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Succession #2
The Killing of Worlds
#1 New York Times bestselling author Westerfeld continues one of the first great space operas of this century
Scott Westerfeld, the acclaimed author of Fine Prey, Polymorph, and Evolution's Darling, follows T he Risen Empire with the next thrilling space opera in Succession, the Killing of Worlds.
The immortal Emperor can grant a form of eternal life-after-death, creating an elite known as the Risen, and so has ruled the eighty worlds unchallenged for sixteen hundred years. The only thing he fears are the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship AI compound minds. They are dedicated to replacing his prolonged rule with an eternal cybernetic dynasty of their own.
Brilliant tactician Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx faces a suicide stopping the next thrust of the Rix invasion with just his own vessel. While ship-to-ship combat rages among the stars, Zai's lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is caught in a deadly political fencing match with the Emperor himself. The Emperor has a terrible secret, a secret Nara is in danger of finding out, a secret for which he would countenance the killing of worlds.
Scott Westerfeld, the acclaimed author of Fine Prey, Polymorph, and Evolution's Darling, follows T he Risen Empire with the next thrilling space opera in Succession, the Killing of Worlds.
The immortal Emperor can grant a form of eternal life-after-death, creating an elite known as the Risen, and so has ruled the eighty worlds unchallenged for sixteen hundred years. The only thing he fears are the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship AI compound minds. They are dedicated to replacing his prolonged rule with an eternal cybernetic dynasty of their own.
Brilliant tactician Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx faces a suicide stopping the next thrust of the Rix invasion with just his own vessel. While ship-to-ship combat rages among the stars, Zai's lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is caught in a deadly political fencing match with the Emperor himself. The Emperor has a terrible secret, a secret Nara is in danger of finding out, a secret for which he would countenance the killing of worlds.
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
71 people are currently reading
2156 people want to read
About the author
Scott Westerfeld
89 books21.3k followersScott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews
January 28, 2019
Review revisited
This sequel to The Risen Empire wraps up the Succession duology.
I usually associate this flavour of militaristic, big concept Space Opera with British authors like Iain M. Banks and Peter F. Hamilton (to name but two of many) so it’s good to see this work coming from the other side of the Atlantic.
The military actions depicted here are really interesting and it’s obvious that quite a bit of thought have gone into them. The same goes for the tech concerned. Westerfeld was clearly thinking out of the box when he conceived all of this.
Killing Of Worlds does attempt to sympathise with both sides of the coin where the Empire and the Rix are concerned, although the story’s focus is on the Empire and its internal politics (the Rix remain somewhat enigmatic throughout). If you don’t know by now, the Empire and the Rix are the two opposing factions of Westerfeld’s story. Although there are some clichés or tropes here (the one faction opposes artificially intelligent "minds" while the other deifies them, for example) there are some ideas that are certainly exclusive to the series. The undead cat collection, for example, comes to mind.
The story continues directly from the cliffhanger ending of The Risen Empire and launches into one of the most knuckle whitening space battles I have ever read. It takes up quite a chunk of the book too, which bolsters the pacing quite a bit. This is good news, because the main gripe I had with book 1 had to do with pacing. Before you know it, you’re halfway through. Then there’s the wrap up and the final reveal of the enigmatic “secret” which has been hinted at since the early pages of The Risen Empire. This plot device does lend itself to quite a bit of suspense.
In the end, it’s a pretty solid story. It’s also a reasonably quick read for this kind of thing (Space Sagas like this easily take up more, or bigger, books). My one gripe? I found myself not caring too much about some of the characters, which is possibly the only reason this is a 4-star book and not a 5-star book.
Recommended (the duology as a whole). There is an omnibus edition (The Risen Empire), which is actually a good idea, because of the way the first book ends.
I actually really hope Westerfeld eventually gets around to writing some more of the same…
This sequel to The Risen Empire wraps up the Succession duology.
I usually associate this flavour of militaristic, big concept Space Opera with British authors like Iain M. Banks and Peter F. Hamilton (to name but two of many) so it’s good to see this work coming from the other side of the Atlantic.
The military actions depicted here are really interesting and it’s obvious that quite a bit of thought have gone into them. The same goes for the tech concerned. Westerfeld was clearly thinking out of the box when he conceived all of this.
Killing Of Worlds does attempt to sympathise with both sides of the coin where the Empire and the Rix are concerned, although the story’s focus is on the Empire and its internal politics (the Rix remain somewhat enigmatic throughout). If you don’t know by now, the Empire and the Rix are the two opposing factions of Westerfeld’s story. Although there are some clichés or tropes here (the one faction opposes artificially intelligent "minds" while the other deifies them, for example) there are some ideas that are certainly exclusive to the series. The undead cat collection, for example, comes to mind.
The story continues directly from the cliffhanger ending of The Risen Empire and launches into one of the most knuckle whitening space battles I have ever read. It takes up quite a chunk of the book too, which bolsters the pacing quite a bit. This is good news, because the main gripe I had with book 1 had to do with pacing. Before you know it, you’re halfway through. Then there’s the wrap up and the final reveal of the enigmatic “secret” which has been hinted at since the early pages of The Risen Empire. This plot device does lend itself to quite a bit of suspense.
In the end, it’s a pretty solid story. It’s also a reasonably quick read for this kind of thing (Space Sagas like this easily take up more, or bigger, books). My one gripe? I found myself not caring too much about some of the characters, which is possibly the only reason this is a 4-star book and not a 5-star book.
Recommended (the duology as a whole). There is an omnibus edition (The Risen Empire), which is actually a good idea, because of the way the first book ends.
I actually really hope Westerfeld eventually gets around to writing some more of the same…
September 23, 2011
When I read books in a series, I tend not to go for the next one right away. I like to have a change of pace in between and usually I'm pretty good at remembering what happened in the previous installment so there's no big loss of momentum. Sometimes it's forced...*cough* George R. *cough* R. *cough*…but usually I just like to look forward to something I already know I'm going to like. If you've read my review of Scott Westerfeld's Risen Empire, the first in this duology, you'll know that I loved it, and was very pleasantly surprised to find such a high quality space opera. So it took me a lot less time than is customary for me to pick up the sequel, The Killing of Worlds.
Westerfeld uses an interesting technique that may put some people off, but was a major bonus for me. The second book launches right into a space battle and continues with it, almost uninterrupted, for a full third of the book. What this results in is a level of detail in the various cogs in the machine of space war that I frankly found extremely fascinating. The weird consequences of two super advanced battleships doing battle at relativistic speeds was a cornucopia of geeky goodness. If your hard science tolerance starts to wane beyond anything more complicated than Star Wars, this is not for you. But the science is the backdrop to a cool story with a nice political feel. It's not overwhelming.
I loved this. I'll give a slight edge to The Risen Empire because of the newness factor to some of the cool ideas. The two books together match up well with any high quality space opera and the battle scene rivals Iain M. Banks and his crazy antics. Since the publication of TKOW in 2003, Scott Westerfeld has not gone back to space opera. I'm really hoping that he does.
Westerfeld uses an interesting technique that may put some people off, but was a major bonus for me. The second book launches right into a space battle and continues with it, almost uninterrupted, for a full third of the book. What this results in is a level of detail in the various cogs in the machine of space war that I frankly found extremely fascinating. The weird consequences of two super advanced battleships doing battle at relativistic speeds was a cornucopia of geeky goodness. If your hard science tolerance starts to wane beyond anything more complicated than Star Wars, this is not for you. But the science is the backdrop to a cool story with a nice political feel. It's not overwhelming.
I loved this. I'll give a slight edge to The Risen Empire because of the newness factor to some of the cool ideas. The two books together match up well with any high quality space opera and the battle scene rivals Iain M. Banks and his crazy antics. Since the publication of TKOW in 2003, Scott Westerfeld has not gone back to space opera. I'm really hoping that he does.
