ambitious and keeping all the characters straight can be difficult at first, which put me off for a while. But I'm glad I dove in and then finished off the series in one long go.Despite the complexity, I REALLY enjoyed the great ideas and especially the descriptions of battles and the constant surprises. Readers with any knowledge of history will enjoy the research that went into this, and I could easily envision the battle descriptions (of which there were many). Harlan's experience in gaming and especially his Lords of the Earth clearly had their influences too, which I appreciated, with the various secret organizations and powers waging invisible war. The Dark Lord itself was a fitting end to the whole series and I'm rather sad it's over (or is it?). I'll be looking forward to Harlan's next books. They are not fast reads, but for me well worth the time because of all the great ideas they contain.

In 625 AD, Augustus Galen knows the Roman Empire that he rules is in deep trouble from the threat of Lord Dahak and the Persian Empire. The star of Constantinople fell three years earlier to Lord Dahak leaving the Eastern Roman Empire teetering on the brink of collapse. Dahak's use of forbidden sorcery like necromancy has led to a near invincible force of living and deceased soldiers.With their forces led by General Shahr-Baraz, the Persians target Aegyptus as the next strategic place to destroy their rivals. Galen's younger brother Caesar Aurelian leads the Roman forces, but the morale is low, as the Persian militia seems invincible. Defeat here would cause havoc on food supplies for Rome and the knowledge that crossing the Mediterranean is probably the next focus of the Persians. A besieged Galen sees a glimmer of hope in his youngest brother, the strong sorcerer Caesar Maxian and with an alliance with the Queen of Palmya and Mohammed Al'Quraysh though both remember the treachery of the Eastern Roman Empire. The final battle of the war to end wars will determine who will rule earth for millenniums to come.THE DARK LORD is the final novel in a strong alternate history series, the "Oath of Empire". The fourth tale provides closure to the key themes yet keeps the level of complexities at stratospheric levels rarely found in his sub-genre. However, readers, especially the adrenaline crowd will find that the intricate of the plot requires time to develop and maintain. Still, Thomas Harlan provides quite a coup with this triumphant conclusion to Rome, circa seventh century AD.Harriet Klausner

I have been reading Thomas Harlan's Oath of Empire series with admiration and avidity, hardly able to wait for each new book to come out. This latest book, the conclusion, started out as well as the others, with a fast plot, intrigue, and interesting magic, as well as good alternate history. A few chapters from the end, however, I started to see some characters behaving differently from what I expected, and some outcomes disappointing. I expected more of a fight from the Dark Lord himself, and was disappointed in some of the deaths. Also, even though the cover says this is the conclusion, at the end there are a lot of characters still at loose ends; you don't know what has happened to them. I fully expect to see a second series in this alternate Rome judging by the end of this book, and I hope some of my questions about it are answered, as well as some of my disappointments mitigated.