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Sep 07, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

There is something unbeatable about being pleasantly surprised. This was my first time reading anything by Scott Westerfeld and I was extremely pleasantly surprised by The Risen Empire.

It is bad form to quote oneself but here is what I said about The Risen Empire when I compared it very favourably to Foundation in my sacrilegious review of Asimov’s space opera:

“Immediately after I "finished" Foundation, I picked up Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire… Intellige More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Michael rated it:

I'm going to lump together my review of both Succession novels since they are really one novel and do not stand on their own. I found The Risen Empire to be solid 4-star space opera except for a few major annoyances that bumped it down a notch:
1) The big secret that more or less drives the plot of the entire story is hinted at and then yanked away without being revealed so many times that it just becomes silly. And then in the final pages when it is revealed, all I could think was, " More...

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Aug 22, 2011

Nicholas rated it:

Although initally this is quite a heavy book to read, once you get into the somewhat peculiar writing style of Westerfield, the intricate storyline and realisitc characterisations that lie within this novel make it more than worth the time and effort. Westerfield's vision of the future (the exact time-frame is unspecified, but given that humanity apparently pervades a significant portion of the galaxy it must be the fairly distant future) is very captivating, although it must be said that little More...

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Jun 24, 2010

Josh rated it:

A nice little page turner. I like how Westerfeld starts the book in the middle of the story and then fills in the background later. This is almost always a compelling story telling technique. I also liked his idea that death is necessary for societal progress. I will have to look into his remarks that the geocentric world view was only killed when all of the people who believed it died off and the next, more open, generation adopted a heliocentric world view. It very well may be that old people More...

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Nov 14, 2011

Jamie rated it:

I think I have a crush on Scott Westerfeld. His bio says he's also a software designer and music composer, and his writing is delightfully diverse. His Uglies series is YA dystopic fiction. His Leviathan series is steampunk for a slightly younger audience. This series is straight up science fiction, a so-called space opera along the lines of Asimov's Foundation series. The plot is more active and complex than Foundation, and contains extremely satisfying characters and devices. In this world, t More...

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Aug 30, 2011

AnEyeSpy rated it:

<Abandoned> Narrative is sectioned into each of a crew, all alike, all abysmally maundering.
The "peerlessly happy" pilot flies intelligencers microscopically against intelligent interceptors releasing mechanopheromones, or vice versa? His female second officer spouts identical geek-babble. The doctor, back in uncomfortable armor, protective technology that can reanimate all but the worst carnage, such as "cranial collapse" or "hearts splattered like dye bomb More...

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Aug 28, 2011

Niall519 rated it:

Possibly I've just read too many space operas over the past few years. This wasn't bad in any specific way, just didn't fail to entrance me the way it's evidently done for other readers. I imagine that the desires and difficulties in coming up with new technology and effects in SF like this must be the same for fantasy writers attempting to deal with magic. Unless you get lucky and strike a previously unmined seam of ideas or metaphors, it all suffers from being much the same as the other ten au More...

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Apr 12, 2010

Phoenixfalls rated it:

This is the sort of space opera I can love. Forget Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space trilogy, with its sloppy (sometimes indulgent) writing and wooden characters; forget Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, with their climaxes that lead to nothing but futility; forget even Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga -- much though I love the characters and the wit, it doesn't have the breadth of imagination or the sheer scope that Westerfeld captures here.

The Risen Empire stars with a bang, t More...

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Nov 29, 2011

Dr. Ben rated it:

Gave up after about 100 pages, so there may be redeeming qualities later on. At the point at which I gave up, however, there was very little story in this novel; there was some world-building, but mostly page after page of technophilia hidden under a veneer of fiction. This is hard, hard scifi, where the point in the writing isn't so much the telling of a story but of describing as much technological porn as possible. Pass.

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Feb 17, 2011

Mark rated it:

Action-oriented, classic space opera with a nice "clash of civilizations" woven in. The story revolves around an Empire of 80 worlds ruled by "the dead". When elite members of society die, they are "risen" via the use of a symbiant and become part of the ruling elite. It's essentially a perverse feudal society where the Living do all the work and the Risen possess all the wealth and power. But because they don't die, the lords tend to outnumber the serfs by a consid More...