July 31, 2021
4.0 Stars
This was a solid conclusion to this epic space opera duology. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of perspectives of artificial minds. The second book provided a lot more character development that I was looking for in the initial book. I would recommend this series to avid scifi readers looking for an underhyped series with some fantastic world building.
This was a solid conclusion to this epic space opera duology. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of perspectives of artificial minds. The second book provided a lot more character development that I was looking for in the initial book. I would recommend this series to avid scifi readers looking for an underhyped series with some fantastic world building.
July 31, 2014
This was the sequel to The Risen Empire and the conclusion to the Succession duology. It's basically just the second half of the story! As you might imagine this is of a similar quality to the first book and has the same strengths: Good world building, fascinating technological developments, and a story full of interesting moral dilemmas and political intrigue. Unfortunately it retained the same weaknesses: The imbalance between the world building and the techno babel, and the characterization. The result left a well drawn world, but distant, if still likable, characters.
I enjoyed some of the space battles and was eager to see how Laurent Zai and his crew would survive the attacks from their various enemies. I was fairly happy with the way the political situation concluded. It was interesting to finally learn the Emperor's secret and to discover the lengths he was willing to go to in order to conceal that secret.
All in all I was a bit disappointed by the Succession duology. It was an average read. Definitely not as good as Uglies, the other Scott Westerfeld series I've read.
Rating : 3 stars.
I enjoyed some of the space battles and was eager to see how Laurent Zai and his crew would survive the attacks from their various enemies. I was fairly happy with the way the political situation concluded. It was interesting to finally learn the Emperor's secret and to discover the lengths he was willing to go to in order to conceal that secret.
All in all I was a bit disappointed by the Succession duology. It was an average read. Definitely not as good as Uglies, the other Scott Westerfeld series I've read.
Rating : 3 stars.
April 28, 2021
Leído en 2013.
Continuación de El Imperio Elevado.
Lo mejor la magnífica descripción de una batalla espacial a velocidades relativistas.
Está bien, se lee agradablemente, pero no le paso del 7. No creo que sea una lectura "para todos los públicos". Reservada para afines a la CF.
Si al primero le califiqué de Space Opera porque mencionaban otras razas, en este confirmo que se las menciona pero no salen. Por tanto casi que la quito ese apelativo.
Lo mejor del libro -aparte la batalla- las relaciones entre los personajes y los tintes políticos.
Continuación de El Imperio Elevado.
Lo mejor la magnífica descripción de una batalla espacial a velocidades relativistas.
Está bien, se lee agradablemente, pero no le paso del 7. No creo que sea una lectura "para todos los públicos". Reservada para afines a la CF.
Si al primero le califiqué de Space Opera porque mencionaban otras razas, en este confirmo que se las menciona pero no salen. Por tanto casi que la quito ese apelativo.
Lo mejor del libro -aparte la batalla- las relaciones entre los personajes y los tintes políticos.
May 29, 2017
I enjoyed the battles and tactics enormously, which is still kind of surprising to me. Apparently, His Majesty's Dragon brought me into the naval-battle fold.
I also loved the political battle and tactics going on back at Home.
I loved the commando and the savant and their relationship.
But even more, I loved with the fiery passion of a thousand suns the two AIs, Alexander and House.
The mystery aspect is well drawn-out, everyone behaves plausibly, and all the interactions between characters make them feel real and fully-formed. And, being sci fi, there are those interesting philosophical points to ponder, as well as cool tech.
Janie was right, I did love the book. I told her so this morning. Then we mutually enthused over Peeps. The pleasure of reading a good book is great, that "I cannot go to bed now, I must know how it ends" feeling is delightful. But even better is that moment of connection with another person, especially when it's someone I see all the time but don't know. Just now we're a little bit closer. Which, when you think about it, is kind of amazing, because reading is an activity we do alone.
Library copy.
I also loved the political battle and tactics going on back at Home.
I loved the commando and the savant and their relationship.
But even more, I loved with the fiery passion of a thousand suns the two AIs, Alexander and House.
The mystery aspect is well drawn-out, everyone behaves plausibly, and all the interactions between characters make them feel real and fully-formed. And, being sci fi, there are those interesting philosophical points to ponder, as well as cool tech.
Janie was right, I did love the book. I told her so this morning. Then we mutually enthused over Peeps. The pleasure of reading a good book is great, that "I cannot go to bed now, I must know how it ends" feeling is delightful. But even better is that moment of connection with another person, especially when it's someone I see all the time but don't know. Just now we're a little bit closer. Which, when you think about it, is kind of amazing, because reading is an activity we do alone.
Library copy.
August 2, 2014
This was the second book in the Succession two-book series. I expected The Killing of Worlds to contain the culmination of events and be action packed and engaging. However, I felt the story dragged and I managed to get bored on a number of occasions. I was prepared to attribute The Risen Empire's lack of dialogue and characterisation to my assumption that the first book was focused on world building but things didn't change for the better in the second book. I was overwhelmed by the technical descriptions and the long wait to learn the Emperor's secret. When the ending came, it was quite anticlimactic. Most of the things were implied and there were a few questions left unanswered. One thing I really couldn't get was what was so terrible about the Emperor's secret that he was prepared to sacrifice billions to keep it.
On the whole I expected more from this book and my final verdict is 3 stars.
On the whole I expected more from this book and my final verdict is 3 stars.
October 5, 2015
Outstanding! An amazing wrap-up to a very good story. The single most exciting battle scene I've ever read followed by a clever, dramatic closing. Oh, how I wish Westerfeld would write more like this. I've added this to my Top 50 SciFi list; highly recommended series.
January 15, 2023
Military-political SF of a high order. This is the more mil-SF of the pair, and opens with a detailed and impressive account of a spaceship-battle. Part 2 of 2, and you definitely need to read the The Risen Empire (#1) first.
I liked this pair a lot. Literary space-opera done right. A few bobbles, but nothing that bothered me while reading. Page-turners in the good sense. Don't miss! There's an omnibus edition that you may come across. I didn't and bought both paperback eds.
The Killing of Worlds held up well to my just-completed reread. In fact, I'd forgotten I had read it before, and bought another copy. Now I guess I'll have to buy a copy of #1!
Here's my old Usenet friend Rich Horton's review of both books, which is the one to read:
https://web.archive.org/web/201304061...
"... I really liked it. It's very fast moving. The tech is fascinating and well-imagined. The ideas, especially concerning immortality but also some other human modifications, are both SFnally cool and thematically engaging. I will say that the final revelation of the Emperor's Secret was a mild letdown, and it made some of what went before seem a little less important -- but perhaps I was simply asking too much. I still think this a first-rate Space Opera, and considered as a unit, one of the best SF novels of 2003."
I agree with Rich re the Emperor's Secret, but liked that Westerfeld held open the possibility that the Empire might transition away from tyranny without a bloody civil war. Which may be why he didn't go on with a third book.
Note that there was an SFBC omnibus published, but it's hard to find. Thriftbooks gets them occasionally. You might get lucky!
I liked this pair a lot. Literary space-opera done right. A few bobbles, but nothing that bothered me while reading. Page-turners in the good sense. Don't miss! There's an omnibus edition that you may come across. I didn't and bought both paperback eds.
The Killing of Worlds held up well to my just-completed reread. In fact, I'd forgotten I had read it before, and bought another copy. Now I guess I'll have to buy a copy of #1!
Here's my old Usenet friend Rich Horton's review of both books, which is the one to read:
https://web.archive.org/web/201304061...
