Now we are in the midst of a deadly battle with a secret worth the killing of worlds, hence the title. For this review, I must insist you look at my review for the first book. It still contains all those things except it now includes the war aspect of it. Truly glorious. ( )

Read my review of book 1, The Risen Empire

Summary: Following the Rix attack on on the homeworld of the Emperor's sister, a new threat has emerged. Alexander, the planet-sized compound mind seeded by the Rix, is in possession of the Emperor's greatest secret, and a Rix battleship with a communications array is moving to receive a message from the planet. Laurent Zai and the crew of the Imperial frigate Lynx must stop that transmission at any cost. For if they should fail, the Emperor is prepared to nuke the entire planet... because what are hundreds of millions of lives to protect the secret that holds the Empire together...

Review: I was about ready to give this series up after 50 pages of the first book, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I don't know whether Westerfeld front-loaded the technobabble world-building into The Risen Empire, and left most of it out of this one, or if I just got better at skimming over the tech-heavy parts (or probably some of both), but I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than the previous one. The entire first half of the book is consumed by the battle between the Lynx and the Rix battleship, and it kept me entirely involved - not only understanding the maneuverings and their outcomes, but caring how each step of the process turned out. The rest of the book was similarly interesting, ultimately building to an satisfying conclusion. Part of me wished that Westerfeld had taken some more time to explore the ramifications of the conclusion, to untangle more of the philosophical implications, and to show us what happened afterwards... but part of me also recognizes the power inherent in the subtle and understated way he chose to end things. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I wasn't mistaken when I could sense a good, interesting story underneath the techno jargon of The Risen Empire; Westerfeld really allowed it to come to the fore in the second volume, which meant I enjoyed it more. Still, I think the series is probably best for those who like extremely tech-y "hard" sci-fi, and may be worth a gamble for "softer" sci-fi fans who are willing to branch out of their comfort zone... or at least willing to skim in parts. ( )

A story with no definite sides of good and evil about a future in which a man has discovered the ability to cheat death and become immortal. He becomes emperor of the Risen Empire and bestows immortality on those he feels have earned it. But there are other groups of humanity with different beliefs and cultures and worlds inevitably collide. The descriptions of the space battles got too technical for me so I skimmed those parts a bit but overall not a bad read. A little anticlimatic at the end, probably because I KNOW there's no chance I could ever live forever. ( )

the first 1/3 of the book is a description of a high speed space battle. quite interesting. the tactics are almost to fast for a human mind to follow. ( )

Again, the second Succession books changes viewpoint from character to character by chapter, with each explicitly named at the start. That works fairly well.

Westerfeld has also come up with a society that seems politically realistic, although it is clear where your empathy is supposed to lie, with the Captain and the Senator.

As it goes on, the AI become more sympathetic, and the lie at the heart of the political system is revealed, which changes everything.

Quite enjoyable, and he found no need to stretch this out it appears, which is a pleasant change.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/03... ( )