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The Killing of Worlds (Succession #2)

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 677 ratings · 66 reviews

Scott Westerfeld, the acclaimed author of Fine Prey, Polymorph, and Evolution's Darling, reached new heights of excitement in last spring's The Risen Empire, and left readers begging for more. Now he comes through with the dazzling payoff in book two of Succession, The Killing of Worlds.

Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial frigate Lynx is a walking dead man. Unjustly held r...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published October 1st 2003 by Tor Books

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Mar 10, 2013 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the Succession series, and it lives up to the promise of the first, The Risen Empire. I recall seeing someplace that Scott Westerfeld only made this a series at the behest of the US publisher, which probably explains how thoroughly tied together the two novels are.

In The Killing of Worlds, we start immediately where The Risen Empire ended. Captain Laurent Zai and his crew aboard the Lynx are engaging with a Rix battlecruiser in the Legis system, and the expectation of...more This is the second book in the Succession series, and it lives up to the promise of the first, The Risen Empire. I recall seeing someplace that Scott Westerfeld only made this a series at the behest of the US publisher, which probably explains how thoroughly tied together the two novels are.

In The Killing of Worlds, we start immediately where The Risen Empire ended. Captain Laurent Zai and his crew aboard the Lynx are engaging with a Rix battlecruiser in the Legis system, and the expectation of not only the Zai and the crew but also the Emperor and the War Council back on the planet Home is that it is a suicide mission.

Westerfeld has a delightful way of writing quite technical descriptions while maintaining a sense of movement forward, and he does this time and again. The novel itself shifts from view point to view point. Sometimes you are with Zai. Others with Executive Officer Katherie Hobbes. Or Rix commando Herd. The Rix compound mind Alexander. And so on.

The novel's ultimate plot line is simple: Battle, results. Another battle. Results. Secret revealed. But the simplicity of the plot in no way minimizes the success the novel. In fact, it probably assisted it, for the characters are wonderfully constructed, even the machine characters of the drones that fight the first wave of the battle. We get to bask in a richly constructed world whose full depths lay behind and as foundations to the novel. I consider this a good thing in a science fiction book when the history, the cultures, etc., live off the page and we, the reader, get only partial information. Westerfeld has definitely done that.

And while the secret is revealed and proves cataclysmic, a theme of love emerges across the story. In all the science fiction, in all the wonderfully described scenes of technology and action and politics, much of the motivation of Zai and Senator Oxham is driven by love. And we got that in the first novel, but this is then given fresh life by the development of another love story that works against the expectations set in The Risen Empire.

My one complaint (spoiler in this paragraph) is that the ships heading towards the Lynx at the end seemed unwrapped up. Granted, they are two years out and much about this story remains open at the end, I felt, for some reason, that those ships needed some "closing." But this is but a minor complain.

To get the most out of The Killing of Worlds, one must read The Risen Empire. Westerfeld wrote these two books as one, and readers should approach it that way.

Wonderfully written and engaging. (less)

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Nov 24, 2011 Mikolaj Habryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 asser...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Melanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. It's a fascinating, extraordinary tale of love, politics, and war. It was non-stop action and interesting events, and although the big reveal at the end was hinted at, I still thought it was great. The characters were so well rounded and real, and I was really glad that they allied themselves with the Rix at the end; the shifting POV from h_rd's point of view made me, of course, understand and love both cultures. The different P...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Jonathan Cullen rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 love...more

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

If you read 'The Risen Empire' and are wondering whether you should read 'The Killing of Worlds', then what the heck is the problem with you? Yes, of course you should read it! Don't you want to know what happens to Laurent Zai and his crew? Sheesh.

If you haven't read 'The Risen Empire', and are wondering whether the conclusion of the Succession 2-part series is worth it, then I'm happy to report that it is. It's hard to match the sheer adrenaline and intensity of the opening of 'The Risen Empir...more

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Dec 22, 2009 Nicolas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amour, far-future, guerre, handicap, immortalité, ia, mutants, nano, romantique, space-opera, rayon-fantasy-et-sf

Deuxième et dernier tome d’une fresque incroyable, ce roman reprend les promesse du premier tome là où elles avaient été laissées, et les honore de la plus belle des manières.

En effet, le premier tome nous promettait de la violence, de la trahison, de la basse besogne politique, mais aussi (et surtout) des personnages plus grands que nature, des dilemnes cornelliens, et de l’épique à tous les étages.

Et j’ai été servi dans tous ces domaines. La partie la plus évidente, c’est la violence, la guerr...more Deuxième et dernier tome d’une fresque incroyable, ce roman reprend les promesse du premier tome là où elles avaient été laissées, et les honore de la plus belle des manières.