"... I really liked it. It's very fast moving. The tech is fascinating and well-imagined. The ideas, especially concerning immortality but also some other human modifications, are both SFnally cool and thematically engaging. I will say that the final revelation of the Emperor's Secret was a mild letdown, and it made some of what went before seem a little less important -- but perhaps I was simply asking too much. I still think this a first-rate Space Opera, and considered as a unit, one of the best SF novels of 2003."
I agree with Rich re the Emperor's Secret, but liked that Westerfeld held open the possibility that the Empire might transition away from tyranny without a bloody civil war. Which may be why he didn't go on with a third book.
Note that there was an SFBC omnibus published, but it's hard to find. Thriftbooks gets them occasionally. You might get lucky!
January 26, 2020
Outstanding! A SciFi duology with great science and great characters. So many inventive technologies in the two books, on a par with Peter Hamilton's books--although not as long. Sure hopes he keeps writing scifi and doesn't just leave these two alone. The end of the second book left an opening to a further Rix/Empire conflict. Write another book in the series or whatever he likes, I'd get it. Easy 5 Stars
April 18, 2022
Superb Space Opera (Conclusion)
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
The Killing of Worlds (Succession 2) by Scott Westerfeld
I gave the predecessor book - "The Risen Empire" - a five star rating, even though it turned out to be only the first half of a single novel. Normally, I feel like I've been "baited and switched" when I found out that The Risen Empire was not a complete novel in itself. However, I thought the story was so creative and engaging that I overlooked this offense, which is usually a mortal offense in my mind. I particularly liked the sociological world-building, which I discussed in my review of the first book.
This book turned out to be better than the first from the perspective of the Space Opera genre. The story picks up where the last one ended, namely, with the crew of the Lynx preparing for a heavily lopsided battle against the battleship of their enemy, the Rix Cult. Westerfeld has a grip on the technology of his story and the various strategies that it would allow. We see Captain Laurent Zai use the technology to cobble together a battle plan, and then brilliantly alter the plan when it comes into contact with the enemy.
At the same time, we also skip back to the home planet, where Zai's lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is engaged in political games against the Risen Empire, who is willing to nuke the planet of Legis XV in order to protect his "secret."
The story is exciting and engaging. It moves from slam-bang military actions in space to tense political confrontations on the home front. We get a perspective from a Rix soldier and from the Rix AI "God."
I liked the characters by the end of the first book, but in this book, the characters become even more sympathetic. In the first book, we see Zai put off the expiation of his Error of Blood by paying the Penalty of Bood by the single word transmitted via quantum entanglement by Nara: "Don't." In this book, we see more character development. Zai is a tragic character in a tragic situation, but his belief in duty, and his evolution to a higher sense of duty, make him admirable. Nara is the idealist who becomes a pragmatist.
It seems that Westerfeld probably intended to write further books in this universe. The story ends with an opening gesturing at a civil war in the Risen Empire. That never comes in this book. This book was written more than a decade ago, so it seems that project has been shelved.
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
The Killing of Worlds (Succession 2) by Scott Westerfeld
I gave the predecessor book - "The Risen Empire" - a five star rating, even though it turned out to be only the first half of a single novel. Normally, I feel like I've been "baited and switched" when I found out that The Risen Empire was not a complete novel in itself. However, I thought the story was so creative and engaging that I overlooked this offense, which is usually a mortal offense in my mind. I particularly liked the sociological world-building, which I discussed in my review of the first book.
This book turned out to be better than the first from the perspective of the Space Opera genre. The story picks up where the last one ended, namely, with the crew of the Lynx preparing for a heavily lopsided battle against the battleship of their enemy, the Rix Cult. Westerfeld has a grip on the technology of his story and the various strategies that it would allow. We see Captain Laurent Zai use the technology to cobble together a battle plan, and then brilliantly alter the plan when it comes into contact with the enemy.
At the same time, we also skip back to the home planet, where Zai's lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is engaged in political games against the Risen Empire, who is willing to nuke the planet of Legis XV in order to protect his "secret."
The story is exciting and engaging. It moves from slam-bang military actions in space to tense political confrontations on the home front. We get a perspective from a Rix soldier and from the Rix AI "God."
I liked the characters by the end of the first book, but in this book, the characters become even more sympathetic. In the first book, we see Zai put off the expiation of his Error of Blood by paying the Penalty of Bood by the single word transmitted via quantum entanglement by Nara: "Don't." In this book, we see more character development. Zai is a tragic character in a tragic situation, but his belief in duty, and his evolution to a higher sense of duty, make him admirable. Nara is the idealist who becomes a pragmatist.
It seems that Westerfeld probably intended to write further books in this universe. The story ends with an opening gesturing at a civil war in the Risen Empire. That never comes in this book. This book was written more than a decade ago, so it seems that project has been shelved.
December 4, 2021
2.5 rounded up since I'm certain part of my distaste comes from having read this before. This is a thoroughly mediocre space opera with a focus on the militant aspects and a by the books stock evil sovereign. There's a blatant love solves everything plot too. Heavy plot armor protects every named character with some "heros" thrown in here and there to die and appease critics perhaps.
This isn't very bad to be honest but I should have never re read it.
This isn't very bad to be honest but I should have never re read it.
March 4, 2014
This book was advertised to me as a "space opera," which made me pretty sure I was going to hate it. What the hell does that mean space opera, I hate space shit in general, why am I reading this.
Well, the answer was because the writing style is really fucking amazing and basically all of the characters are fascinating and perfect. That's why.
My biggest issue with both The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds (which I'm rating and reviewing as a unit because it makes more sense to me that way) is that the space battles are really hard for me to follow. I also generally don't care that much about battle scenes in general. This is a personal genre-and-scene preference that extends to pretty much all media. However, by The Killing of Worlds I actually found myself pretty engaged by all of those scenes and needing to only skim over a few parts that made my head hurt, so congratulations, Westerfeld, that's . . . actually a first.
The strength of these books really lies in the characters and by extension the plot, which is wholly character-driven. The really excellent trick here is that the plot is arguably almost two millennia long, and yet is still both character-driven and engaging, which is incredibly impressive. I will say that I would have liked more backstory on the Emperor and much more of the Empress, although I understand the choices that Westerfeld made in that regard and they made sense in context; I just want to dig both hands into these people, which is a sign the author did his job well.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked all the characters, not just some. I loved Alexander, I loved Hobbes, I loved Zai, I loved Nara very best, I loved the weird cluster of Rix AIs, I loved the plague axis representative who never gets named, I loved these people SO MUCH and I am so excited that I got to participate in there terrible little lives for a while. Basically I would highly recommend this series to anyone who likes things that are good, and that's as much detail as I want to go into because everything else gives away the lushness of the Eighty Worlds.
Well, the answer was because the writing style is really fucking amazing and basically all of the characters are fascinating and perfect. That's why.
My biggest issue with both The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds (which I'm rating and reviewing as a unit because it makes more sense to me that way) is that the space battles are really hard for me to follow. I also generally don't care that much about battle scenes in general. This is a personal genre-and-scene preference that extends to pretty much all media. However, by The Killing of Worlds I actually found myself pretty engaged by all of those scenes and needing to only skim over a few parts that made my head hurt, so congratulations, Westerfeld, that's . . . actually a first.
The strength of these books really lies in the characters and by extension the plot, which is wholly character-driven. The really excellent trick here is that the plot is arguably almost two millennia long, and yet is still both character-driven and engaging, which is incredibly impressive. I will say that I would have liked more backstory on the Emperor and much more of the Empress, although I understand the choices that Westerfeld made in that regard and they made sense in context; I just want to dig both hands into these people, which is a sign the author did his job well.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked all the characters, not just some. I loved Alexander, I loved Hobbes, I loved Zai, I loved Nara very best, I loved the weird cluster of Rix AIs, I loved the plague axis representative who never gets named, I loved these people SO MUCH and I am so excited that I got to participate in there terrible little lives for a while. Basically I would highly recommend this series to anyone who likes things that are good, and that's as much detail as I want to go into because everything else gives away the lushness of the Eighty Worlds.
