Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Chairboy on December 28, 2006, 01:42:49 PM
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Has anyone here read Orson Scott Card's (Ender's Game) new book, 'Empire'? I just finished it, and I think he made some really interesting observations that might interest other folks here.
The basic story revolves around the mechanics behind a current day modern American Civil War. It ties into current politics very closely, and is filled with people not mentioned by name who are immediately identifiable.
The afterword is fascinating, he asserts that the rhetoric in US politics hasn't been as heated and vicious as it is now since before Fort Sumter (beginning of the first US Civil War). He draws parallels between other modern conflicts and how feasible it would be for us to fall into the same traps that other countries have. He dissects the specifics of how the Serbian/Bosnian conflict started (with both sides thinking they were on the defensive) and shows how the same psychology could spark armed conflict here.
There's a little science fiction involved, and a couple of scenes out of James Bond movies, but in all, I found the book insightful and thoughtful, and I'd recommend it to anyone who, whatever their politics, is concerned about where this country is going.
So, anyone else read it yet?
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Ah, the book has been optioned by Warner Bros to be made into a film.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/061113g.php
Interesting, I wonder how much of the commentary will make it intact?
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I'm a Card fan and have been waiting for this one. I was going to library it in hardcover or wait for the paperback... is it worth buying in hardcover?
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Arg, tough call. I'm not sure if I will re-read it the way I have re-read Enders Game, it might be too current to survive. But at the same time, the immediacy is part of what makes some of his observations in the book so relevant.
Did I find it compelling? Yes. Is it better than some of his books? Yes. Will it be part of my reading 10 years from now? Probably not, but that's not because it's as crummy as, say 'Children of the Mind' or 'Xenocide'.
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I've read most of Card's stuff. Will have to pick this one up.
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if its as good as the first half of enders game, it might be worth buying the paperback on sale.
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I've read several of the "Ender" related books. I have to say that Speaker for the Dead was dragging quite a bit. It lacked the easy flow of Enders Game. I would hope that this one will pick up and be a bit more active.
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Mav, pick up the Bean series, starting with Ender's Shadow. It's told through Bean's eyes, at the same time Ender's Game occured. Ender's Shadow is nearly as good as Ender's game, and the whole Bean series is far more entertaining than the later Ender books.
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Chairboy, I don't know about how close the movie will resemble the book, but if I remember right, they're making a game from this, too.
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The book seems really good (altho I'm a bit biased from having read and liked OSC before), here's the first five chapters of Empire:
http://www.hatrack.com/cgi-bin/book_isbn.cgi?redirect=chapter01&page=empire.shtml
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Tarmac,
I got them already. You're right they are defiinitely better than Speaker for the Dead.
:aok
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Speaker for the Dead (while dragging and very disappointing after Ender's Game) was still better than Xenocide or Children of the Mind, the last two original Ender's books.
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I just finished Empire. Enjoyed it as I have almost all of Card's books. The mechs and hoverbikes seemed to be a bit over the top though or at least out of place. When I read the acknowledgments at the end I discovered why. They are already part of a game in development based in part upon the book.
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Big Card fan, reading Treason, will pick up Empire next. Over.
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Used one of my gift cards to pick up the hardcover. Gimme a few days to report. :)
ed: nm, I'm now expecting to plow through this real quick. It's good. :)
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I couldn't put it down, done in 2 days. Picked up Brother Odd while at the bookstore. Anyone else read Dean Koontz?
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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. :)
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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.