En effet, le premier tome nous promettait de la violence, de la trahison, de la basse besogne politique, mais aussi (et surtout) des personnages plus grands que nature, des dilemnes cornelliens, et de l’épique à tous les étages.

Et j’ai été servi dans tous ces domaines. La partie la plus évidente, c’est la violence, la guerre, avec une bataille qui, si elle n’implique "que" deux vaisseaux(1), n’en prend pas moins des proportions largement équivalentes aux meilleurs moments d’Honor Harrington, aussi bien en termes d’espace engagé que de violence et de sacrifice, présentant toutefois un côté rusé, avec le capitaine Zaï qui se défait peu à peu de son armure, que n’a pas la capitaine manticorienne(2). Qui plus est, cette ruse en cache une seconde, qui est elle à peine dévoilée(3). Et ça, de la part de l’auteur, c’est assez élégant, je trouve.

Mais bon, tout ça, ça ne concerne que le combat, or il y a bien d’autres choses dans ce roman, qui est certes rempli d’action, mais pour autant non exempt de réflexion.

Tenez, par exemple, toute cette partie sur "l’immortalité". Pourquoi, dans un empire réputé la posséder, existe-t-il un parti, manifestement reconnu, puisqu’élu au Sénat, de gens opposé à sa distribution au plus grand nombre ? Voilà une question fascinante, je trouve. Tout au moins fascinante pour moi. Et encore, ça n’est que le début des interrogations laissées de côté, mais néanmoins très profondes, comme les mutants, et le représentant de l’axe de la peste qui considère cet empire comme un échec.

Bon, après un rapide passage sur le site de l’auteur et la découverte un peu effarante pour moi qu’il a écrit ce bouquin pour un public de 14 ans, je comprends bien mieux certains manques.
Notez bien que ça n’en est pas moins un excellent space-op moderne, bien meilleur à mon sens que pas mal d’autres romans de ce sous-genre de la SF … En fait, peut-être même l’un des meilleurs des dix dernières années au moins, et à lire à coup sûr.

(1) En application d’une convention datant de L’aube de la nuit, je ne compte jamais les milliers de drones dans les combats spatiaux, mais seulement les engins spatiaux transportant physiquement des individus pensants.
(2) En effet, dans les combats d’Harrington, la ruse consiste le plus souvent à positionner le mieux possible son vaisseau pour lâcher une bordée titanesque, alors qu’ici, le héros compte plus sur sa capacité à leurrer les senseurs de son adversaire en divisant son vaisseau en cibles difficilement identifiables.
(3) Znvf fv, fbhirarm-ibhf, à ha zbzrag, craqnag à ha synfuonpx, Mnï rkcyvdhr à fn féangevpr dhr fba invffrnh rfg ha ghrhe qr zbaqr, pubfr dh’vy ar crhg npprcgre. Cbhe éivgre qr y’hgvyvfre à fba cyrva cbgragvry, vy qépvqr qbap (znvf çn a’rfg dhr zba vagreceégngvba) qr fr fécnere qr y’rafrzoyr qrf éyézragf dhv ra sbag har nezr fv qnatrerhfr qnaf yn threer à irave.(less)

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Sep 28, 2009 Jack rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

The first third of the book is titled "Space Battle" and it is, for the most part. Westerfeld does some things well - his description of smart machines encountering one another at extremely high velocity seems very plausible (given the circumstances and capabilities he describes, that is). But to interweave one narrative that's measured in fractions of a second with others that are at human speeds was jarring - as if he described a bomb igniting from the bomb's POV, then jumped to a discussion a...more

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Apr 01, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

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...more 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.
(less)

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Apr 12, 2010 Phoenixfalls rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: male-author, military-sf, science-fiction, sf-romance, space-opera, war

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...more 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.(less)

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Sep 19, 2012 Kaethe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, cats, colonization, death, feminism, fiction, friendship, house-as-character, mystery, politics, romance, scifi, strong-smart-female-protagonist, swashbuckling, war, glbtq

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 th...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Bryan added it · review of another edition

"The Killing of Worlds' is pretty good, although not quite at the level of excitement and intensity of its predecessor, "The Risen Empire". A recurring theme of any sci-fi book or series is that it's really hard to make the ending live up to expectations. In this case, both books are underpinned by a terrible secret that has held the Empire together for centuries. When we finally find out the secret, it just isn't that amazing or shocking.

But the ending aside, this was a good, compelling read....more

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Aug 12, 2012 Mei rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, future

It's hard for me to review books, I think. Mostly because I finish reading them late at night (yes, 10pm is late at night for me) when my brain is tired and also because I am one of those people who hate spoilers of any sort, and I never figure out what counts as a spoiler for most people and what doesn't (for me anything that reveals ANYTHING is a spoiler).