August 29, 2022
Very consistent with the first book. I enjoyed it despite the plot holes and the hand waving and the exposition, mostly because I was in the mood for a military sci-fi adventure. The book ends on a larger precipice, content to explore 'the beginning' of the story. It is just as disjointed as the first book, if not more so, because of the perspective changes that often do not contribute to the narrative. The book succeeds at doing what it sets out to do which, in the end, is rather modest.
January 4, 2019
I think the storytelling style ultimately didn't work for me for this universe. Splitting between so many vantage points and telling small POVs didn't help me understand the larger universe enough to be invested in the final reveal. Instead, I was just left with an "oh, that's all?" Without a better understanding of grays and pinks and timelines, it just didn't work for me.
September 27, 2018
In short, a profound disappointment.
My narrative: As I finished the last page of this book I had one eyebrow raised, something was off. Then I picked up my phone to look up the next book in the series.
There was no next book. That had been the end.
I laid my head back to think and slowly things started to make a terrible kind of sense. The fast pace and enjoyable sci-fi had blinded me.
I had assumed there would be more time to flesh out the predictable characters. I had assumed there would be more time for those half-dozen half-baked plot elements to make sense. I had assumed that there would be more time for the central conflict to actually be RESOLVED.
I was wrong, I had been reading a two book series written by a YA author.
I was promised a civil war. I was given a rushed ending without armed conflict.
**grinds teeth** The book spoon-fed me a love-conquers-all final message as if I was a six year old.
My trust was misplaced.
My narrative: As I finished the last page of this book I had one eyebrow raised, something was off. Then I picked up my phone to look up the next book in the series.
There was no next book. That had been the end.
I laid my head back to think and slowly things started to make a terrible kind of sense. The fast pace and enjoyable sci-fi had blinded me.
I had assumed there would be more time to flesh out the predictable characters. I had assumed there would be more time for those half-dozen half-baked plot elements to make sense. I had assumed that there would be more time for the central conflict to actually be RESOLVED.
I was wrong, I had been reading a two book series written by a YA author.
I was promised a civil war. I was given a rushed ending without armed conflict.
**grinds teeth** The book spoon-fed me a love-conquers-all final message as if I was a six year old.
My trust was misplaced.
April 12, 2010
As I mentioned in my review of The Risen Empire, this isn't really a sequel -- it's merely the second half of the story, which was broken up for publishing reasons. Unfortunately, it suffers more from this break-up than most novels do, because as far as I can tell Westerfeld did nothing to make the transition more seamless -- the epilogue of The Risen Empire is the prologue of The Killing of Worlds and otherwise the story just jumps right back into the action where it left off.
Were the books in one volume (like, say the omnibus edition the Science Fiction Book Club put out) I doubt I would have even noticed when one stopped and the other started. However, I was reading the mass market Tor editions, and even though I picked up The Killing of Worlds the very next day, I was already a little out of the rhythm of the story. Everyone's decisions felt too weighted, too fraught with dire import for what my subconscious brain insisted (based on the evidence in my hands) was the start of a plot arc. The Risen Empire started with a plot-bang, a frenetic action sequence, and that worked wonderfully because my subconscious likes that sort of opening to a story; The Killing of Worlds started with an emotional-bang, a horrified Nara Oxham realizing the extent to which the Emperor will go to eliminate an embarassment and protect a secret, and that just doesn't work for my subconscious because at the beginning of a story that sort of hand-wringing doesn't feel deserved.
Clearly, it is deserved because of all that went on in The Risen Empire, but the physical mechanics of turning the pages when so few were in my left hand and so many were in my right just threw me out of things.
Once past that initial adjustment phase, however, The Killing of Worlds is exactly as good as The Risen Empire. The stakes spiral ever higher, complications arise, and no seeming victory is ever safe. The heart of the story is still the snippets from ten years earlier (Imperial Absolute); I particularly loved the section where Nara and Laurent went sledding. The pacing is sure and the climax wonderful, as all the disparate elements come back into play forging a resolution that fits just right, no matter how deeply you press it looking for holes. This is a near-perfect story, one I am sure I will return to again and again.
Were the books in one volume (like, say the omnibus edition the Science Fiction Book Club put out) I doubt I would have even noticed when one stopped and the other started. However, I was reading the mass market Tor editions, and even though I picked up The Killing of Worlds the very next day, I was already a little out of the rhythm of the story. Everyone's decisions felt too weighted, too fraught with dire import for what my subconscious brain insisted (based on the evidence in my hands) was the start of a plot arc. The Risen Empire started with a plot-bang, a frenetic action sequence, and that worked wonderfully because my subconscious likes that sort of opening to a story; The Killing of Worlds started with an emotional-bang, a horrified Nara Oxham realizing the extent to which the Emperor will go to eliminate an embarassment and protect a secret, and that just doesn't work for my subconscious because at the beginning of a story that sort of hand-wringing doesn't feel deserved.
Clearly, it is deserved because of all that went on in The Risen Empire, but the physical mechanics of turning the pages when so few were in my left hand and so many were in my right just threw me out of things.
Once past that initial adjustment phase, however, The Killing of Worlds is exactly as good as The Risen Empire. The stakes spiral ever higher, complications arise, and no seeming victory is ever safe. The heart of the story is still the snippets from ten years earlier (Imperial Absolute); I particularly loved the section where Nara and Laurent went sledding. The pacing is sure and the climax wonderful, as all the disparate elements come back into play forging a resolution that fits just right, no matter how deeply you press it looking for holes. This is a near-perfect story, one I am sure I will return to again and again.
April 1, 2012
A Fine Space Opera With Richly Drawn Characters Courtesy of Scott Westerfeld
“The Killing of Worlds: Book Two of Succession” is one of the best examples of early 21st Century space opera science fiction I am aware of, light years ahead of popular works like David Weber’s “Honor Harrington” series with regards to the quality of the writing and of its protagonists. Scott Westerfeld has written some of the best space battles I’ve come across, that are most admirable for their excellent plotting and tense action. His “Succession” novels are also excellent studies in character, replete in richly drawn characters like Risen Emprire Imperial Navy Captain Laurent Zai and his lover, the young, charismatic Senator Nara Oxham, and Zai’s Executive Officer, Katherie Hobbes. For decades, the Risen Empire - whose elite, the Risen, are those who have attained immortality - has been engaged in a bitterly fought contest with the Rix, cybernetically-enhanced humans. Sent to the remote Imperial world of Legis in a failed attempt to rescue the Emperor’s sister from her Rix captors, Captain Laurent Zai and the crew of the prototype Imperial frigate Lynx are hopeless outmatched against a larger, more powerful, Rix battlecruiser. Meanwhile, at the Imperial capital, Senator Nara Oxham engages in a deadly political game of wits with the Emperor and the Risen elite, The Apparatus, in possession of state secrets concerning the true nature of Captain Zai and the Lynx’s mission. In Legis space Zai makes an unexpected discovery from the Rix that threatens to shake the very foundation of the Risen Empire and the throne of its immortal Emperor. Westerfeld weaves between Zai and Oxham’s brief romantic encounter days before he assumes command of the Lynx, Oxham’s political brinkmanship, and Zai and his crew’s nearly suicidal efforts to escape the Rix battlecruiser. While Westerfeld’s writing lacks the eloquence of Alastair Reynolds in the latter’s “Revelation Space” novel, both it and Reynolds’ work are superb examples demonstrating how a clichéd subgenre of science fiction, space opera, can be transformed into high literary art.
