Posted by Racer on March 27, 2007, at 1:53:56
Orson Scott Card's latest, "Empire," is very disturbing. It's a big departure -- near future, politics, and conspiracy in the worst way. And what makes it so disturbing is that some parts of it seem so plausible.
It's set in the very near future, and begins with a political climate much as we know it here in the US today. There is an assassination -- two, in fact. The President and the Secretary of Defense are killed in one of them, the Vice President in the other. Turns out, the assassins used plans developed by our own counter-terrorism Special Ops team. Then a Left wing group takes over New York City, invades in space age weapons, kills everyone in uniform -- including at least one doorman -- and says that they don't recognize the government in Washington DC. They set up their own "country," as it were.
From there, it's more or less Special Ops forces, but there is an awful lot of history, political science, classicism, etc, to the novel. I've read nearly everything OSC has written -- although I admit to skipping the Women of Genesis series, and "Stone Tablets" -- and this was a surprise to me. It's probably as good, in its own way, as "Ender's Game" is. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much, but then "Ender's Game" is one of my favorite books, because it's so amazingly good.
So, I guess that's a recommendation.
Next I'm starting "Storm Front," by Jim Butcher. I hope I enjoy it.
poster:Racer
thread:744544
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20061001/msgs/744544.html