Conqueror's Pride: 9 out of 10
The first novel in this series is a wonderful adventure. You will be engrossed by the adventures of the Cavanagh family as they take matters into their own hands and race across the stars to save one member of their family. Meanwhile, humans are facing a dire threat from a terrible new alien race that has attacked and plans to conquer the commonwealth.
Zahn's first novel is a fantastic space adventure in the best sense of the words that is difficult to put down and will leave you wanting more.
Conqueror's Heritage: 10 out of 10
The second novel rises to new heights as Zahn throws you a 180 degree viewpoint flip. In the first novel you see the war, the fears, and the plans from the human perspective. Now, suddenly, you get to see the alien, Zhirrzh, perspective. Zahn challenges every belief you have about wars and forces you to see how similar both sides are. Despite your presumptions made in the first novel about the evil Zhirrzh, you discover how the Zhirzzh share the same fears, hopes, dreams, and goals for the war and their lives. Zahn examines both sides of the war, showing you how easy a single misunderstanding between different cultures can lead to escalating conflict that is perpetuated by fear and more misunderstandings.
Zahn's second novel is an incredible cultural and political analysis that grabs your attention and makes you rethink what you know about our modern wars. To convey how great this book is I must add that I never would have thought I would enjoy any sort of novel with such a political aspect. This novel is even harder to put down than the first one. It is an incredible adventure that everyone should read.
Conqueror's Legacy: 8 out of 10
The third novel brings together the stories and characters from both sides of the war as the conflict escalates. The characters on both sides go on harrowing adventures as they try to bring the war to an end while other political powers maneuver and exacerbate the situation for their own gain.
While the novel is great, it loses a few points in two areas. After the first two novels focused on a small handful of perspectives, it is quite the change when the story quickly jumps around and between a dozen different points of view. While the lead up and escalation to the conclusion is an utterly thrilling attention grabber, the resolution is abrupt and the closure after the climax is short.
This epic conclusion is a must-read as it brings the conflict to an end. It is fascinating to watch how all the seemingly seperate strands of stories come together in just the right way to bring such a precarious situation to a peaceful resolution.