The Hermetic Millenium trilogy is a Hard Science Fiction/Space Opera series in progress by John C. Wright.
Books thus far.[]
- Count to a Trillion
Tropes featured[]
- Abdicate the Throne: A theoretical solution to their problems, at one point.
- Above Good and Evil: We don't have to teach post humans to be good while we make them.
- Abusive Precursors: The aliens have yet to show up, but have made their intentions clear.
- Badass Spaniard
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Menelaus watches this trope in act. He doesn't approve.
- The Captain: Princess Rania also commands the world's only (functioning) starship.
- The Chains of Commanding: The princess is deeply involved in her people's welfare.
- Cold Sleep, Cold Future
- Cliff Hanger: The ending of Count to a Trillion
- Crap Saccharine World
- Cry Into Chest: Rania possibly invokes this with Menelaus.
- Dirty Business: Dealing with blighters.
- Doctor's Orders: Menelaus can talk casually with the effective ruler of Earth. When he must be examined by a doctor, he finds it much harder to assert himself.
- Dreaming the Truth: Menelaus
- Driven to Suicide: Captain Grimaldi At least according to Blackie
- Duel to the Death: Menelaus's occupation, as junior member of a law firm.
- Due to the Dead: Menelaus's only objection to the absence of religion.
- Ermine Cape Effect
- Evolutionary Levels: Used to soothe the conscience, by some characters.
- Fish Out of Temporal Water: Menelaus
- Friend to All Living Things: Prince Ranier
- Genre Savvy: Menelaus has read SF. He notices certain lacks.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Blackie
- The Gunslinger
- How Many Fingers?: The Medic tries this.
- Human Popsicle
- I Gave My Word: Why Menelaus survived.
- Love Triangle: Blackie, Rania, and Menelaus.
- Two-Person Love Triangle: Menelaus, Iron Menelaus, and Rania.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Rania fell in love with Iron Menelaus.
- Mad Scientist: Menelaus tries a very hypothetical experiment out on himself. The effect is very strange.
- Meaningful Echo
- The Medic: Menelaus can argue with the Master of the World, but not the doctor
- Men Don't Cry: His mother insists on this.
- The Mutiny
- Murder by Cremation: What really happened to Prince Ranier.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Menelaus's Super Serum. He gets called on this by Blackie.
- One Head Taller: Mentally invoked by Menelaus after Princess Rania's growth spurt: "He hated the fact that the top of her head no longer fit nicely under his chin when they hugged...It seemed obscurely unnatural, as if someone had made a mistake when putting the universe together."
- People of Hair Color: Blondies
- Princess Classic
- The Promise: Menelaus makes one very young.
- Requisite Royal Regalia
- Reverse Psychology: One character argues with Menelaus as if he wants him to do the opposite.
- Royal Blood
- Servant Race: to be genetically engineered.
- Shout-Out: Pretty blatant one to Star Trek/Buck Rogers/Babylon 5 in Asymptote; "Blackie" del Azarchel is a homage to Blackie Duquesne from the Skylark series.
- Slave Race: The aliens' plans for us.
- Sophisticated As Hell: Menelaus swings between "aw shucks" Texanisms and ultrafluent Lawyerese or Antiquated Linguistics.
- Spring Is Late: Years late.
- Super-Powered Evil Side
- Super Serum / Psycho Serum
- Tap on the Head: Takes Menelaus out, old style.
- Time Abyss: To quote the author, the story will be followed to "the year Oh-My-Gosh-That's-A-Lot-Of-Zeroes".
- Title Drop
- Truly Single Parent: The princess has only a father, though he was not the one to make her.
- Uh-Oh Eyes
- Visual Novel: Asymptote seems to be this.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: And, indeed, your own electronic copy.
- You Are Number Six: Crewman Fifty-one.