Customer Reviews

The Crucible of Empire

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've always enjoyed almost all of the books by the two authors, the prequel to this work done jointly by Flint & Wentworth and their other works written apart. If you enjoyed Course of Empire, you'll enjoy this book. This is not a stand-alone work, the reader will really have to have read the first book in this series. On it's on merits, I think this is not as bang-up fun as the first book, and I have some quibbles on how successfully the integration of former-combative species of the Jao and Humans is presented after only a passage of 2 years from the events of Course of Empire. Worse, there is a minor character, a female Jao engineer, Kaln, seems to be wildly inconsistent with how the Jao are presented as a whole.

Minor quibbles, a fun overnight read.

The Course of Empire introduced us to the Jao conquerors of Earth and the exterminating giant arachnid-like race called the Ekhat. Now, in The Crucible Of Empire, it is two years after the events of the first novel, and the Jao/human taif (a kochan, or clan, in formation) is gingerly finding its feet. The Ekhat menace still looms large, however. Not only has it recently destroyed spaceships of one of the less prosperous Jao kochan, the Krant, but it may be readying for the final annihilation of a another race hiding in the same nebula. So Terra Governor Aille and Preceptor Ronz decide that a newly constructed starship of unprecedented proportions named Lexington will use the Frame Network to jump through a star there and reconnoiter. Manned by both Jao and humans, the Lexington must not only fight a battle outnumbered, but also deal with First Contact.

Many of the characters in the first novel play important roles in this sequel as the native earthlings and their Jao occupiers learn to work together and tolerate, or perhaps even appreciate each other's habits and tendencies. But juggling their alliance becomes more complicated when a third sentient people is tossed into the mix, particularly since the Jao's historical experience with these sentient beings resulted in the latters' near extinction. How will the relatively small colony of aliens greet the Jao and the humans? Will this meeting be for naught if an Ekhat fleet comes to "sterilize" the nebula?

As its predecessor did, THE CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE excels at portraying alien cultures. It deepens our understanding of the Jao and, to a lesser extent, the Ekhat. It also shows us around a new civilization, complete with its own "strengths and blind spots." One of their blind spots really angers some humans. And it portrays individuals in each of these races who possess abilities and inclinations that are unusual (and generally unwelcome) among its own kind, but which can benefit their people's advancement.

Eric Flint and K. D. Wentworth have produced another fascinating fictional sociological and cultural study of alien groups either competing or cooperating. At times, the authors' fastidious depiction of the Jao preoccupation with body language or of the new alien hidebound emphasis on propriety can become repetitive. In fact, many facts of the story are reiterated more than they need to be (a truism about THE COURSE OF EMPIRE also). Generally, though, THE CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE is thoroughly engrossing, both as science fiction and as a fictional classroom on society, politics, and culture that can also be applied to human relations alone. There is a lecturing, judgmental tone at times, but the anthropological details minimize any annoyance caused by that didacticism, in my opinion. I hope it will be sooner than another seven years before another novel about this empire is published. This is a universe about which I want to learn so much more.

I just finished this book and have to say it is one of my favorite SF works ever. It reads like David Drakes works, but without the half a chapter devoted to explaining each new strategy or weapon used- so it doesn't lose its flow. reading "The Course of Empire" first is a strong suggestion. The writing style is fun to read so you can pick this one up and later read the first book to fill in some holes... if you choose that route. Get this book

The Crucible of Empire tells of humans and overlords who join forces to save the Earth from aliens called the Ekhat - an effort that will change their relationship and that creates an uncertain alliance between former enemies. Years later another alien species is discovered - and a massive ship sent to investigate must depend upon the overlords for help. A fine military-style thriller evolves, perfect for libraries strong in political and military science fiction.