I found the entire series elegant and well put together. I very briefly found some of the characterization forced, but it was subsumed by la...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 20, 2012 Lona rated it 2 of 5 stars

The story itself could be pretty good if it weren't shadowed by the writer's ridiculous need to detail every little thing. The story drones on and on about things that really just don't matter to the story as a whole. I got through the first book, ending in frustration at the lack of any decent closure and began the second only to find yet another tormenting drawn out beginning to the next book. It seems as though this book has become even worse in torment, keeping the reader thirsting for answe...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Althea Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 detail...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reads, sci-fi

Well, I didn't like this one as much as the first, and I'm not even entirely sure why I was so disappointed. The Big Secret that is finally revealed is not as galaxy-shattering as it was set up to be. There wasn't as much of the shifting perspectives and glimpses into the past that kept me so fascinated in the first part of the story. And while it was still chock full of action, I just started to get tired of it. Left some loose ends, too, probably leaving room to write more. And I would probabl...more

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Feb 13, 2009 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

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 Em...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Joey-Joey-Jo-Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars

A perfectly enjoyable and fast-reading space opera. One third of the book goes to space battles, one third to politics/world building, and one third to surprisingly non-terrible romances. The world building and sci-fi elements are well thought out, meaty, and occasionally clever. They aren't as brilliant as you would find in M. Banks, and there are occasional mis-steps (authors, please stop mixing psionics in with your sci-fi stories! Keep the psychics in the fantasy ghetto! Thank you!), but ove...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Ethan I. Solomon rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can't stress enough how close this book came to having five stars, which to me is pretty much a perfect book. (Side Note: I think Goodreads should have a 10 star system, there's very little room for subtle ratings with only 5)

As in the first book, the technological and social aspects are unparalleled in this book. The cover offers a review saying that it was a modern Asimov or Frank Herbert type book, but I honestly think that in those two aspects he actually in many ways surpasses them. Here...more I can't stress enough how close this book came to having five stars, which to me is pretty much a perfect book. (Side Note: I think Goodreads should have a 10 star system, there's very little room for subtle ratings with only 5)

As in the first book, the technological and social aspects are unparalleled in this book. The cover offers a review saying that it was a modern Asimov or Frank Herbert type book, but I honestly think that in those two aspects he actually in many ways surpasses them. Here we arrive at the first complaint. As logical and well thought out the technology in the book it still feels under-powered. Readers will be happy to know that Westerfeld actually gives a decent attempt at explaining and advancing the technology in this book, the end of the series.

Here we arrive at my second issue. Being that the series in only two books long, they are in no way standalone books. It is a series through and through. The first book ends on a cliffhanger that is picked up in the second book right away. Any book that isn't self contained gets a few points taken off in my book. On the other hand, when I compare the book to the way television show's are often structured I find many more similarities then when comparing it to other books.

I don't think that it's a spoiler saying that the book does conclude the series as everything must end. The last reason for not giving the fifth star is this: It sort of felt like there was going to be a third book because of how rushed the ending is, or at least felt to me. I think Westerfeld planned for this to be a longer series but didn't, for some reason that I will not guess at.

To end, this book is superior science-fiction. The action definitely got taken up a notch in this sequel to The Risen Empire, which also turn off the less die-hard science-fiction fans out there due to the techno-babble that at times seems to run for entire chapters; something which I thought to be cool as a writer.

Despite these faults, I'd recommend this book very, very highly. (less)

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Jun 29, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here's what I have got to say: If you haven't read Scott Westerfeld yet, make that a priority STAT. Every single Westerfeld book I have read, I have loved.

[bookcover:Zombies Vs. Unic 7171748 orns]<-One short story of his in here.

^I love all those books.

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Dec 28, 2011 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own

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) 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 bo...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Cassy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-in-2011, fantasy-sci-fi, favorites

This was book two of Scott Westerfeld's Successions series and it was just as enjoyable as the first one was. This one was a lot more action packed than the first one was and we learn a lot more about the empire in this book.

The first half of this book is almost strictly battle. It's the Rix commander that escaped in book one trying to help take down the empire. She is making her way across Legis VI to try and do Alexandar's bidding. I like it because Westerfeld really shows you a personal side...more This was book two of Scott Westerfeld's Successions series and it was just as enjoyable as the first one was. This one was a lot more action packed than the first one was and we learn a lot more about the empire in this book.

The first half of this book is almost strictly battle. It's the Rix commander that escaped in book one trying to help take down the empire. She is making her way across Legis VI to try and do Alexandar's bidding. I like it because Westerfeld really shows you a personal side to her. There's really no "bad" guy in Westerfeld's books, just people driven by different needs and ideals. The more you read about this Rix commander, Hr_d, the more you realize she's just doing something she believes to be true, no more than Laurent has been following orders he believes to be true.