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Aug 23, 2011

Warnie B. rated it:

I didn't love this. I liked it at the beginning. Things started out pretty interesting--some intriguing concepts, a hostage rescue attempt in progress, cool technology. But then it just...floundered. I feel like the whole thing suffered from too little in the way of character development (yes, details are given about the characters, but none of them really felt real or alive to me) and far too much in the way of differing view points (seriously, like 17!). There's also a lot of jumping about in More...

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Aug 30, 2011

Wendy rated it:

A compulsive read, packed with action, interesting characters, and an insane amount of original sci-fi ideas. More, please.

[Second part is not as good; together I'd rate the series a 4. But this book was really exciting and also introduced me to Westerfeld whose books I have been plowing through ever since. High points for that.]

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Apr 07, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

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

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Apr 22, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

I read this already a fan of Westerfeld and his world-building. I expected the same attention to detail without compromising the whole vision that he demonstrated in Uglies and Leviathan. Westerfeld has a good sense for "selling" his envisioned universe to the reader. For his previously mentioned books, targeted at the YA audience, the world building reminds me of the first Harry Potter books. There's a wonder that is indulged and explored for first-timers. Appropriately, The Risen Emp More...

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Mar 04, 2010

Jason rated it:

Honestly one of the best sci-fi books I've read in a while. The Succession books are a space-opera genre of sci-fi books cut from a similar cloth as Dune. The setting focuses on the conflict two major galactic empires; the story takes place within the Risen Empire, which is ruled by an Emperor who has made himself immortal through the use of a strange symbiotic organism and has used it to create a ruling class of undead immortals. I say undead, because you have to die for the symbiote to More...

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May 03, 2011

Daniel rated it:

The book's cover notes a resemblance to Asimov's Fondation and Herbert's Dune. I wouldn't say the novel is as clever and deep as them, but it's sure as hell as entertaining. The SF is smart, and the action starts at the first sentence and rarely lets go. This is smart action SF, with interesting characters, mind-blowing tech ideas, and exciting space battles. I was literally bouncing throughout the first 100 pages.

Be warned that this book is half of the original manuscript called 'Succession'. T More...

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Aug 06, 2011

Bryan added it

I was about to write that this was a rip-roaring space opera when I saw that the author, on his own WWW site, describes it as "rip-roaring space-operatic science fiction". I was also about to write that this book has no real ending and follows immediately into its sequel, "Killing of Worlds", but see that the author has already written "just be ready to buy Killing of Worlds within seconds of finishing Risen Empire" !

So Scott Westerfeld is way ahead of me, and there More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Jen rated it:

Great sci fi, lots of wizz bang, intriguing ideas and interesting characters. The Risen empire believe in death as the gateway to eternal life via a symbiant implant. Their enemy, the Rix, believe in a compound mind, where the individual is subsumed by the whole. The Lynx, a Risen ship, is sent to fight the Rix for control of one of the Risen planets. But there is a more important fact that those on both sides don't know - the real secret at the heart of the Risen Empire, for which the Risen More...

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Jun 05, 2011

Anna rated it:

The concept of the world, the plot, and even the character conflict was great. Unfortunately, I just didn't like the way the book flowed. It started in the middle, then proceeded to hop around through the beginning, end, middle, beginning, middle, etc. Usually when authors do this, I assume they felt like the chronological beginning wasn't going to snag the reader's attention, but the beginning of this book --- 40 pages of space battle --- was a hard, hard slog for me. In contrast, he chrono More...

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Mar 01, 2011

Karen rated it:

I have loved Scott Westerfeld ever since my fiance forced me to read The Uglies. Although I delighted in the complex worlds he creates, I was often disappointed by characters written to appeal to the juvenile fiction crowd. Then I found this series. Low and behold Scott Westerfeld for adults! It's like finding an adult version of Harry Potter. Complex futuristic space opera world with characters I can actually relate to. Thank you Westerfeld. The only complaint I have is the cliff hanger at the More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Mary Kathryn rated it:

The Risen Empire is the most unique science-fiction future book I have ever read. It has ideas that have never crossed my mind before and some that had. Compound minds, small craft, symbiants, house AI, and the Time Thief are just a few of the things I love about this book.

