Customer Reviews

The Killing of Worlds: Book Two of Succession

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Those readers who enjoyed Mr. Westerfeld's "The Risen Empire," but were majorly (or even minorly) disappointed by its abrupt ending that left the tale half untold will be delighted to know that they can read this "sequel" without fear of being once again left hanging. Things are wrapped up nicely this time.

"Killing of Worlds" serves up more of the author's character-based space opera (I called "Risen Empire" a space-soap opera), with no heroes and no villains--just people doing what they do. Once again, the tale is told from multiple points of view (whose pov you're now entering is clear from the chapter titles), with most of the characters from part I back (including the dead cats) and with some new ones as well. This time the centerpiece is a terrific space duel betwen Laurent Zai of the space frigate Lynx and a ship from the enemy empire of the tech-enhanced Rix.

While the chase is going on Zai's lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is involved in a political duel of her own--against the immortal "Risen Emperor" of the Eighty Worlds, who has a secret that needs to be revealed. And in addition a Rix commander and her lover are aiding a Rix-designed AI "compound mind" that calls itself Alexander.

The author moves things along swiftly to a breathtaking (and worldshaking) conclusion. Maybe you'll be surprised when the mystery at the heart of the tale (i.e., the Emperor's secret) is uncovered, but if so, you'll probably slap your forehead and think you should have seen it coming--the clues have been there from the start.

Exciting. Well written. Fascinating tech. What more could you ask for? Well, a real sequel, perhaps?

Westerfeld's website mentions that both books were intended as one, but a book chain balked at the 700-page length and demanded that it be cut in half (same thing that happened to Behemoth), to answer those criticizing the shortness of the two books.

Anyway, this is truly smart and savvy space-opera, and without any aliens peeking their tendrils around any airlocks, and recently this has been one of my favourite types of SF book - the kind that skips over aliens entirely, which is good because most writers do an awful job of making them into more than stereotypes of some aspect of human behaviour (i.e can't make them alien enough). Westerfled would probably do a good job if he tried, but the Rix are sufficiently removed from modern humanity to qualify, and the other tribe of humanity we get a glimpse of (the Plague Axis) are also very original and a concept that does make a certain amount of sense.

Having read Evolution's Darling first, I was surprised by the difference in these two books - a bit lighter but also much more fun and enjoyable, yet still with very dark elements. Definitely more mainstream than Evolution's Darling, and a better pair of books overall.

Westerfeld also knows how to write-up a good rip-roaring space battle between only two ships, and give some of the terminology used in the book (Spinward Reaches? Sandcasters?) I think he may have been a Traveler player in a previous life...

Overall, nothing bad to say about these books, other than the need to read them consecutively to really enjoy them. Here's hoping for a third.

I loved The Risen Empire and have been waiting for the sequel impatiently. It's every bit as good as I hoped. In short, I read the book in one sitting completely unable to put it down.

The Killing of Worlds begins with the space battle promised at the end of Empire. For a solid 170 pages, the Lynx and its Rix opponent struggle, employing opposing swarms of drone craft , vast clouds of kinetic weapons (manufactured diamonds), beam weapons, nano-infection attacks and stealth maneuvers. Quite simply, one of the most fascinating and intricate space battles every put on paper, and with realistic Newtonian physics to boot.

Of course, the rest of Westerfeld's political and interpersonal conflicts are also playing out. The Rix commando and her hostage/lover effect incredible dirt-side assaults, and the Senate politics culminate in a dramatic trial and a revelation of cosmic significance. Even the flash-back arc bares unexpectedly wonderful fruit. A novel of wildly ambitious structure.

I wouldn't read this book without having already read Risen Empire, but this extraordinary conclusion should win back those put off by Empire's cliff-hanger ending. I mean, come on, this is science fiction, a literature built on pulp dramatics, fix-up novels, and Saturday serials. With a pay-off this good, the wait was worth it.