“The Killing of Worlds: Book Two of Succession” is one of the best examples of early 21st Century space opera science fiction I am aware of, light years ahead of popular works like David Weber’s “Honor Harrington” series with regards to the quality of the writing and of its protagonists. Scott Westerfeld has written some of the best space battles I’ve come across, that are most admirable for their excellent plotting and tense action. His “Succession” novels are also excellent studies in character, replete in richly drawn characters like Risen Emprire Imperial Navy Captain Laurent Zai and his lover, the young, charismatic Senator Nara Oxham, and Zai’s Executive Officer, Katherie Hobbes. For decades, the Risen Empire - whose elite, the Risen, are those who have attained immortality - has been engaged in a bitterly fought contest with the Rix, cybernetically-enhanced humans. Sent to the remote Imperial world of Legis in a failed attempt to rescue the Emperor’s sister from her Rix captors, Captain Laurent Zai and the crew of the prototype Imperial frigate Lynx are hopeless outmatched against a larger, more powerful, Rix battlecruiser. Meanwhile, at the Imperial capital, Senator Nara Oxham engages in a deadly political game of wits with the Emperor and the Risen elite, The Apparatus, in possession of state secrets concerning the true nature of Captain Zai and the Lynx’s mission. In Legis space Zai makes an unexpected discovery from the Rix that threatens to shake the very foundation of the Risen Empire and the throne of its immortal Emperor. Westerfeld weaves between Zai and Oxham’s brief romantic encounter days before he assumes command of the Lynx, Oxham’s political brinkmanship, and Zai and his crew’s nearly suicidal efforts to escape the Rix battlecruiser. While Westerfeld’s writing lacks the eloquence of Alastair Reynolds in the latter’s “Revelation Space” novel, both it and Reynolds’ work are superb examples demonstrating how a clichéd subgenre of science fiction, space opera, can be transformed into high literary art.
February 13, 2009
This is book two of the Risen Empire series. We read book one for January's book group meeting. Three of us thought it was super cool - nanotechnology! space battles! living dead! Basically, your classic space opera. One of us felt it was a thinly disguised romance.
In Killing of Worlds we pick right up with Captain Zai engaging the Empire's dread enemy, the Rix. It is his mission to stop at all costs the compound mind on Legis XV from communicating with that ship. The War Council back on the Emperor's home world of Home needs Captain Zai to succeed - Legis holds the Emperor's secret. Oh, this is SO cool! We have pilots flying microships, we have mega canons, we have impossible odds, we have a mutiny!
Meanwhile, on Legis, Alexander (the compound mind) is quietly gathering his forces with the help of one lone surviving Rix commando and her hostage, Rana Carter. This is SO cool! Alexander is taking over the little sensor robots at the pole in order to communicate with the ship above while the commando works to set up diversions.
I liked this one because it wasn't full of heavy science, it didn't go into excruciating detail about the why fores and where how's of space battle or nanotechnology or trajectories or computer science. Well, not much...he did delve into some specifics on wavelengths that got a bit tedious at the moment (we were in BATTLE for cripes sake!!). But I forgive the author for that. And for the bits of romance, but even those were somewhat okay because they weren't the main focus of the story.
In Killing of Worlds we pick right up with Captain Zai engaging the Empire's dread enemy, the Rix. It is his mission to stop at all costs the compound mind on Legis XV from communicating with that ship. The War Council back on the Emperor's home world of Home needs Captain Zai to succeed - Legis holds the Emperor's secret. Oh, this is SO cool! We have pilots flying microships, we have mega canons, we have impossible odds, we have a mutiny!
Meanwhile, on Legis, Alexander (the compound mind) is quietly gathering his forces with the help of one lone surviving Rix commando and her hostage, Rana Carter. This is SO cool! Alexander is taking over the little sensor robots at the pole in order to communicate with the ship above while the commando works to set up diversions.
I liked this one because it wasn't full of heavy science, it didn't go into excruciating detail about the why fores and where how's of space battle or nanotechnology or trajectories or computer science. Well, not much...he did delve into some specifics on wavelengths that got a bit tedious at the moment (we were in BATTLE for cripes sake!!). But I forgive the author for that. And for the bits of romance, but even those were somewhat okay because they weren't the main focus of the story.
January 27, 2022
I think I've been conned. I remember reading what I thought was the first past of this series some years ago, but I also remember the grand reveal being exactly the same as in here. Luckily, it was long enough ago that I enjoyed the re-read - though I'd recommend finding the combined two-volume book that I apparently read earlier rather than reading this in isolation, since it really doesn't work half as well standalone.
Also, if you're writing SF, you should take care to check your physics assertions. It probably mattered less when this was in the middle of the book, but if, on the first page of the prologue, you start a sentence with "In battle, it could disperse ten thousand gigawatts per second", you will instantly piss your readers off.
You may piss them off enough that they will take ten seconds to think about your assertion at the end of the very same sentence, "...enough to blind naked human eyes at two thousand klicks," and work out that the intensity of the light in question at that distance is about 0.1% that of sunlight on the earth's surface. And yes, you may have decided to redefine what a second means in the introduction, which will have carry-on effects on most basic units, but I don't think they'll move near enough to cover that.
Also, if you're writing SF, you should take care to check your physics assertions. It probably mattered less when this was in the middle of the book, but if, on the first page of the prologue, you start a sentence with "In battle, it could disperse ten thousand gigawatts per second", you will instantly piss your readers off.
You may piss them off enough that they will take ten seconds to think about your assertion at the end of the very same sentence, "...enough to blind naked human eyes at two thousand klicks," and work out that the intensity of the light in question at that distance is about 0.1% that of sunlight on the earth's surface. And yes, you may have decided to redefine what a second means in the introduction, which will have carry-on effects on most basic units, but I don't think they'll move near enough to cover that.
February 17, 2011
Scott Westerfeld's second and final novel in the Succession story keeps pace with the first. The battle between Zai's ship and the Rix cruiser seriously covers about 80 pages, but it's astonishingly fast. As the battle unfolded, I found myself amazed that I was already so far into the book.
Which is really how I ended up feeling about this series. It was a great story that I which had been about 10 books longer.
Which is really how I ended up feeling about this series. It was a great story that I which had been about 10 books longer.
June 22, 2011
Much like the first one in the series, I can see where some people would really really like this book, but it just wasn't totally my thing. It was all right - I read the sequel because I had gotten both of them before reading either, and I wanted to finish the story. Unfortunately (for me), it doesn't really seem like the end. I'm not sure if Westerfeld is planning more books in this series, but there are plenty of open plot lines.
It's a very tech-y kind of sci-fi, with lots of intricate details about space weaponry and battle tactics. If you're into the hardware, you'll probably like this.
It's a very tech-y kind of sci-fi, with lots of intricate details about space weaponry and battle tactics. If you're into the hardware, you'll probably like this.
December 21, 2017
Book 2 of a two parter. Scott Westerfeld is certainly more well-known for his YA than his hard sf. It's too bad he hasn't written more in this space. This book dragged a bit compared to the firs book. And I didn't completely buy his society ending secret. But his ideas were good ones. The Rix commando was believable and different. The use of hyper-sleep as artificial fast sleep, the destruction of the Lynx bit by bit, the Plague people as a reservoir of genetic strength all added much. And I liked the characters as well.
August 27, 2022
2022 re-read: I still like this book but would probably give it 4 stars now! Westerfeld sure is good at drawing out single events over a long course of time. I was pretty happy with the pacing in this one, and with how the story developed, but I felt like the ending was a bit abrupt.
August 6, 2015
This book is proof that words on a page can be just as, if not even more exciting, than an action-filled movie. A perfect space opera with a massive story told through the eyes of distinct individuals that, by the end of the book, you hope to meet again.