Parts of it were a bit boring for me to read, but I think that had more to with my state of mind than the book itself (tired mostly).

I like the shifting time/point of view that occurs, showing us history b More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Jjlupa rated it:

Was expecting mediocrity, but I find myself debating between 4 and 5 stars. I'm settling with 4 because of the enraging way in which the book is ended. Apparently there is a version with books 1 and 2 sewn together into one frame- THIS would be the way to read it; However I did not, and am left with a particularly bad case of cliffhangeritis.

OK, so this is a space opera, in every sense of the word. Scenes shift between (alleged) protagonists and antagonists as the plot (mostly) moves More...

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Aug 26, 2011

Amy rated it:

This book had a very interesting storyline, but that was the main reason I wanted to finish it. I liked the book a little bit less as it went on, and I'm not sure if I'll read the next books in the series.

The idea of besting death by dying is an interesting idea. I still want to know what the heck the Symbiant is, though. If someone is dead but not, then what does life mean? Does the Symbiant prolong bodily functions? Or does it prolong life at all? Those who had committed the Holy S More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Nikola rated it:

I was expecting some over-the-top action 'warhammer'-style, and fearing some over-the-top bullshit 'Sten'-style. The eternal immortal God-Emperor confused me, I guess.
What I got had almost nothing in common with any of the two. The marine fighting was of 'Starship Troopers' quality - but it didn't end there. The descriptions of the spaceships and related technology were the best I've ever read - waaaay smarter and more advanced than 'Starfire', more detailed than 'Hyperion', better defined More...

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Apr 03, 2011

Cassy rated it:

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

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Dec 15, 2010

Dirk rated it:

Pretty good, this. The blurb on the cover hints that it aspires to the greatness achieved by Dune and Foundation. I'll contest that, but nonetheless this is a good science fiction novel. It's actually the first in a duology called Succession, the sequel being The Killing of Worlds.

Although I didn't care much for some of the symbolism and political humdrum, I would recommend this to people looking for a Space Opera flavoured with combat sequences. Or is it the other way around? Military More...

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Jul 17, 2009

Lanjackal rated it:

If you've read this book, chances are that it's not your first space opera. The difference here is Westerfield's writing. Unlike most authors who clearly favor certain characters, TRE gives equal attention to all the main ones, even the villains. The emotional detail makes them all easy to connect with and understand. I found myself anxious for the Rix plan to succeed despite the fact that Zai and Nara Oxham, the 2 characters whose romance the story is primarily about, are Imperials.

More...

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Dec 24, 2008

Dan rated it:

This is classic space opera stuff, but it has an air of plausibility and "hard science" that makes it feel authentic. The action is fast paced, the story is not difficult to follow, and the characters are interesting. The only problem is the book ends right in the middle of the story. From the author's website it sounds like the publisher split it in two because they didn't think a 700 page book would sell as well as two 350 pagers. So, if you are going to read this, get both par More...

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Dec 24, 2008

Kristin rated it:

I really enjoyed this book and I think that was because my last couple of books have been just sort of eh. At least the last one in particular (Children of Huirn by Tolkien). I was craving a true scifi book (read space opera, space ships, aliens, and galaxies far, far, away) and The Risen Empire was exactly what I wanted.

Premise of the book is the Risen Empire is ruled by the Emperor, who is 1500 years old (give or take a bit). He discovered how to defeat death and the reason was hi More...

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Nov 11, 2008

Steve rated it:

In his blog, Scott Westerfeld says that with Risen Empire he was seeking to write a space opera for his '14 year old self'. As entertainment, it is excellent fare. In particular, I like his representation of technology and the use of transhuman themes. For instance, his space fighters are remotely piloted, a refreshing change, and a necessary one. Remotely piloted aircraft are making rapid inroads into the U.S. Air Force. In addition, Westerfeld also avoids the 'deus ex machina' traps that plagu More...

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