I must say I was curious about what the result would be when I picked up a thriller by Orson Scott Card. Generally, thrillers have simplistic, cartoonish plots. Orson Scott Card's writing is always brainy and insightful. So what is the hybrid result? A veritable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reading experience, though to Card's credit, the Dr. Jekyll writing style invariably takes most of the stage of the novel, with only occasional bursts of Mr. Hyde. My least favorite moments were the futuristic weapons. While Card makes them believable in their own sphere, they still don't seem to fit in a story that he has so aptly described so as to think it could happen tomorrow. So while the futuristic portions may have been my least favorite, they were hardly laughable and still interesting. The parts that I loved is where Card always excells--in the thinking battles. These are always fascinating, always full of smart characters thinking smart things and analyzing political situations, military strat...more
I must say I was curious about what the result would be when I picked up a thriller by Orson Scott Card. Generally, thrillers have simplistic, cartoonish plots. Orson Scott Card's writing is always brainy and insightful. So what is the hybrid result? A veritable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reading experience, though to Card's credit, the Dr. Jekyll writing style invariably takes most of the stage of the novel, with only occasional bursts of Mr. Hyde. My least favorite moments were the futuristic weapons. While Card makes them believable in their own sphere, they still don't seem to fit in a story that he has so aptly described so as to think it could happen tomorrow. So while the futuristic portions may have been my least favorite, they were hardly laughable and still interesting. The parts that I loved is where Card always excells--in the thinking battles. These are always fascinating, always full of smart characters thinking smart things and analyzing political situations, military strategies, and relationships in ways that are both creative and intelligent. Maybe my favorite part about the story is how Card sticks close enough to regular thrillers to have all the dumb fun, but he deviates in just a few small places so as to make his story just a little bit different, a little bit smarter, a little bit more satisfying to read. Most particularly, the ending. I thought I knew where Card was going with it, and I thought he was being very clever in taking me there, and then at the ending, he defied my logic and left things satisfyingly open. Leaving it open for a sequel, perhaps? Maybe. But if he didn't, I would still be satisfied.
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Empire 
