YMMV / Empire from the Ashes

• Complete Monster: Anu, from Mutineers' Moon, was once the Chief Engineer of the space station Dahak. He led a mutiny against the captain, and made sure the ensuing fight caused as much bloodshed as possible. Later trapped on Earth thanks to Dahak's automated defenses, Anu put thousands of his army into stasis, then used their bodies as vessels for him and his most loyal followers when their bodies wore out. Anu then began instigating many of history's biggest wars and atrocities, with people like Adolf Hitler himself having acted on Anu's orders. After Colin and an army of rebels start thwarting Anu's plans, Anu begins ordering the destruction of random cities on the off chance any rebel bases are located in them. When the rebels lead an assault on Anu's HQ, Anu activates automated weaponry, targeting friend and foe alike, and, when beaten, tries to detonate all of his bases' reactors around the globe, which would result in countless amounts of death and destruction across the world. Psychopathic, narcissistic, and bloodthirsty, Anu stood out as the most wicked villain in the series.
• Fridge Logic: The book really needed a scene where Dahak preserves the Apollo sites. Just because the Moon wasn't a moon doesn't mean people wouldn't be heartbroken is the sites were destroyed...
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • "Will there be a reply?"
  • This exchange when Dahak is too damaged to accompany the fleet to Earth:
    Dahak: I have learned what "loneliness" is... and it is not a pleasant thing.
    Jiltanith: Worry not, my Dahak. Never shalt thou know loneliness again. Whilst humans live, they'll not forget thy deeds nor cease to love thee.
  • This simple passage about The Power of Love, about Amanda Givens, who lost her first husband in battle:
    Narration: Colin and Jiltanith had watched helplessly as [Amanda] hid herself in her duties, sealing herself into an armored shell and investing all the emotion she dared risk in Tamman's son. She'd become an automaton, and there'd been nothing even an emperor could do about it, but Tsien Tao-ling had changed that.
    Many of the marshal's personnel feared him. That was wise of them, yet something in Amanda had called out to him, despite her defenses, and the man the newsies called "the Juggernaut" had approached her so gently she hadn't even realized he was doing it until it was too late. Until he'd been inside her armor, holding out his hand to offer her the heart few people believed he had... and she'd taken it.
• Moment of Awesome: Colin's Big Damn Heroes scene in the second book, which he follows up with not long afterward by blowing up a sun.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Humanity never does get around to advancing on the Achuultani homeworld... If the arc had gone on, most of the original characters would be dead by the war against the Achultaani AI, which is usually a major turn-off for the audience. Honor Harrington (also by David Weber) is a long runner, too, but doesn't span the epic time scales of Empire from the Ashes, even if you include the prequel stories.

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