The sadder part of this book is that you see a lot more people die in this book. There's mutiny, there's the ship falling to pieces as they battle against ships entirely way too powerful for Laurent's ship to be fighting and you see the Emperor trying to kill Laurent every step of the way for crossing him. It seems that even the undead have an ego and the emperor is determined to show his people, the senators, who rules the empire.

During all of this, you see Senator Oxham fighting for what she believes in the whole time. That's not just Laurent and her plight to keep him alive. At one point the emperor suggests destroying and entire planet just so that the Complex mind doesn't get off the planet it has been contained to, killing millions of people.

I love that despite constantly bouncing between these stories, I never really got lost. I saw the intricate pattern these story lines made, how they interacted and why they were all important. Even something like a minor character becoming blind became important later. That attention to detail is astounding.

One of my favorite things in this book was the love story between Laurent and Oxham. It was so intense but at no point did they meet in the book. We learned of their past, saw how they met, saw that this relationship was really driving their decisions, but there wasn't some grand reunion at the end. There was still a possibility that Laurent would never get home and even if he did, he had years until he would reach his destination. Despite this, I couldn't help hoping every second that they made it back to each other. Every time I thought Laurent would die (and believe me, there were many times I really thought that it was the end of that man) I found myself praying that Westerfeld would find a way for him to get out of it.

At the end of it all, you found that the emperor was keeping a dark secret: the eternal life that he had been promising everyone for thousands of years, was a farce. He couldn't actually provide it. And instead of telling people, he decided to cover it up. Part of that cover up including killing the empress, someone so beloved to her people.

Something else I really enjoyed about this book was how much and how little people changed. Laurent's entire perspective changed. Before that, he had thrown all of his loyalty into the empire, the emperor and what he had been taught. By the end of it, he was siding with they "enemy", ready to start a new world because what else was he going to do? However, Oxham throughout the book never strayed from her ideals, her principles and in the end, while she had changed when it came to her views on the emperor, she didn't ever change her views on what she believed.

My only negative was sometimes the science got a little heavy handed. And Westerfeld did his best to dumb it down but it really got to be a lot sometimes. I understand that it's a necessary evil in a book such as this but there were times that I didn't care about the science and just wanted him to get on with the story.

Over all, this book, and series, was just spectacular. I recommend it to anyone into space age/sci-fi books. I thought it was some of Westerfeld's best work and it's just enthralling.(less)

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Feb 17, 2011 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of space opera

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.

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May 10, 2009 Evilsquirrel rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great sequel to a fantastic book. I love the story branching out to follow all three sides of the story. My only complaint is the need for more books after this one. What happened after the sundering of the Empire? What happened to the Rix? What was Alexander's master design? How did the Emperor deal with the truth being revealed? I'm holding out for a third book. Well hoping might be a better word for it.

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Oct 17, 2012 Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: series, science-fiction, public-library, fiction, military-sf

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 lik...more

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Sep 01, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, added-to-librarything

This book was a lot more engaging than the first (The Risen Empire). Normally I'm not a huge fan of battle scenes, but the one that opens Killing of World's is very engaging. Westerfeld uses just the right combination of action, suspense, tactics, and science. The emperor's secret (which is revealed in this book) was a little anticlimactic, but very clever.

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Jan 11, 2009 Karlo rated it 3 of 5 stars

The best thing about the book are the short flashbacks between the Captain and the Senator. There is a tenderness to their romance that seems honest in its depiction. The resolution of the story is reasonably engaging, but I can't say that I was over the moon about it. Worth a read, but it could have been shortened and the two books joined into one.

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Apr 24, 2009 Frank Jarome rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty darned awesome. Having read the first book and this one in rapid succession, I agree that it was definitely written as one novel. As such, it is best to read them together to get the proper effect. And what an effect it is! I don't know where to start gushing without spoiling things left and right, so suffice it to say: read this duology! Now!

And Mr. Westerfeld -- write another one! That ending was waaaaay too open to not do so....

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Jan 19, 2012 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Continuation and completion of The Risen Empire. Interesting in that it ends just as things are getting busy - but it was planned as such: "these are the events and characters that led to massive historical episode", not the episode itself. Still, a little hurried, and some things are not explained to my expectations. 3/5

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Jun 24, 2010 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling American-born author of YA sci-fi literature. He was born in the Texas and now lives in Sydney and New York City. In 2001, Westerfeld married fellow author Justine Larbalestier.
His book Evolution's Darling was a New York Times Notable Book, and won a Special Citation for the 2000 Philip K. Dick Award. So Yesterday won a Victorian Premier's Award and...more

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