Westerfeld, Scott - Succession duology
Fri, Mar. 3rd, 2006 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceter(comprises of The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds)
Scott Westerfeld says on his website that the two books were originally planned as one book titled Succession. Due to statistics involving how well books over a certain price point sold, Tor decided to cut the book in half and publish them as a duology. For reading purposes, this doesn't work at all -- the first book is almost entirely set-up and the second is almost entirely action. Obviously, this would work if it were a single book, which is how I read it, but I could see how it would be very confusing to someone just picking one up.
A thousand some years ago, the Risen Emperor defeated the Old Enemy, death, to save the life of his sister, the Child Empress, also the Reason (the capital letters sound annoying in my sentence, but they actually work in the book and don't make me roll my eyes). Now, those who earn favor by serving the Empire are rewarded with life after death. In the meantime, the Rix, a people who worship AIs come to life from complex systems, have taken the Child Empress hostage, and all hell breaks loose.
It was difficult getting into the book at first, because Westerfeld basically throws you into a battle scene when you have no idea why people are fighting and who they're fighting and really, who the protagonists are. I thought that the pilot Jocim Marx would be, but in the end, the book is really the story of Captain Laurent Zai, who heads the rescue mission, and Senator Nara Oxham, who's fighting a war of her own on the capitol planet.
As mentioned above, the first book is largely set-up. Westerfeld concentrates on getting all the players in place and introduces the readers to all of them. It may seem scattered at first, and I definitely got confused at some points. It also takes a little while for the actual story itself to get going -- after the mission to rescue the Child Empress, things sort of take a detour as Westerfeld goes more in depth in Nara and Laurent's lives. But oh, it totally pays off once you hit the second book, which is almost all action. And it works because of the set-up, and it's so wonderful to see how all the viewpoint characters get pulled in and pulled together somehow, and everything just clicks into place.
Also,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yhlee, I think you might like this one? I really love that Westerfeld doesn't go by normal space opera conventions. When he talks about how the Lynx (Laurent's ship) works and what happens to it in battle, it sounds real. Everything has an impact. I really liked how he showed all the decks of the ship working together, from the engineers to the pilots to the bridge, how one small thing that happened with the engineers would affect the captain's overall strategy. And the science sounded trustworthy, although, to be honest, that probably means nothing at all coming from me. Sometimes I did get lost in the technical details, but not so much that it detracted from the story.
I was also impressed with the worldbuilding, but then again, I am not particularly picky in that regard. I just liked how Westerfeld inclued the readers, how everything subtly shaped the characters' motivations and actions. And I was just amused by the fact that it's a world of ZOMBIES!!! (well, sort of... but still... ZOMBIES!)
I'm also impressed that while the entire book is structured around a Big Reveal and technology and space battles, Westerfeld still keeps an eye on the characters. I loved Laurent and Nara, but my sneak favorite was actually Executive Officer Hobbes, who seems to be Fullmetal Alchemist's Hawkeye in outer space. She is very cool. Well, her and Nara's house. Ok, and I liked the Rixwoman and her story as well. Ok, ok, I liked everyone.
I think I actually liked these better than Peeps, which is saying something!
ETA: Oh, I forgot! There was also a callout to Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower, which was rather bittersweet, but still nice to read, considering the events of the week.
Scott Westerfeld says on his website that the two books were originally planned as one book titled Succession. Due to statistics involving how well books over a certain price point sold, Tor decided to cut the book in half and publish them as a duology. For reading purposes, this doesn't work at all -- the first book is almost entirely set-up and the second is almost entirely action. Obviously, this would work if it were a single book, which is how I read it, but I could see how it would be very confusing to someone just picking one up.
A thousand some years ago, the Risen Emperor defeated the Old Enemy, death, to save the life of his sister, the Child Empress, also the Reason (the capital letters sound annoying in my sentence, but they actually work in the book and don't make me roll my eyes). Now, those who earn favor by serving the Empire are rewarded with life after death. In the meantime, the Rix, a people who worship AIs come to life from complex systems, have taken the Child Empress hostage, and all hell breaks loose.
It was difficult getting into the book at first, because Westerfeld basically throws you into a battle scene when you have no idea why people are fighting and who they're fighting and really, who the protagonists are. I thought that the pilot Jocim Marx would be, but in the end, the book is really the story of Captain Laurent Zai, who heads the rescue mission, and Senator Nara Oxham, who's fighting a war of her own on the capitol planet.
As mentioned above, the first book is largely set-up. Westerfeld concentrates on getting all the players in place and introduces the readers to all of them. It may seem scattered at first, and I definitely got confused at some points. It also takes a little while for the actual story itself to get going -- after the mission to rescue the Child Empress, things sort of take a detour as Westerfeld goes more in depth in Nara and Laurent's lives. But oh, it totally pays off once you hit the second book, which is almost all action. And it works because of the set-up, and it's so wonderful to see how all the viewpoint characters get pulled in and pulled together somehow, and everything just clicks into place.
Also,
yhlee, I think you might like this one? I really love that Westerfeld doesn't go by normal space opera conventions. When he talks about how the Lynx (Laurent's ship) works and what happens to it in battle, it sounds real. Everything has an impact. I really liked how he showed all the decks of the ship working together, from the engineers to the pilots to the bridge, how one small thing that happened with the engineers would affect the captain's overall strategy. And the science sounded trustworthy, although, to be honest, that probably means nothing at all coming from me. Sometimes I did get lost in the technical details, but not so much that it detracted from the story.I was also impressed with the worldbuilding, but then again, I am not particularly picky in that regard. I just liked how Westerfeld inclued the readers, how everything subtly shaped the characters' motivations and actions. And I was just amused by the fact that it's a world of ZOMBIES!!! (well, sort of... but still... ZOMBIES!)
I'm also impressed that while the entire book is structured around a Big Reveal and technology and space battles, Westerfeld still keeps an eye on the characters. I loved Laurent and Nara, but my sneak favorite was actually Executive Officer Hobbes, who seems to be Fullmetal Alchemist's Hawkeye in outer space. She is very cool. Well, her and Nara's house. Ok, and I liked the Rixwoman and her story as well. Ok, ok, I liked everyone.
I think I actually liked these better than Peeps, which is saying something!
ETA: Oh, I forgot! There was also a callout to Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower, which was rather bittersweet, but still nice to read, considering the events of the week.
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