Rating: 
Summary: strong space opera
Review: The Emperor has ruled over the eighty planets of the Risen Empire for over fifteen centuries. When it is time the emperor kills himself in a sacrificial way so he can return being one of the few chosen for immortality. Only the ultra wealthy or the highest nobles can access this immortality technique.Though much of the populace resents the hierarchy they react as sheep. However, for the first time in centuries a threat has surfaced. The Rix believes society needs to evolve into an artificial intelligence of one mind. They have captured the Emperor's sister, The Empress Child, and are in the process of terraforming a planet to suit their philosophy. A rescue mission led by Imperial Navy Captain Laurent Zai tries a desperate rescue attempt before the orb is bombed into oblivion, the only way to stop the Rix incursion. When the space opera remains in the present, the story line is loaded with exciting action that grips the audience who wants to come along for the full ride. When flashbacks occur, the plot slows down as a sidebar that typically provides societal background surfaces but also takes away from the rescue effort. Fans who want mind boggling action will resent the flashbacks as intrusions while those who want to understand alien worlds and ways of life will appreciate these as delightful erudition. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking -- interesting concepts
Review: The Risen Empire is book one of Succession which concludes in The Killing of Worlds. Scott Westerfeld has created a universe in which death, "The Old Enemy" has finally been vanquished. Over 1,600 years ago, one man developed a technology to enable his dying 12-year-old sister to survive. The only hitch is that the patient had to die first and be resurrected. Having provided this new technology, the man is proclaimed Emperor over the 80 Worlds and the bureaucratic rule of his administration, "The Apparatus", weighs heavily upon the populace. The Risen citizens become wealthy, rigid, and somewhat emotionless throughout time. The Empire begins to stagnate. Westerfeld compares the lack of innovation to earlier Earth theories in which the sun revolved around the planet. Newer (and correct) theories that the Earth revolved around the sun were ridiculed and suppressed until the previous generation died off and the new scientists took control. In the Empire, no such situation is possible. This novel describes the fates of two figures, a starship captain and a senator who, against all odds, can change the universe forever. When the Emperor's sister is held hostage by the Empire's traditional enemies, the starship captain is directed to rescue her....before the Emperor's secret is discovered. And the Political Apparatus has representives on board his ship to ensure that he carries out his orders. Meanwhile, the senator back on Home must help determine the course of war. All that ties them...and the only true thing that matters...is their love for each other. Westerfeld skillfully shifts viewpoints between major and minor characters and even time periods to create a wonderful action/adventure story. The plot and history unfold beautifully. His cultures and shifting alliances are well executed.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging Sci-Fi, a bit cumbersome at times but worth it
Review: The Risen Empire is creative, epic, and very captivating. Well, let me put a disclaimer on that: the plot was very compelling, but the language was cumbersome at times. Westerfeld has a great grasp of language and has a very detail-oriented and descriptive style. Westerfeld also has managed to create some very interesting technologies, weapons, ships, etc. and provides us with a vivid image of how each works and how each fits into the fictional politics and economy.
The problem occurs when the two collide: sophisticated explanations of technology sometimes get lost in flowery language, making some passages (lasting as long as a few ages) difficult to get through. I found that the pace was broken in this way about two or three times throughout the novel.
But that's a small criticism for a book as enjoyable as this. For those that like to dig into sci-fi technology, this book is a gem. It also has solid military sci-fi elements and good action. For those who like character stories, there is a wonderful (but very bizarre) relationship that occurs near the end... good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic space opera!
Review: The Risen Empire is the best new space opera in years. It combines the literary qualities of Iain Banks with the huge scope of Dan Simmons and Peter Hamilton, then throws in a dash of sheer "hip" reminiscent of Bruce Sterling or William Gibson. This is the first half of a "duology," so I'm adding "Read next Westerfeld" to my to do list for the Fall along with "see next Matrix movie" and "see Return of the King." Or to put it all another way, very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, Engaging, and Really Quite Fun
Review: The universe of 'The Risen Empire' is easy to absorb and become lost in and revisited on me many sensations of wonder such as those I had when reading 'Foundation' for the first time. Scott Westerfield does a magnificent job of creating his characters, both major and minor, and making them feel quite human despite the strange world in which they live. Also, he creates a universe full of advanced technology, but also one frought with philosophical conflicts regarding how technology should be used. The politics of 'The Risen Empire' are quite believable and seem very well thought-out. Of course, the future technologies themselves are fascinating and more than once you'll probably smirk or chuckle while saying, "That's cool." If you enjoy science-fiction, do NOT miss this book. I look forward to following the story to its conclusion in 'The Killing of Worlds'.