July 13, 2022
I guess if one wants to look on the bright side of things, a suicide mission can be a kind of win-win. If you fail at it and die in a glorious explosion, everyone will praise your memory and say the odds were against you anyway so no harm done. And if you win somehow everyone is even more surprise because you weren't expected to survive in the first place.
Unless, of course, there are people who sent you on the mission with the intent of ensuring you don't survive. Which just makes things awkward all around, no matter what the eventual outcome is. But if you manage to live, boy is it going to be time for a chat.
This is the situation that good ol' Captain Zai and his trusty crew find themselves in. Having figured out that the disastrous outcome of the last book's hostage situation might not have been totally his fault (unless you assume friendly fire often involves a double tap) and thus makes it unnecessary for him to air out his own guts, he had to fend off the obligatory mutiny and then content with his orders to face off the giant spaceship bristling with advanced weaponry pointing right toward them. And also stop it from making contact with the growing AI on the planet's surface below.
Yup, sometimes when they offer you the promotion, the proper response is "Nah, I'm good."
Picking up almost exactly where the last book left off, we find our heroes waging a war on two fronts. One is a literal war, as Zai and company essentially face off an invasion by themselves and the other is more . . . . procedural as his lover Senator Nara Oxham fights not just for her political life but to buy herself time before the Emperor uses everything going on to start a massive war and/or to have her arrested. But the stakes, already kind of high, have been upped a notch or two.
See, one reason that it would have been kind of clutch if the hostage situation with the Emperor's sister resolved itself in a "boy, that went well!" manner was that anyone unauthorized getting access to said sister had a good chance of figuring out the Dread Secret the Emperor Doesn't Want Anyone to Know. What is it? Nobody seems quite sure, but it involves a) something to do with the mechanism behind the much desired immortality the Emperor has pioneered and b) he's willing to let a whole bunch of people die to keep it a secret.
If the first book, whether you wanted it to be or not, was all setup, this one is basically all payoff, with nonstop action and jockeying as everyone tries to stay alive until a workable solution presents itself. With the ship in actual physical danger this time Westerfeld does a good job writing a pitched space battle . . . considering much of the fighting involves pushing buttons or people shouting orders to each other (or existing in a VR-esque environment pitting lots of fast tiny drones against more fast, tiny drones) it takes some work to make this viscerally exciting. It probably won't rank in your Top Ten, but you won't be bored and there are moments when you wonder if the crew is going to survive some fairly drastic odds.
Nara Oxham doesn't fare quite as well, unless your favorite part of the 90s "Star Wars" trilogy was everyone hanging out debating bills, in which case Future Backroom C-SPAN may be the highlight of the book for you. Oxham's wheeling and dealing to keep the entire Empire from rubber-stamping a war is fun but the stakes here never feel as high as they could be.
Part of the book's problem is that its trying to sell you on two things . . . one is that if the secret gets out it will Change Everything, completely undermining the foundations of this society and making everyone question their basic values. The second is that we're supposed to be really invested in the love between Zai and Oxham . . . two people who are so completely devoted to each other that they would risk everything despite only being around each other like ten days. I mean . . . they seem nice but the book's constant positioning of them as this epic love trying to survive in the face of a terrible Empire falls a little flat. Separately, they're kind of neat characters . . . together they're two people with wildly differing backgrounds and politics who spent a nice long weekend having sex repeatedly in a secluded mansion. That sounds fun! I'd have good memories of that, too! But I don't ache for them to be together, no matter how much the book wants me to do so. They seem nice, I hope it works out for those crazy kids but if it doesn't . . . hey, that's how it goes. I'm sure they'll meet other people.
As with the last book the most interesting sections are the ones involving the lone Rix stuck on the planet, now with extra bonus companion/prisoner/partner-in-crime. Just like before, Westerfeld convincingly gets into the head of someone with vastly different goals than just about everyone else in the book, but who has to contend with even worse odds (pretty much the entire planet is out to kill her). Forced to turn the Rix into an actual character instead of a less entertaining Dalek with legs, he shows her being clever even when she's slightly out of her depth. As before, her relationship with Rana Harter is actually more touching than the one we're supposed to be rooting for . . . starting out with seeing the other woman as a useful tool, it eventually evolves into something a bit more complicated than that despite technically incompatible points of view. A scene where the Rix actually gets emotional over something that happens to Rana is genuinely biting because we've gotten the sense that both characters have changed over the course of the two books (especially in Rana's case, straitjacketed in a sense by mental illness that nobody bothers treating, the Rix helps her make it work for her). Those two I found myself pulling for.
But the book is going to live or die based on the Big Revelation that everything hinges on . . . the end stages of the book are a race against time as Zai tries to get the information to Oxham even as she's going on trial. Does the ultimate revelation live up to the hype? Sadly, not at all. The secret that could ruin everything is mostly shrug worthy, not at all terrifyingly existential as the first whispers of it seemed to indicate and its hard to see how it could cause full scale riots in the first place. Part of it is that Westerfeld doesn't quite sell how immortality is so integral to this society (by contrast, Frederik Pohl's "Outnumbering the Dead" did a better job of selling just how weird it would be to be mortal in a society where death is more a lifestyle choice than anything else) so that any threat to the basic order of things would uproot this society's fundamentals. The other problem is that its not nearly as dark or deeply warped as the rest of the book might have you expect.
What this means is that the climax basically falls flat but even worse Westerfeld doesn't even try to follow up with consequences, bringing us to the revelation and then going "That's all, folks!" to the point where I wondered if there was an unannounced third volume to this. Alas, no, Westerfeld seems to feel he's discharged his duty without exploring any of the consequences that all this action will cause, like leaving the water running in a sink with a plugged drain in a house you're never going to ever go back to again. Sure, you might be curious to see the damage but on the other hand . . . why? And that's the attitude the book seems to have, having dispensed with the action it appears to be remarkably incurious about what any of it means for these people. Which would be okay in a sense (I certainly don't require every "I" to be dotted and "t" to be crossed in literature) if these people stuck in the mind enough that I'd be thinking about their fates long after I closed the book. But I don't. I don't think poorly of them, granted, and maybe once in a while I'll think, "Gee, that book was nice" without remembering exactly why it was. Eventually even that feeling will get rarer as the months go on. And it’s a shame because I feel like if this was pitched a bit more intensely it would have come off better. Because if there's one thing you don't want to do in space opera its put the possibility of worlds in collision on the same level as looking out your window and hoping its going to be a fine spring day.
Unless, of course, there are people who sent you on the mission with the intent of ensuring you don't survive. Which just makes things awkward all around, no matter what the eventual outcome is. But if you manage to live, boy is it going to be time for a chat.
This is the situation that good ol' Captain Zai and his trusty crew find themselves in. Having figured out that the disastrous outcome of the last book's hostage situation might not have been totally his fault (unless you assume friendly fire often involves a double tap) and thus makes it unnecessary for him to air out his own guts, he had to fend off the obligatory mutiny and then content with his orders to face off the giant spaceship bristling with advanced weaponry pointing right toward them. And also stop it from making contact with the growing AI on the planet's surface below.
Yup, sometimes when they offer you the promotion, the proper response is "Nah, I'm good."
Picking up almost exactly where the last book left off, we find our heroes waging a war on two fronts. One is a literal war, as Zai and company essentially face off an invasion by themselves and the other is more . . . . procedural as his lover Senator Nara Oxham fights not just for her political life but to buy herself time before the Emperor uses everything going on to start a massive war and/or to have her arrested. But the stakes, already kind of high, have been upped a notch or two.
See, one reason that it would have been kind of clutch if the hostage situation with the Emperor's sister resolved itself in a "boy, that went well!" manner was that anyone unauthorized getting access to said sister had a good chance of figuring out the Dread Secret the Emperor Doesn't Want Anyone to Know. What is it? Nobody seems quite sure, but it involves a) something to do with the mechanism behind the much desired immortality the Emperor has pioneered and b) he's willing to let a whole bunch of people die to keep it a secret.