There's no reason to go into the background of this one since you really have to have read book one (The Risen Empire) so anyone who comes to this will already be familiar with the characters and setting. If you liked The Risen Empire, then you'll also like Succession, since it carries on the story in similar style and fashion. There are some differences. Westerfeld ups the tech-talk in this one and it isn't quite so smoothly integrated as in The Risen Empire. Or at least, it distracts a little bit more. Those well-versed in sci-fi hard science jargon might not find it distracting but as a rare reader of the genre, there were a few places where I could have done with a little less. Westerfeld employs the same structure as in book one, cutting back and forth between events in space with the captain and on-planet with the senator, as well as going back in time to their burgeoning relationship. He also cuts to the Rix warrior, but as she is on board ship with the captain for part of the novel, it's less often and less far astray setting-wise than in The Risen Empire. As in that first book, the cuts are handled deftly--they are never confusing and are often timed perfectly to keep tension high. Since there is less need to fill in societal background in a sequel, Westerfeld is freed somewhat to up the ante in terms of action and suspense; this holds especially true for the space battle scenes which have the captain leaping from the proverbial frying pan into the fire, but then adding to the proverb a few extra steps, such as throwing gasoline rather than water onto the fire. It all makes for an exciting plot which is enhanced by characters you care about and an underlying theme which leads to some larger, more philosophical questions beyond "how the hell do I get out of this." My one complaint about book one was that I thought it was slim enough so that one book would have sufficed. Succession is slim enough that I still think that holds true, but Westerfeld clearly leaves himself room (though it is an option, not a necessity) to make the work even longer. My only real complaint about the sequel (the additional jargon being a minor distraction) is that there wasn't enough of the house. I hope if he does continue it we get to return to my favorite multi-storied character.

As the second half of a two-book series this is a pretty good book. Reccomended. Though, when you have a two-book series, the question is not so much is it worth reading the second book but is it worth reading both of them? To that I answer with a resounding yes. A great intelligent/hard space opera sci-fi book. My biggest issue with the series is that I wish it were longer. I respect the author's vision and would rather have two books full of interesting ideas rather than 6 diluted, stretched out and contrived books in a series that is just too darn long. The universe that Westerfeld masterfully illustrates left me wanting to know more about the Dead/the Grays and their motivations, more about the Rix, the Rix/Empire split, among many other things. I feel cheated that these two books are all we will get, though there are always other great books to read. Reccomended.

First of all, I am a fan of Scott Westerfeld's writing and his amazing view on future technology. However, the text of this book was totally included on the large paperback edition of The Risen Empire. This edition is essentially the second half of The Risen Empire story, with the first half being summarized in a very brief fashion. The story is great, but this book is superfluous to the expanded Risen Empire edition which includes both halves of the story.

So look instead at "The Risen Empire", NOT "Book One" or "Book Two(The Killing of Worlds)" of the Risen Empire. If your tastes run to something with a little more kink, but with the same intriguing AI backdrop, try Westerfeld's "Evolutions Darling". Rated NC-17 though.

This is the sequel to Westerfeld's earlier novel The Risen Empire, and it completes the story. They are really one long novel, and should be considered together.

I enjoyed the books a great deal. They are exciting, intelligent, and thought-provoking, with a pretty interesting political setup. As the book opens, the sister of the Emperor of the Eighty Worlds is being attacked, on a provincial world called Legis, by missiles from the Rix, and a team has been sent by the new Imperial warship Lynx to try to save her. The opening sequence, then, is a long and exciting battle scene, featuring some cool weaponry (such as the teleoperated, gnat-size, scout ships).

Some explanation seems needed, and is slowly given us. The Eighty Worlds are one subset of the human-colonized Galaxy. They are ruled by the Emperor, who is immortal. The secret of immortality is controlled by the Emperor, who doles it out as a favor to political favorites, rich people, war heroes, and the like. The Emperor's sister is also called "the Reason", as it was apparently her illness that drove the Emperor to develop the immortality process, some 1600 years previously. The power of the immortal aristocracy means that the Eighty Worlds are somewhat technologically conservative, and for one thing they resist the development of AI's, which tend to form spontaneously once a planetwide network becomes big enough. The Rix are a fanatical cult of women, cyborgically enhanced, who believe the only purpose of humanity is to foster the development of these AIs, whom they worship as gods, more or less. The Rix resent the Eighty Worlds' position re AIs, and 80 years previously they fought a war, attempting to take over Imperial worlds to allow their networks to grow and form AIs. This new strike at the Emperor's sister seems an attempt at restarting the war, and indeed the Rix manage to push the Legis network to become self-aware, and it names itself Alexander.

