The books follow Karl Sten, a young man born and raised on the dangerous factory world of Vulcan and saved from life as an outlaw by the head of Imperial Intelligence, Ian Mahoney.
A series of crucial missions ensures that Sten rises swiftly in rank until he becomes a troubleshooter and friend to the Emperor himself.
A vast empire, limited only by the galaxy itself, is ruled by the Eternal Emperor, a man who appears to be in his thirties but is in fact over three thousand years old.
To make the point that monarchy is not a viable form of government, they chose to write about a working-class hero, and incorporated the theme of "power corrupts".
[2] Reviewing the series for tor.com in 2019, Alan Brown wrote that it is "one of my favorites from that era, and stands as a fine example of the space opera subgenre.