Calico Reaction (calico_reaction) wrote in bookish,
Calico Reaction
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Westerfeld, Scott: The Risen Empire

The Risen Empire: Book One of Succession
Writer: Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 349

The premise: The Risen Emperor has ruled his empire of 80 human worlds for nearly sixteen hundred years. He's found a way to conquer death--which requires dying FIRST in order to live forever--and even bestows that privilege on a select few. The first to received that privilege, once upon a time ago, was his sister, now known as the Child Empress, and now, the Child Empress's life is at stake: humanity's worst enemy, the Rix, have taken her hostage in order to waken the compound mind--the mind of a planet. The Emperor will do anything to keep that from happening, but there's a secret he'll protect even more than his very own sister, no matter how many lives it costs.

My Rating

Wish I'd Borrowed It: it's just not for me. I can see how some masculine readers might love this book to pieces, as it's certainly brain-candy in terms of world-building and details. But I've heard from other reviews that of Westerfeld's adult SF, it's not the strongest, so I'll wait to pass judgment on whether or not his YA is superior. However, I'm in the YA camp for now. I won't be reading the sequel (or the continuation) of this book, nor any that might possibly come in the future, a future that isn't soon coming, if you take a look at Westerfeld's faq. Can't blame the guy. I look forward to reading more of his YA, and will give his adult SF another shot should I happen upon a different title at a later date. As far as recommendations, I suspect masculine fans of space opera will probably eat this up, provided their primary love in SF is world-building and details rather than meaty plots or characterization. Not that the characterization is BAD in this book, there's just too many characters to follow, some you only get a chapter on, and frankly, the pages could've been better used, IMHO.

One note of warning: if you're reading this and are liking/loving it enough to want the sequel: get it ASAP. The Risen Empire ends on a major cliff-hanger due to the fact Tor split the manuscript into two books. So yeah, have your sequel on hand if you're liking it. :)

The full review, which does contain spoilers (well, more nit-picks than spoilers, maybe), may be found in my journal. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Scott Westerfeld's THE RISEN EMPIRE

Happy Reading! :)
Tags: review, xxx author last name: r-z
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