If you have read Course of Empire (highly recommended book) then you will enjoy Crucible of Empire. Unfortunately the entire new book moves the overall story along about as much as half of the original book. The one new part is revealed to the reader early the book (the characters find out in the last part of the book), so there is really no suspense or anticipation for the last 90% of the book. Everything that happens the reader will pretty much predict - the authors then simply fill in the details. I assume another book is coming someday, since even the new part (I won't say what so as no to spoil it) is left hanging as far as what are the concequences. What is the future of the war with the Ekhat (the bad guys)? Plus, none of the original characters have any real further development, although a couple of new characters have potential (not fully exploited in this book). After saying negative things, I still enjoyed the book and will probably read/anticipate another in the series.

After a forced rapport with the Jao, humanity is trying to to pick up the remnants of their goverment and their goods production. They are building a giant space ship partly based on old submarine designs to be manned by a mixed crew of Jao and humans. When survivors of a Jao-Ekbat space battle report another participant in the fight, the ship is sent out to find and rescue whoever it is. It turns out to be the Lleix who were the race who first encouraged the Jao to rebel and free themselves from the Ekbat. However, for many years before they did, they sought out and slaughtered as many Lleix as they could on the Ekbat's orders. Through a misunderstanding, the Lleix think that the humans are the Hao's new masters and reluctantly afree to be rescued. When the truth of the human-Jao relationship comes out, the action centers around the fears and dislikes of the various races and whether they can learn to trust or at least work together. Flint is amazing at presenting a new species with all its background and traditions and ideals. It is obvious that the Empire series will continue and I will be waiting for the next book in the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed both this book and its prequel - the characters are engaging, the plot moves along briskly in both books, and the alien cultures are believable - while they have interesting differences from each other, the reader can relate to them all, and the interactions between them are also intriguing. The only thing that I found frustrating is that there is a huge loose end left over from the end of the first book, and another one from the second book. I don't want to be more specific, at the risk of being a spoiler, but I sincerely hope the authors are actively working on the next book in the series, and that they won't keep us waiting for too long!

Years after Earth was conquered by the war-like Jao, the humans and Jao have learned to work together...sort of. But, when the Jao send Earth's first warship (named the Lexington as a subtle snipe at the Joa) on a secret mission to a distant star, it begins to appear that the Jao have something to hide. In fact it appears that an ancient race that the Jao thought that they had exterminated in an earlier, more vicious time in their history are still alive. They know that these people, the Ekhart, will not accept the Jao as friends, but can the humans, who are only half-friends with the Jao convince them?

Overall, I must say that I enjoyed this book. It has a great feel to it, making me think of the work of earlier giants of science-fiction. I liked the milieu, and the book is chockfull of interesting characters, including the very interesting alien races. My only problem with the book was that there were a few loose ends that were never tied up, including what happened to a certain capture character. But, I don't want to make too much of that. I really liked this book, and I do not hesitate to recommend it!

This is a sequel to Course Of Empire. That first book was fantastic. This one is only pretty good.

The plot is slow, but the characterization is pretty good. This is especially notable for the characterization of the aliens in the story. It is hard to write an alien which is close enough to human to be a character in a novel, but different enough from human to really seem alien. Wentworth seems to have a real talent for that.

Unfortunately, as I said, the plot is slow. This book really suffers from "middle of the series"-itis. You realize almost from the start that it is only the start of a series. (That's odd to say, because of course it is the second book in the series. But the first book really seemed like a stand-alone novel.)

If you have read the first book, you probably want to read this book. If you have not read the first book, you definitely want to read that one -- and you want to read it before reading this one!

"The Crucible Of Empire" is Book II of what is increasingly looking like a trilogy-in-the-making or, hopefully a quadlogy or quintlogy. I was one of the reviewers who gave the first book ("A Course of Empire") a five-star, "one of the best books of the decade" review on Amazon, five years ago. That was just a great book - a substantive, thoughtful novel that happened to have a goofy spaceship on the cover which probably limited its market unfairly. Here, we'll take a look at the new offering. First things first, though: You must read Course of Empire before going on to this book. Though the authors do try (and partially succeed) to deliver a stand-on-its-own book, there's a lot of backstory you just have to have before reading this one. This book does include a coupon for a free e-book of Course of Empire, so that is convenient. One of the best aspects of this book is that it gave me a reason to go back and re-read the first one, and it was, on second reading, just as much fun as the first time around.