Any attempt to further explain the political and naval machinations that follow (and I started one) grows very complicated: better to read the book, I think. The story follows several characters. The main ones are Laurent Zai, a damaged war hero and the Captain of the Lynx; and his secret lover, Senator Nara Oxham, leader of the "pink" faction that opposes the rule of the immortals and the consequent social stagnation. Various other characters include a Rix commando who escapes the original battle and is recruited by Alexander to try to help him propagate; several other crewmembers of the Lynx, especially including the beautiful executive officer, Katherie Hobbes, who has fallen for Zai, having no idea that he is committed to Oxham; Jocim Marx, the Lynx's Master Pilot, who controls the teleoperated scouts in the various battles; Oxham's House, which shows signs of becoming an AI itself; and Rana Harter, a brain-damaged savant on Legis who is kidnapped by the Rix commando and falls in love with her. The action ends up concerning a dangerous Imperial Secret that the Emperor wants concealed especially from his own people, political maneuvering on the Imperial capitol world that might destroy Oxham's career -- or break apart the Empire; some desperate actions by the Rix commando to try to reconnect the planetary network to allow Alexander offplanet communication; and some exciting and intriguingly designed space battles, as Zai must fight off the Rix warship while trying to avoid the potentiality of orders to destroy Legis. And there are of course a few surprising developments.

As I said, I really liked thse books. The tech is fascinating and well-imagined. The ideas, especially concerning immortality but also some other human modifications, are both SFnally cool and thematically engaging. I will say that the final revelation of the Emperor's Secret was a mild letdown, and it made some of what went before seem a little less important -- but perhaps I was simply asking too much. I still think this first-rate Space Opera, and considered as a unit, one of the best SF novels of 2003.

Many of the other reviews of this book (The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds are effectively one book) rightly praise its exciting plot, imaginative science fiction, and well-developed characters. I wanted to highlight my favorite aspect of the book: how extraordinary the language is.

It has an incredibly spare - at times even poetic - quality. Without spoiling the plot, let me mention in particular the poignant scenes between H_rd and Rana, as well as Nara Oxham's climactic speech. I am hard pressed to name a science fiction writer whose prose comes close. Even the typography and page layout contribute to this aesthetic.

In fairness, a less ardent fan would probably feel that the same devices get over-used, and that The Killing of Worlds is noticeably stronger than The Risen Empire. Nevertheless, Westerfeld has definitely produced some memorable writing within an already great science fiction novel.

If you are looking for a great space opera (and like me you are a big Dune Fan) this is the series for you. As you may have read from other reviews book 1 and 2 are really one book and many people who bought book 1 felt a little ripped off for having to buy book two but since i got both of them out from my library, I didn't care and was just overjoyed that book 2 was already out. What made this book unique was that every chapter was short, fast paced, and told from a different characters perspective. Laurent Zia's endless cliffhanger space battles got a little tiring and the emporers secret was built up so much you are bound to get let down a little but those are really my only criticims of the book. The ideas in the book are real brain teasers and i felt a sense of conclusion and anticipation of a possible third book. Awesome read!!!!

The Risen Immortal Emperor blames Imperial frigate Captain Laurent Zai for the death of his sister, the Child Empress. Though innocent, Zai handles suicide missions with little chance of survival. His ship the Lynx?s current assignment is to keep a more powerful vessel of the enemy the machine-human Rix from reaching the planet Legis. Zai knows his crew will pay the price for the Emperor?s belief that his actions killed his sibling.

On Legis, the Rix have been forging a special combine that interconnects all artificial intelligence into one mind. Plan A of the Emperor is to destroy the orb in anticipation of Zai?s failure. Only Zai?s lover Senator Nara Oxham, who has doubts about the impact of immortality on humanity, stands in the way of the Emperor bombing the planet causing millions of humans to die unless somehow Zai succeeds in time to stop him. She also wonders what the Emperor has to fear from the Rix.

The sequel to THE RISEN EMPIRE, THE KILLINGOF WORLDS, is a taut military-political science fiction thriller. The story line is loaded with action while encouraging the audience to ponder the effects of immortality on humanity. That latter subplot especially espoused by Oxham is the key additional element that adds a cerebral philosophical feel and deep characters to an action packed military tale. Those fans of both sub-genres will cherish.

Harriet Klausner