Rating: 
Summary: engrossing far future sf -only half the story, though
Review: This is really terrific science fiction. A most intriguing plot that goes back and forth between the military aspects of the story, which are plausible, thrilling, and filled with imaginative and cool technological creations, the other half of the book deals with the political maneuverings involved in the decision to go to war with a rival faction of humanity. The books shifts between a multitude of characters' viewpoints, settings, and also flashbacks, but the author effortlessly keeps it together and it is not difficult to keep track of everything. Westerfeld is an excellent writer who paints vivid imagery concisely and keeps the plot rolling and the reader thouroughly entranced. Character development is exemplary for a science fiction novel and some morality themes are seamlessly worked in, adding depth without slowing the book's momentum. My only problem with the book is that it ends abruptly- this is not a stand alone novel by any means! You are forced by the publishers' apparent greed to buy two books (and this first volume is rather slim - a little over 300 pp!)Still, I will capitulate since I have to see how the rest of the story plays out, highly recommended book for sure.
Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: A great read! I truly enjoyed reading this It's a rarity these days to find an author capable of such good storytelling. The story is well written and very engaging, and despite the fact that it lost some momentum in the middle, I found myself eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next. All in all, though this is not quite a perfect novel, it comes close.
Rating: 
Summary: The Risen Empire Falls Flat
Review: As I neared the end of the book I wondered how many of the issues presented would be dealt with in the small number of pages left. Well, they weren't. Nothing was concluded. It's as if the editor at TOR lost half the manuscript on the subway. Nowhere on the cover, flap, or back of the book did it say that this was a serial novel. Nowhere did it say "a great uncompleted novel." I'm not so naive as to believe that most trashy SF novels can conclude their sagas in less than three books. I do think, however, that the author and editor should make some attempt to allow the book to stand on its own. Consequently, this book fails in the worst sort of way in every way possible for a book to fail. This book certainly warns me off of ever reading anything by Scott Westerfeld again. It also warns me off of the TOR imprint, which I used to trust more than the other imprints in the spined SF section.
Rating:
Summary: This book is one half of an excellent novel
Review: As other reviewers have pointed out, "The Risen Empire" does not stand on its own as a novel. This book is really the first half of a two-volume novel the second volume of which is "The Killing of Worlds". But don't let that stop you from reading this book. By the time I was half-way through "The Risen Empire" I knew I wanted to read the sequel, so I rushed out and got "The Killing of Worlds". Thus when I got to the end of volume I, I was able to move right on to volume II without having to wait. And I didn't want to wait. This is excellent high-tech far future space opera. The only author I would compare Westerfeld to is Iain M. Banks.
Rating: 
Summary: promise almost fulfilled
Review: For years, unless you liked true fantasy novels, the only science fiction writers capable of creating a "space opera" - a whole new world and world view - and capable of sustaining it seemed to be Frank Herbert (Dune, et. al.) and J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, et. al.) Many others have tried, many others have been moderately successful, but few if any have really broken through. Scott Westerfeld has made a first and valiant attempt with The Risen Empire. Set so far into the future as to render timing irrelevant, Westerfeld creates a universe both foreign and familiar and ties in a unique love story at the same time. The Empire consists of eighty human worlds tied together and ruled for 1,600 years by the Emperor. The Emperor has the secret of eternal life at his disposal and has created an elite caste, known as the Risen. His grasp on power is complete and unassailable within the Eighty Worlds. However, the Empire has competitors, chief among them The Rix. The Rix are machine augmented humans (women, by the way) whose existence is dedicated to creating Compound Minds - artificial intelligences of enormous proportions, formed by taking over all of the computer, data, and communications infrastructure of a planet. Aimed against the prolonged rule of the Emperor, the Rix seek to "free" planets from the one-man control so long possessed. In Book One, the Rix take the Child Empress (the Emperor's sister, Risen as a child) hostage on a planet tens of light-years from the home world. Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx is serendipitously fortunate (or horribly unlucky) to be the closest military asset to the incursion. Lai is romantically linked to leader of the most effective (and peculiar) opposition party to the Emperor's Loyalty Party. Senator Nora Oxham is the leader of the Secularist Party. The Secularist Party believes that the Eighty Worlds are losing their edge to other empires because the Risen have lost their ability to challenge their own conventional wisdom. In other words, they are for Death and oppose eternal life. As the war with the Rix heats up, the Senator is asked to join the Emperor's War Council to conduct the process of the war. With her lover at the forefront and her Party's influence at stake, the politics of empire and the politics of love and commitment are played out on a stage of massive proportions. In terms of depth and complexity, The Risen Empire is not a challenger to Dune or to The Lord of the Rings. Occasionally, the story is slow and the detail a bit overdone. Character development is just OK (bordering on good, but clearly not great). There isn't enough development of the Emperor as a character or as a concept. There are flickers of brilliance in the character development of both of the main characters, but flickers only. The love story is interesting because of the (pardon the pun) relative positions of the individuals, but not because Westerfeld builds any passion between them - they are lovers, but I can't figure out why. Westerfeld has done a strong job of inventing believable, but clearly futuristic technology and weaves it very naturally into the story line. The Risen Empire is, however, a very interesting story and I look forward to seeing more from Mr. Westerfeld.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Overall
Review: I love good Sci-Fi: books that realistically explore what humanity can and might build, and, more importantly, show the continual struggle to define what it means to be human, a struggle that no amount of technological sophistication can make lighter. This novel is most definitely "good sci-fi." Westerfeld weaves multiple complicated sub-plots clearly and elegantly. My only gripe is that nowhere on the jacket cover is it made clear that this is but the first in a series (it is). The second installment cannot come soon enough.
Rating:
Summary: Best Sci Fi I've read this year.
Review: I loved it, but it ends on a cliffhanger. Fortunately the sequel was already out! The Risen Empire (Succession) trilogy is built on the shoulders of Asimov's Foundation and Empire, Herbert's Dune, and Peter F. Hamilton's Nights Dawn series, with Galactic empires, weird religions, machine intelligence, and the Living Undead, plus two fairly juicy cyborg/human romances! If you like that shiznit, you'll love this. Unlike Nights Dawn this book will not give you nightmares. The book is well written, in a very concise way that makes it an easy read at the same time calling you to re-read whole sections over and over again just for the pleasure of it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, hope #2 is on the way!
Review: I picked this book at random and was happily surprised to find it an excellent read. Scott Westerfield develops a very solid universe with some very cool technologies and characters. The book is generally well balanced between technology, action and character development, the perfect mix for a sci-fi book in my mind :) In particular the book explores some ideas for nanotechnology that are extremely interesting, and it strikes a good balance between credibility and futurism while doing it. The only gripe I have with is that the ending seemed a bit abrupt and so much was left unfinished, I hope there is a second novel in the works!
Rating:
Summary: Yes, it is good
Review: I read this book DESPITE a wholly negative review in the Montreal Gazzette (which called it simplistic, with unbelieveable characters and borrowing heavily from Star Wars and Dune).
As an aside, if it borrows from Star Wars and Dune, that is not altogether a disadvantage, is it?
First, the book IS fast-paced and told in a snappy tone of voice, without extreme flourishes. Even so, it does not read like a young adult novel, and it does not read like David Drake. (That's a good thing in my opinion)
It actually borrows little from Star Wars and even less from Dune.
Here's what you'll find:
* an original world with an interesting political system
* interesting cultural elements
* simple but fun characters
* tremendously exciting battles, both space and ground
* a much more interesting take on the 'compound mind' than say, the Borg
* realistic and exciting nano-machine battles (Yes!)
* captivating AI characters (ex: house computer--trust me!)
* a mystery regarding a medical immortality secret
So it's not Frank Herbert, and it's not Gregory Pohl, not David Brin... it's something different, much more similar to Orson Scott Card.
It's fun, and it would probably make a good movie.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic first two-thirds of a book
Review: I've been looking for a new sci-fi author and Scott Westerfeld is at least in the running after reading this; he has assembled a creative and unusual galaxy for his Succession trilogy(? I think it'll be a trilogy) and has good characters, technology, and background. My only complaint about this book, and I've seen it echoed elsewhere, is that is it doesn't have a really gripping climax and denouement at the end; the end feels somewhat chopped off. I expect SOMETHING to serve as a hook to the next book in the series, but it really feels like he's still just warming up the story. Having said that, it's a ripping good story so far; I've already ordered the next in the series.
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