Author Topic: Empire by Orson Scott Card  (Read 504 times)

Offline lukster

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Empire by Orson Scott Card
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2007, 10:13:21 PM »
I couldn't put it down, done in 2 days. Picked up Brother Odd while at the bookstore. Anyone else read Dean Koontz?

Offline Tarmac

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Empire by Orson Scott Card
« Reply #16 on: January 07, 2007, 12:32:41 PM »
Ok, I finished it a couple of days ago.  A couple of thoughts:

Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Had a good mix of shoot-em-up, political intrigue, well developed characters/motives, and realism.  The hoverbikes were a bit over the top, but the mechs and EMP weren't too much of a stretch to imagine, especially after the characters got to see a mech up close.  

I can see how this will translate well into a video game, especially a FPS or FPS/RPG like Deus Ex.  Cole is a great hero, and is a great pair with Rube as a mentor figure.  

As for the political stuff, I didn't find it too farfetched.  I enjoyed the thinly-veiled references to real people... gave it a believable, contemporary feel.  That could hurt the book's staying power, of course.  

I'm trying to word this stuff so I don't blow the book for those who haven't read it; I found the fundamental red/blue conflict to be plausible enough, especially considering the crisis going on in DC at the time.  Whether the rebels would have a standing army ready to go; maybe a little less plausible, but still possible depending on how far back the puppeteers had been planning.    

When it comes to polarizing the country, I thought he was pretty much spot on.  The current political climate has two political camps consisting of a number of hard positions with no logical consistency.  Yet the country is herded into these two groups, because if they don't commit to all of the positions of either group, they are marginalized polically.  This is a fundamental problem of all third parties, but I especially have a libertarian bias here, as some issues fall into the Democrat camp and others into the Republican, leading to the libertarians being forced to choose between the 2nd and the 4th amendments (and of course others) and vote accordingly.  As such, libertarians are a marginalized political group, embraced by neither party, yet catered to piecemeal to grab votes when it's expedient.  This happens with all moderates, as they're forced to choose between the two exptremes or be marginalized politically.  

I have more thoughts about polarized American politics, but I have to run.  Maybe more later.  :)

Offline moot

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Empire by Orson Scott Card
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2007, 12:17:33 AM »
I liked it for those same reasons.. though I don't recommend the audiobook version.  I found it good enough to buy a print version soon enough to reread it myself.
I was a bit let down, I guess it's a bit mince meat compared to stuff like Stephenson's like I've been getting used to. Some of the guys in the story are just ineffectual pansies and it felt like a cop-out from a good full-blown flustercuck.
It's still very good at the ideas it does develop, 4/5 I guess.
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