This book is a sequel, and I generally dislike sequels. In most cases, the Sequel is a noble effort, but also a fudamentally flawed one, in that it tries to recapture the magic of an earlier book but by its very nature lacks the newness or freshness of perspective which produces the magic. Crucible of Empire does suffer a bit from this problem, as is unavoidable; the alien "outside-looking-in" perspective on human nature and behavior is still entertaining, but not as shockingly fresh as the first go-round. Crucible, however, is a whole new book, which takes Course of Empire as its foundation, but then launches into an imaginative space-war type of novel. It succeeds on its own, and if it is not quite as original and deep as the first book, it stands well-enough on its own as a 5-star book.

In comparison to book 1, Course of Empire, I would net it out like this. Course of Empire was a fairly complex story about military occupation and colonialism. It explored, in a sci-fi context, the underlying dynamics and complexities of classic historical occupations such as Britain / India. It provided a thoughtful, insightful lesson in how occupation and colonialization change both conqueror and conquered, leading to nuanced situations, interdependent relationships, fuzzy notions of right and wrong that become hard to dis-entangle after a while, and divided or complex loyalties that defy easy categorization and which lead people to change. The book also provided a fascinating, exhillarating tour of the human species from the outside perspective of an intelligent alien race. Our various behaviors and idiosyncracies are cleverly explored from the viewpoint of the "other". In contrast to all this, Crucible is more of a straight-up military sci-fi novel. It is more plot-driven and somewhat more of an action-oriented book. It is a faster read, and a little less philosophical, with more words devoted to battles, military preparations, and politics and less words going to exploring human nature.

Humans and their Jao conquerors are back, but they've pretty much made their peace out of necessity, in order to stave off the genocidal maniacs knows as the Ekhat. A third species is involved this time, the Lleix. The Lleix are the most interesting aspect of the book. They are an intelligent, somewhat artistic, pacifist species that has been hounded, chased, and hunted down for millenia by their more militaristic adversaries. When we first encounter them in the book, they are living in hiding on an outlier planet, waiting around and expecting to be exterminated by some aggressor or other at any moment. At first, we get a familiar feeling about this species, like we have seen this type of character in other novels and we know where it's all going: that these will be the Soulful Artists who want to love their neighbors and each other, and who experience the universe holistically and meaningfully in ways we must learn to appreciate. But the authors don't give us that familiar syrupy path to run on, and force us, through the Lleix, to think more deeply than that about pacifistic, diasporic, militarily weak cultures. For the Lleix spend most of their time engaged in tedious, escapist ritual and ceremony, worshipping and memorializing their past and refusing to deal pragmatically with the challenging future. In order to maintain some sense of control over their environment in the face of societal failure, they have set up a hierarchical, inflexible social structure that relegates half the population to Untouchable status and chokes off growth and innovation. Suddenly the familiar story is not so familiar, and these gentle, artistic souls turn out to be a depressed, lethargic society that is fundamentally unjust and in need of ground-up overhaul. We are left wondering whether their acquired instinct for huddled self-preservation is worth saving or is even tenable, and whether it should be discarded altogether to deal with the world as it now exists. A full day later, I am still thinking about the subtle and complex point that was being made about history's weaker, pacifist but stale societies that have faced with the choice of keeping the past alive through inward-focused rejection of the world, or growing and innovating through engagement with the world, with all the cultural risks that entails.

I do wish the book were another 100 pages. Greater closure was needed at the end about what happens to the Lleix. And the Ekhat are still out there; nothing has been resolved on that front. My irritation with the authors for giving me 100 pages less than needed is compensated for by knowing that they will have to go off and write Book III, as the tale is not yet complete. I cannot wait for them to get started on that.

Good stuff, Erik and K.D. A bit of an undiscovered gem, this series, but a gem nonetheless.