Rating:
Summary: Half a great yarn
Review: This bizarre character-based space opera (a space soap-opera?), is filled with characters who simply do what they do. There are no heroes and no villains. The story, told from multiple points of view (whose pov you're now entering is clear from the chapter titles), involves a botched hostage rescue attempt and preparations for war, a planet-wide takeover by an AI. And, oh yes, a love story or two. The tech described is fascinating, too.
But reader, beware! Unfortunately this brief (340 page) book stops in the middle. You will need to read the "sequel" (aka volume 2) to learn the rest.
Rating:
Summary: A great sci-fi high-tech/space opera!
Review: This book almost stands alone due to the fact that it combines everything true sci-fi fans love in books from the super high tech bordering on the cyberpunk, to the very tense and very human element regarding the struggles of some of the greatest space operas of our time. It definitely ranks with "Foundation", "Ringworld", "Childhood's End", "I,Robot", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Neuromancer", "Virtual Light", "Mona Lisa Overdrive", "Snow Crash", "Cyber Hunter" and many more. Great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Half a story does not good value make.
Review: This book doesn't really stand out amongst it's peers, although it manages to hold its own up to a point. That point is in the middle of the story, which just happens to be the end of the book. This could not stand on its own under any circumstance. If it were 1500 pages, like Hamilton's Night's Dawn books, that might be excusable but as each of the first two books in this series are barely 300 pages, it seems that either the publisher and/or the author are taking advantage of the buying public. The most annoying aspect is that all the really good parts of this story are in the second book so my advice would be to skip this and go straight to KILLING OF WORLDS. It has enough of a brief in the prologue to get you up to speed.
Rating: 
Summary: How not to write a space opera
Review: This book has a lot going for it. The writing is good, the characterization mostly believable, some of the postulated technological innovations intriguing in new directions (barring the occasional basic-science gaffe). There's several different subthreads interwoven into each other; you want the new Mind to survive, you're curious about where tie last Rix commando will eventually end up, you want the dashing warship commander to somehow escape with his ship and crew intact. So why does The Risen Empire somehow manage to be such a terrible book? Because the fate of the commander, and the Rix commando, and the Mind, are only a few of the many ends that this book leaves untied. Beyond that, there's flat absurdities of plot, like the Deep Dark Secret that's been hidden for sixteen centuries, pulled out of nowhere without explanation, and never resolved, apparently there for no other reason than as a plot device to set up the Gallant Captain for a fall. Why order a doctor sent on a rescue mission, then also order a suicide commando sent whose mission is to kill doctor and hostage should the hostage need attention from the doctor? But the real killer for this is the way that it gathers all its subthreads together, builds towards a dramatic climax, opens its mouth to shout the dramatic denouement, then just ... STOPS, picks up its marbles and goes home, just short of the climax. It has a beginning, and a middle, but no end. It stops so abruptly one might speculate that the author simply forgot to send the last four or five chapters to the publisher. If his intention was to set up a continuation in a second book, he forgot to do so. Sorry, but in spite of the writer's obvious skill, I simply cannot recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Superlative SF
Review: This book is full of surprises. It starts out by putting you in a setting you think is familiar, and then with one sentence it puts the entire scene in a completely different context, eliciting a "What? Oh, wow!" response. There are many ideas we don't often encounter - a symbiant giving everlasting life after death, complex laws expressed as a sort of hologram facilitating understanding, the proposition that artificial intelligence is the natural state of a planet's electronic data flow and requires deliberate acts to supress, and much more. Such concepts are not nearly enough to glue me to a book, however. I found the characters very human and the protagonists entirely sympathetic. In addition, the politics invented in the risen empire are fascinating and entirely plausible. Westerfeld displays considerable thoughtfulness in analyzing and presenting the repercussions of the precepts upon which the book is founded. Human nature seems very well represented. All this together in one book makes a sort of masterpiece for me. Typically I don't enjoy this sort of science fiction, "space opera," but this book stands head and shoulders above the typical book of this type. In fact, I'd have to rate it as one of the most absorbing science fiction books I've ever read! It does end in a cliff-hanger, and I'm very glad the sequel is scheduled for release in October. I'd say get it now while the gettin' 's good, and don't waste any time time buying the sequel when it's available.
| 
