Review: Prequel to MPire Trilogy by T. L. James Now Out!

The Mpire: Chronicles of



The Haulm Boys

By T. L. James
PHE Ink
ISBN: 9780982447543


I don’t know how she does it, but I was on page 75 of The Mpire: Chronicles of the Haulm Boys by T. L. James, before I realized it! I had already read The Mpire: In Search of the Lost and had The Mpire: Death Cometh on my Wish List, until yesterday when I proceeded with my order.

Chronicles of the Haulm Boys is a prequel to the Trilogy. My guess is that it was written based upon questions from James’ fans. Essentially, it takes readers into the early lives of the Four Horsemen—yes, that is who the Haulm Boys are—and explains how and when Mallory left the family, presumably dead, and returned. Personally, I didn’t find it hard to move into the first book, but for those who are interested in details of the lives of each of the involved men, then you will definitely want to add this prequel!

All I have to say is—Wow, this is soooome family!

First of all, there is a generation of Haulm men that now rules the family; with Uncle Mal as the head. He is brother to Malcolm, the father of the boys who will become The Four Horsemen. Specifically, Marc represents Pestilence; Marek is War; Marlon represents Famine; while Mallory will find out that he represents Death. The four brothers are responsible for keeping the balance of power between Angels and Humans.

Early in the prequel, there is a telling scene about the family. Malcolm is making breakfast for each of the boys, who each order an entirely different breakfast. Pork chops and oatmeal for one! Mallory has not yet come to the table and Malcolm smilingly indicates that he did not sleep well last night—and if you catch my reference to why, you are probably right.

In the meantime, Uncle Mal is demanding that Mallory come to breakfast, sit down and recite his Psalm prayer! In the midst of total chaos, one brother suddenly hears Mallory whispering in a quivering voice, “The Lord if my shepherd...” And then he looked down at Mallory’s feet and say the thick dark red blood streaming down his leg.”

And soon, as men in black, broke into the home, it was realized that Mallory was gone...

Jealousy, betrayal, threats, and deceit are all normal within this family. Each brother tries to find his own way, only to find out what one of his own family has done...This is a scary family that thinks nothing of execution of another family member, if warranted by those that make the decisions.

I’m still trying to project what might happen in the last two books, but, really, I haven’t a clue! And that’s good right? Because the creativity and unique storyline T. J. James presents in the prequel, TheMPire: Chronicles of the Haulm Boys and the upcoming two books of the Trilogy has just got to be read if you have been hooked! I’m one of those; You too? Then, look for my review of the second book in the Trilogy coming soon!

And if you haven’t read any of these books yet, I’d recommend you start with the prequel, since it has a short excerpt of each of the books in the Mpire Trilogy for you to read!

G. A. Bixler

Review: Must The Bad Guys Win...Sometime?

The Mpire:
In Search of the Lost
By T. L. James
Book4U Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 9780976216407
332 Pages


“. . .the bad guys must win some of the fights so the battle can go on. No one wants the battle to end, especially the good guys. After the battle, there is nothing else.” (p. 298)

I don’t think you will ever read another fascinating book like The Mpire by T. L. James . . . that is, unless she continues with a series! I, for one, would love to see that happen!

This extremely sexy, fantasy drama surrounds the family of Haulm; however, the main character is Mallory Towneson. Mallory is the youngest son of the Haulm family, but he was sent away from his family for fourteen years. During that time, he received an extensive education and started his own business, using the name of Towneson, his mother’s maiden name.

Now Mallory had come back home, somewhat under duress. Even when he moves and establishes a branch of his business, he did not contact his family until his uncle forced it upon him.

Mallory’s mother died as a result of his birth. During Mallory’s childhood, his father physically, mentally and emotionally abused him so badly that, to escape, Mallory forgot much of what he knew during those years, except one thing—he was still very afraid of his father!

With wealth to buy anything he wants, Mallory lives a life of luxury and changes cars as often as his socks. He’s a lover of all women—and women love him in return. Interestingly most of his interactions are one way, as he moves from event to event, providing pleasure to women in every walk of his life. In fact, most of his business includes “negotiations” that results in “satisfaction” to at least one of the parties!

But Mallory is required to take his place in his family’s multi-billion energy company. When reunited with his brothers, he is both hated and admired by his three older brothers, especially by the eldest, who believes he will one day become head of the company. Mallory is startled to also reconnect with his half-brother, Matthew, who has also joined the firm, though not as a major officer. Mallory and Matthew had met in college, not knowing that they were half-brothers, and had become intimately involved. Matthew had been Mallory’s one and only male lover and had been deeply hurt when Matthew had left him. Now Matthew was there, trying to rekindle the relationship.

None of his family believed that he couldn’t remember anything about his past until Marek, one of his brothers does finally realize that he had no idea, and explained to him, that it was now Mallory’s time to convert--to take his role as the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse, Death...

But both Mallory and Matthew had something to say about that! And so did Matthew’s Father!

“His greatest love is his enemy.” (p. 332)

Please readers, this is definitely “R” rated; however, because of the storyline and in light of today’s world, when everything is being sexualized, this is a timely novel, highly recommended!


G. A. Bixler