If the first book, whether you wanted it to be or not, was all setup, this one is basically all payoff, with nonstop action and jockeying as everyone tries to stay alive until a workable solution presents itself. With the ship in actual physical danger this time Westerfeld does a good job writing a pitched space battle . . . considering much of the fighting involves pushing buttons or people shouting orders to each other (or existing in a VR-esque environment pitting lots of fast tiny drones against more fast, tiny drones) it takes some work to make this viscerally exciting. It probably won't rank in your Top Ten, but you won't be bored and there are moments when you wonder if the crew is going to survive some fairly drastic odds.
Nara Oxham doesn't fare quite as well, unless your favorite part of the 90s "Star Wars" trilogy was everyone hanging out debating bills, in which case Future Backroom C-SPAN may be the highlight of the book for you. Oxham's wheeling and dealing to keep the entire Empire from rubber-stamping a war is fun but the stakes here never feel as high as they could be.
Part of the book's problem is that its trying to sell you on two things . . . one is that if the secret gets out it will Change Everything, completely undermining the foundations of this society and making everyone question their basic values. The second is that we're supposed to be really invested in the love between Zai and Oxham . . . two people who are so completely devoted to each other that they would risk everything despite only being around each other like ten days. I mean . . . they seem nice but the book's constant positioning of them as this epic love trying to survive in the face of a terrible Empire falls a little flat. Separately, they're kind of neat characters . . . together they're two people with wildly differing backgrounds and politics who spent a nice long weekend having sex repeatedly in a secluded mansion. That sounds fun! I'd have good memories of that, too! But I don't ache for them to be together, no matter how much the book wants me to do so. They seem nice, I hope it works out for those crazy kids but if it doesn't . . . hey, that's how it goes. I'm sure they'll meet other people.
As with the last book the most interesting sections are the ones involving the lone Rix stuck on the planet, now with extra bonus companion/prisoner/partner-in-crime. Just like before, Westerfeld convincingly gets into the head of someone with vastly different goals than just about everyone else in the book, but who has to contend with even worse odds (pretty much the entire planet is out to kill her). Forced to turn the Rix into an actual character instead of a less entertaining Dalek with legs, he shows her being clever even when she's slightly out of her depth. As before, her relationship with Rana Harter is actually more touching than the one we're supposed to be rooting for . . . starting out with seeing the other woman as a useful tool, it eventually evolves into something a bit more complicated than that despite technically incompatible points of view. A scene where the Rix actually gets emotional over something that happens to Rana is genuinely biting because we've gotten the sense that both characters have changed over the course of the two books (especially in Rana's case, straitjacketed in a sense by mental illness that nobody bothers treating, the Rix helps her make it work for her). Those two I found myself pulling for.
But the book is going to live or die based on the Big Revelation that everything hinges on . . . the end stages of the book are a race against time as Zai tries to get the information to Oxham even as she's going on trial. Does the ultimate revelation live up to the hype? Sadly, not at all. The secret that could ruin everything is mostly shrug worthy, not at all terrifyingly existential as the first whispers of it seemed to indicate and its hard to see how it could cause full scale riots in the first place. Part of it is that Westerfeld doesn't quite sell how immortality is so integral to this society (by contrast, Frederik Pohl's "Outnumbering the Dead" did a better job of selling just how weird it would be to be mortal in a society where death is more a lifestyle choice than anything else) so that any threat to the basic order of things would uproot this society's fundamentals. The other problem is that its not nearly as dark or deeply warped as the rest of the book might have you expect.
What this means is that the climax basically falls flat but even worse Westerfeld doesn't even try to follow up with consequences, bringing us to the revelation and then going "That's all, folks!" to the point where I wondered if there was an unannounced third volume to this. Alas, no, Westerfeld seems to feel he's discharged his duty without exploring any of the consequences that all this action will cause, like leaving the water running in a sink with a plugged drain in a house you're never going to ever go back to again. Sure, you might be curious to see the damage but on the other hand . . . why? And that's the attitude the book seems to have, having dispensed with the action it appears to be remarkably incurious about what any of it means for these people. Which would be okay in a sense (I certainly don't require every "I" to be dotted and "t" to be crossed in literature) if these people stuck in the mind enough that I'd be thinking about their fates long after I closed the book. But I don't. I don't think poorly of them, granted, and maybe once in a while I'll think, "Gee, that book was nice" without remembering exactly why it was. Eventually even that feeling will get rarer as the months go on. And it’s a shame because I feel like if this was pitched a bit more intensely it would have come off better. Because if there's one thing you don't want to do in space opera its put the possibility of worlds in collision on the same level as looking out your window and hoping its going to be a fine spring day.
July 1, 2025
Rating 4.5 stars. This second book in the series picks up where the last left off and weaves more complexity into the story of the Empire with Senator Nara Oxham, pilot Zai aboard the Lynx, the Rix aliens, and Rana, the savant. The only drawback is the descriptions of the Lynx's attempts to avoid destruction are at times so technical that I wasn't sure what was happening.
The story includes advanced technology and a complex political system. The first third of the book describes Zai and his crew attempting to avoid total destruction from the Rix. The Emperor has sent the Lynx to defend the planet Legis from the Rix aliens. The Rix operate as a compound mind, with only one exception: Herd. Zai, meanwhile, with his first officer, Hobbes, strip his ship down to bare minimum to cloak themselves, then maneuver silently to avoid detection. Their ingenuity is fascinating, though at times overly technical.
Zai, with Hobbes and only a few remaining crew members, make it past a huge, and unique Rix freighter that self-destructs as it approaches the Lynx, fearful of attack. Then, Zai realizes he can't go anywhere with his ship and must be repaired on Legis before moving on. His position is threatened from within the Empire.
Herd, who has been protecting Rana, completes her mission to cause havoc on Legis. In her attack, she is horribly burned but survives. Unlike other Rix, she preserves herself in hopes to be reunited with Rana. She boldly shares Rix intelligence with the Empire, which reveals long held secrets to Nara. Later, Herd offers healing and support to another human.
Nara, desperate to save her lover Zai, shares secret information about the Emperor. She is then brought up on charges before the Senate for betraying the Emperor. While on trial, she reveals the discovery she has made. . The Senate leader lets Nara tell her side, and acts fairly to restore transparency to the Empire.
We also see Nara's smart home make decisions and engineer experiences with its vast capabilities. In the end, the house gives data to the Senate. We also see the Rix in a new light, which I think is a nice shift from the aliens as enemies trope.
Again, the prose is strong, the characters emotionally and mentally complex individuals, and the world fairly well fleshed out for a short series.
The story includes advanced technology and a complex political system. The first third of the book describes Zai and his crew attempting to avoid total destruction from the Rix. The Emperor has sent the Lynx to defend the planet Legis from the Rix aliens. The Rix operate as a compound mind, with only one exception: Herd. Zai, meanwhile, with his first officer, Hobbes, strip his ship down to bare minimum to cloak themselves, then maneuver silently to avoid detection. Their ingenuity is fascinating, though at times overly technical.
Zai, with Hobbes and only a few remaining crew members, make it past a huge, and unique Rix freighter that self-destructs as it approaches the Lynx, fearful of attack. Then, Zai realizes he can't go anywhere with his ship and must be repaired on Legis before moving on. His position is threatened from within the Empire.
Herd, who has been protecting Rana, completes her mission to cause havoc on Legis. In her attack, she is horribly burned but survives. Unlike other Rix, she preserves herself in hopes to be reunited with Rana. She boldly shares Rix intelligence with the Empire, which reveals long held secrets to Nara. Later, Herd offers healing and support to another human.
