Hammer and Crucible — Cameron Cooper

The interstellar array which links worlds together wakes to find it has enemies...The Fourth Carinad Empire stretches across hundreds of settled worlds and stellar cities, and thousands of light years.  The Empire's people and data are linked by a space-folding gates array controlled by the Emperor and his cohorts.  When the array evolves into a sentient entity, it recognizes the Emperor as its foe.Danny Andela, once known as The Imperial Hammer, withdrew from the Imperial Rangers decades ago, her reputation in tatters. She lives on her family's star barge, waiting to die of a rare disease: old age.  She would be the array's perfect weapon against the Emperor, except she no longer gives a damn—about anything.Then Danny learns that the military disaster which essentially ended her life might possibly have been arranged by the Emperor himself...Hammer and Crucible is the first book in the Imperial Hammer space opera science fiction series by award-winning SF author Cameron Cooper.The Imperial Hammer series:1.0: Hammer and Crucible1.1: An Average Night on Androkles2.0: Star Forge3.0: Long Live the Emperor4.0: Severed5.0: Destroyer of WorldsSpace Opera Science Fiction Novel__Praise and Kudos for Hammer and Crucible:Fourth place in Hugh Howey's Self-Published Science Fiction ContestThis was a fun, fast paced read full of action and humor.I greedily read in this in one day. You will want to as well.Lots of action and a boatload of twists and turns that grab your attention and won't let go. It has kept me up way past bedtime!He builds the scenes in a way that I feel as though I am actually walking long the ship's corridors and I can totally relate to all of the characters.I loved Hammer and Crucible! Couldn't put it down.The plot is fascinating; it is intricate as well as filled with surprises and action.This is a read that really sucks you in!Excellent characters, twists and turns throughout.Written in such a natural hand that you can fully image the spectacular universe the author has created.__Cameron Cooper is the author of the Imperial Hammer space opera series, among others. Cameron tends to write space opera short stories and novels, but also roams across the science fiction landscape.  Cameron was raised on a steady diet of Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, McCaffrey, and others. Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Martha Wells and Cory Doctorow are contemporary heroes.  An Australian Canadian, Cam lives near the Canadian Rockies.