Bones of Empire by William C. Dietz

Science Fiction

The alien in Bones of Empire by William C. Dietz was so terrible it made me wonder what kind of mind had the imagination to create something that awful.  

The Sagathies are a shape-shifting species that are so vicious that they are confined to a prison planet.  Unfortunately two of the Sagathies have escaped.  Because the Sagathies are such a threat to the Uman Empire there are cops who are bioengineered to see through the shape-shifting guise of the Sagathies.  Jak Cato is one of those cops.  Cato has just been assigned to Corin the capital of the Uman Empire. When Cato catches a glimpse of Emperor Emor he sees that it is Fiss Verafti, a Sagathie shape shifter thought to be dead.   What follows is a dangerous adventure that leads Cato to a planet where a female shape-shifter has established a religion that worships her.  If she and Fiss take over the planet they will hunt down, kill and eat everyone on the planet.   While Cato is trying to catch and kill the Sagathies he is also dealing with a few of his own personal issues.  The main one is the lovely Alamy, a slave he owns and has promised to free. 

Bones of Empire is part of a Duology about the Uman Empire.  While I have read several of William C. Dietz’s books I have not read the Empire Edge's, the book that precedes Bones of Empire.  Because there is enough back-story woven in I had no trouble keeping up with the action in Bones of Empire. 

Bones of Empire is a fun Science Fiction read.  It has a horrible villain, great action, a well-developed world and a touch of romance; in other words, something for everyone. 

ACE published Bones of Empire by William C. Dietz in 2010,

I checked Bones of Empire out from the Rogers Public Library.