Nara, desperate to save her lover Zai, shares secret information about the Emperor. She is then brought up on charges before the Senate for betraying the Emperor. While on trial, she reveals the discovery she has made. . The Senate leader lets Nara tell her side, and acts fairly to restore transparency to the Empire.
We also see Nara's smart home make decisions and engineer experiences with its vast capabilities. In the end, the house gives data to the Senate. We also see the Rix in a new light, which I think is a nice shift from the aliens as enemies trope.
Again, the prose is strong, the characters emotionally and mentally complex individuals, and the world fairly well fleshed out for a short series.
March 2, 2023
The Short Answer
An excellent conclusion to the first book. A good mixture of action and politics that never fails to be engaging.
The Long Answer
I read these books back to back, which is really how they should be read. I'm honestly not convinced they should ever have been released separately as they work significantly better as a single work.
All the things I liked about the first book remain. The characters are just as solid, and the jumping around of time is very well handled. Everything is well set up and the payoffs are earned.
I do have a few minor issues with this book though. There is less time spent with the Rix Commando, which is a shame because her perspective really helped add something to the first book. You get a bit of her near the beginning, but she ends up being the one character whose story didn't quite feel complete. There's also a storyline about a new recruit joining the gunnery team that never really goes anywhere. Much like the final conspirator from the previous volume it just becomes a loose end that's never tied up.
The first bit of the book also made the mistake of telling us the outcome of a battle before making us spend a huge amount of time living through the battle. The action is really well written, and the author does a good job making you doubt that the prescribed outcome will indeed happen, but in the back of your mind you know exactly how it's going to end and that robs the sequence of a lot of its weight. This is a shame because removing a single sentence from the first chapter would solve this problem. Take that out and this would be a five star book.
None of these problems dampened my desire to finish the book and see how it ended. I was completely engaged the whole way through, and found the universe to be fascinating. I honestly wish there were more books set in this universe exploring its different corners and belief structures. Highly recommend.
An excellent conclusion to the first book. A good mixture of action and politics that never fails to be engaging.
The Long Answer
I read these books back to back, which is really how they should be read. I'm honestly not convinced they should ever have been released separately as they work significantly better as a single work.
All the things I liked about the first book remain. The characters are just as solid, and the jumping around of time is very well handled. Everything is well set up and the payoffs are earned.
I do have a few minor issues with this book though. There is less time spent with the Rix Commando, which is a shame because her perspective really helped add something to the first book. You get a bit of her near the beginning, but she ends up being the one character whose story didn't quite feel complete. There's also a storyline about a new recruit joining the gunnery team that never really goes anywhere. Much like the final conspirator from the previous volume it just becomes a loose end that's never tied up.
The first bit of the book also made the mistake of telling us the outcome of a battle before making us spend a huge amount of time living through the battle. The action is really well written, and the author does a good job making you doubt that the prescribed outcome will indeed happen, but in the back of your mind you know exactly how it's going to end and that robs the sequence of a lot of its weight. This is a shame because removing a single sentence from the first chapter would solve this problem. Take that out and this would be a five star book.
None of these problems dampened my desire to finish the book and see how it ended. I was completely engaged the whole way through, and found the universe to be fascinating. I honestly wish there were more books set in this universe exploring its different corners and belief structures. Highly recommend.
May 18, 2023
4.5
Круто. Буду писати про обидві книжки тут, не бачу сенсу їх розглядати окремо.
Далека-далека галактика, далеке майбутнє. Жителі імперії мають можливість жити вічно, але такає привілегія дається відносно невеликій групі осіб (імператору, його оточенню, генералітету, політикам і видатним діячам). Це доволі своєрідний і соціальний ліфт, і тормоз прогресу. З іншого краю імперії, Rix-секта пробує посіяти зерна складного розуму (compound mind). І от рікс роблять вилазку на планету, де живе сестра імператора, першопричина. І тут наша історія починається. Історія розповідається паралельно від лиця кількох головних персонажів (і інколи кількох другорядних героїв): капіната імперського фрегата, його ExO, рікс-командос і сенатора.
Що до сюжету - він цікавий, досить багато подій, є деякі несподівані повороти. Кінцеве одкровення мені здалося дещо простим, але я сумніваюся що тут можна було придумати ліпше.
Світобудова - клас. Як не зовсім наукові ідеї про різні гравітації, так і протистояння ai-кратичних ріксів та імперців, традиціоналістів що побороли смерть. Добре показано сенат і різні партії, в яких основні розбіжності відносного того, як ставитися до не-мертвих. Ну і добре показано, що спроби вивести однорідно генетичних людей провалюються. Дуже dense book (от хз як то перекласти).
От головні герої не те щоб проходили якісь дуже виражені арки (хоча і капітан і рікс-жінка міняються).
Ну і текст читається як сучасна книжка, написана недавно (хоч, може 20 років для книжки дійсно недавно))
Дилогія нагадує Вернона Вінджа, хоч трохи не дотягує (хоча мало хто може до нього дотянутися). Також тут інколи проскакує поетика Урсули ле Гуїн, що теж позитив.
З мінусів - перша книжка обривається на підготовці до вирішальної битви. Я б був трохи злим, якщоб читав цю книжку до виходу до другої частини.
Певне, це перші романи за довгий час, які я б рекомендував прочитати всім любителям фантастики
Круто. Буду писати про обидві книжки тут, не бачу сенсу їх розглядати окремо.
Далека-далека галактика, далеке майбутнє. Жителі імперії мають можливість жити вічно, але такає привілегія дається відносно невеликій групі осіб (імператору, його оточенню, генералітету, політикам і видатним діячам). Це доволі своєрідний і соціальний ліфт, і тормоз прогресу. З іншого краю імперії, Rix-секта пробує посіяти зерна складного розуму (compound mind). І от рікс роблять вилазку на планету, де живе сестра імператора, першопричина. І тут наша історія починається. Історія розповідається паралельно від лиця кількох головних персонажів (і інколи кількох другорядних героїв): капіната імперського фрегата, його ExO, рікс-командос і сенатора.
Що до сюжету - він цікавий, досить багато подій, є деякі несподівані повороти. Кінцеве одкровення мені здалося дещо простим, але я сумніваюся що тут можна було придумати ліпше.
Світобудова - клас. Як не зовсім наукові ідеї про різні гравітації, так і протистояння ai-кратичних ріксів та імперців, традиціоналістів що побороли смерть. Добре показано сенат і різні партії, в яких основні розбіжності відносного того, як ставитися до не-мертвих. Ну і добре показано, що спроби вивести однорідно генетичних людей провалюються. Дуже dense book (от хз як то перекласти).
От головні герої не те щоб проходили якісь дуже виражені арки (хоча і капітан і рікс-жінка міняються).
Ну і текст читається як сучасна книжка, написана недавно (хоч, може 20 років для книжки дійсно недавно))
Дилогія нагадує Вернона Вінджа, хоч трохи не дотягує (хоча мало хто може до нього дотянутися). Також тут інколи проскакує поетика Урсули ле Гуїн, що теж позитив.
З мінусів - перша книжка обривається на підготовці до вирішальної битви. Я б був трохи злим, якщоб читав цю книжку до виходу до другої частини.
Певне, це перші романи за довгий час, які я б рекомендував прочитати всім любителям фантастики
June 26, 2020
Great sci-fi, loved the world, the complex storyline, and the intricacy of the technology. The story kind of petered out at the end: I liked the story overall, but it feels like it ended with only half of a conclusion, and with a lot of loose ends that felt unsatisfying. Also, trying to shoehorn in the "love overcomes all" theme through the H_rd and Laurent Zai stories felt somewhat forced, I felt like it was a weakness of the book. It never explained several of the things that had me scratching my head. So there were a few things I was unhappy with, but I did enjoy the overall story a lot.
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