Westerfeld, Scott: The Risen Empire
The Risen Empire: Book One of Succession
Writer: Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 349
For those of you who don't know, there's a big DEBATE about Scott Westerfeld as a writer. Before he started writing YA, like Uglies, he wrote SF for adults. When I discovered this fact (in a public library in Naples, FL), I was rather surprised for some reason, because it hadn't occurred to me that someone starting out in the adult market would shift to YA, and if that person did, that person wouldn't be a MAN, for goodness's sakes!
Don't ask me where I get these notions. Even I don't know.
But ever since that discovery, I have since learned of the great conflict: many fans of Westerfeld's SF are bitter about his transition to YA and believe (whether they've read the YA or not, and I suspect not as I know there's a serious prejudice when it comes to adults reading YA, especially SF reading adults) that his adult SF is FAR SUPERIOR to his YA. Well. Talk about raising the bar, eh?
After reading Uglies, I was more than happy to give anything Westerfeld wrote a shot. And since Tor has re-released Westerfeld's Succession series, I decided to go with that, just to see how much "better" Westerfeld was as an adult SF writer.
Funny thing: I was in Barnes & Noble to pick up this title, and noticed the sequel, The Killing of Worlds right next to it. I started to pick up both. Then a little voice spoke up in my head and said, "But what if you don't like the first?"
I hesitated. "Why wouldn't I? I liked Uglies."
The voice: "But this isn't that series, is it? So just go with book one and see how it goes."
Turns out, listening to the voices in your head DOES have advantages, so it's a good thing I listened. If I'd had the second book waiting for me, I would've been a very irritated devil.
The premise: The Risen Emperor has ruled his empire of 80 human worlds for nearly sixteen hundred years. He's found a way to conquer death--which requires dying FIRST in order to live forever--and even bestows that privilege on a select few. The first to received that privilege, once upon a time ago, was his sister, now known as the Child Empress, and now, the Child Empress's life is at stake: humanity's worst enemy, the Rix, have taken her hostage in order to waken the compound mind--the mind of a planet. The Emperor will do anything to keep that from happening, but there's a secret he'll protect even more than his very own sister, no matter how many lives it costs.
Spoilers ahead.
So before anyone informs me of the history of this book: yes, I know that The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds was written as one manuscript, and thanks to a major book chain balking at the thought of stocking and selling a 700 page SF novel, Tor decided to split the book in two. That's a good decision in terms of length: I might've cried and stopped reading if the book had been that long. As it was, I had a hard enough time getting through what I had.
More often than not, multiple POV does not work for me, especially if we're getting the POV of every single character and THING that has any role in the story whatsoever. This technique tends to distance me from what's really happening, and it takes me away from the characters I should be caring about. The only case I can think of, off the top of my head, where I felt multiple POV did work was George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
But here, we get into the head of a pilot, a starship captain, the ExO, the Child Empress, a Rix commando, an innocent civilian, a freaking self-aware HOUSE for god's sake, the compound mind itself who names itself Alexander, and that's just the ones I remember off the top of my head. Oh yeah, and the Senator, who's the starship captain's lover.
This book is written largely like a movie: we get a scene of every single angle of the action, no matter how important or unimportant the character is. Maybe this is used to create and raise tension, but I found myself drowning in names, places, and THINGS I was supposed to remember, because before I could get grounded, I was yanked out again.
Now who am I SUPPOSED to care about? Apparently, the Senator and Captain Zai. The book is spliced between the current action (Zai leading the attack against the Rix and Senator Oxham in the War Council trying to keep her lover alive), and the past, where we learn how Zai and Oxham met and essentially fell in love despite their differing politics. Now I'll admit, these flashbacks did help a bit in terms of setting certain characters apart from the rest, and that made the book bearable.
Westerfeld is OBSESSED with details in this book. Scientific details, mundane details. I imagine some of these details are supposed to be symbolic of the larger conflict in the story, but I imagine the rest is Westerfeld just geeking out. It's overwhelming. Some details are nice, like the Emperor's obsession with cats (yay for kitties!) and Oxham's need for an apathy drug, and I was particularly interested in the idea of the compound mind itself.
What I wasn't interested in was the fact that despite all of these details, we get very few answers. There's the BIG SECRET that the Initiate is willing to kill the Child Empress for (which apparently the Emperor must approve of), and the compound mind discovers it: yet never tells us what it is. I'm supposed to keep reading for THAT? My personal philosophy is that it's better to let your readers in on the big secret early on so you're not manipulating them, that way, the readers know exactly what's at stake and why. Sometimes the mystery of wondering why works, but it didn't here.
Here, I got different points of view to let me know that Zai's efforts were useless, and when the Initiate grabbed the Rix gun to kill the Child Empress, my response was a rather loudly muttered, "You've got to be kidding me." Same with the concept of mutiny on the starship. EVERYONE, or I thought everyone who mattered (aka, the would-be mutineers), was present for the ExO's explanation that Zai was not to blame for Child Empress's death, therefore, he should not have to undergo the Error of Blood (ritual suicide for failure). When he finally decides to NOT do just that (thanks to Oxham's well-timed message of DON'T), and gets orders for a suicide mission to destroy a Rix ship, I would've THOUGHT the crew would've stood by their captain and sought out a way to complete the ultimate mission (knock out the communications array) without dying instead of planning Zai's murder so that maybe, just maybe, the mission will be called off. They see the mission as punishment for Zai not doing his duty and they want to live, which is understandable, but still: they were the ones who saw him as innocent to begin with.
In this case, the differing POVs make the reader realize that that ship is doomed no matter what. The compound mind has the Emperor's secret, and if it can communicate to the outside universe, the Empire might be doomed. Zai's crew has no reason to know that, but instead of increasing the tension, it just frustrated me. Westerfeld does a great job at throwing conflict after conflict at his characters, but everything's so MUDDLED to me that it's hard to appreciate what's going on. At the book's start, I was applauding the RIX for goodness's sakes! Don't think I was supposed to DO that, but I was.
This is a simple story bogged down with too many POVs and way too many details. If it was just one or the other, I might have found a way to enjoy it more, but I didn't. And I'm reminded that my definition of fantastic space opera is very different from other people's, and I think it was this realization that prompted that voice in my head at the book store, warning me not to get the second book because I may not like the first. Glad I listened, for a change.
My Rating
Wish I'd Borrowed It: it's just not for me. I can see how some masculine readers might love this book to pieces, as it's certainly brain-candy in terms of world-building and details. But I've heard from other reviews that of Westerfeld's adult SF, it's not the strongest, so I'll wait to pass judgment on whether or not his YA is superior. However, I'm in the YA camp for now. I won't be reading the sequel (or the continuation) of this book, nor any that might possibly come in the future, a future that isn't soon coming, if you take a look at Westerfeld's faq. Can't blame the guy. I look forward to reading more of his YA, and will give his adult SF another shot should I happen upon a different title at a later date. As far as recommendations, I suspect masculine fans of space opera will probably eat this up, provided their primary love in SF is world-building and details rather than meaty plots or characterization. Not that the characterization is BAD in this book, there's just too many characters to follow, some you only get a chapter on, and frankly, the pages could've been better used, IMHO.
One note of warning: if you're reading this and are liking/loving it enough to want the sequel: get it ASAP. The Risen Empire ends on a major cliff-hanger due to the fact Tor split the manuscript into two books. So yeah, have your sequel on hand if you're liking it. :)
Next up:
Dreadful Skin by Cherie Priest