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Violanthe
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Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5902
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 SPRING BOOK: Empire
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:03 pm |
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Welcome to the discussion of our first annual ARWZ Spring Book! I invite everyone to pick up a copy of Empire by Orson Scott Card and join in the discussion here on ARWZ. If you've already read this book you're more than welcome to join in.
Here are some questions to get us started off:
What are your first impressions of this book? How did the opening line strike you? The opening paragraph?
How do you like this book after reading the first chapter? Does it intrigue you to continue? What questions does it create in your mind? How eager are you to get the answers?
Which of the characters intrigues you most? Do you find that you identify with any of the characters? If so, why? If not, then what about the characters make you want to continue (or not) reading about them?
Please contribute any observations, comments or questions you have about this novel as you read along.
Feel free to check out what people are saying about this book on all our Book Partner sites: ARWZ, Bestsellers & Literature, It's a Must Read, Science Fiction, and Worm's Scifi Haven.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Last edited by Violanthe on Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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librarylover
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Joined: 05 Apr 2006
Posts: 277
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:27 am |
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| I'm a bit surprised to see that no one has posted here yet. I've been reading Empire and find it to be more "fun" than intense. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor. |
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Peter
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 649
Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:29 pm |
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Well, it's not spring where I am. So I'll wait until it is before I comment.
Yes, I'm being a smartass, but I'd like to point out that this is the "World" Wide Web, not the Nth. Hemisphere Wide Web, despite popular belief.
It's a trivial point, but it's one that gets my goat.
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ljim2000
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Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 34
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:30 am |
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| Wow, I thought I was starting late by getting the Group Read rolling over at Science Fiction as our April book! However, it looks like it hasn't really caught steam here yet either. I'm nearing 2/3s of the way through and have commented quite a bit in the Orson Scott Card thread on our board. So far, I'm not overly impressed as I think Card's own political viewpoint is rather obvious in terms of which characters he favors as heroic and patriotic (the Republicans army guys) vs, which he doesn't (the lefties). In short, this reeks of propaganda. |
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librarylover
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:51 am |
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What book doesn't lean toward the biases of the author?  I still think of it more as a fun read than something to be taken seriously. The situation with Rube and DeeNee took me by surprise. Did anyone else see that coming? |
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ljim2000
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Posts: 34
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:16 pm |
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The issue that I take with the biases of this particular author is that he declares them to be neither one extreme nor the other, and then focuses his attention making one extreme look heroic and the other villainous. I have to cry foul on that.
The secretary surprise was one of the creative high points of this book I thought. Though he says in the aterword that it was actually one of the game elements he had to work in.
I agree the book shouldn't be taken seriously, but I also have some other criticisms that I went to in length in the Science Fiction board. Being "fun" does not entirely absolve an author from being "good". |
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librarylover
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:25 pm |
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| One thing that really bothered me was Cessy's reaction to her husband's death. The author comments that she gets through the first month by immersing herself in her work. What about their five children? Suddenly, their needs don't exist or what? When a spouse dies, the natural thing would be for the survivor to help the children work through their grief. Instead, she becomes selfish and ignores them? Completely inconsistent with the character which Card had created. |
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ljim2000
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Posts: 34
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:46 pm |
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| librarylover wrote: | | One thing that really bothered me was Cessy's reaction to her husband's death. The author comments that she gets through the first month by immersing herself in her work. What about their five children? Suddenly, their needs don't exist or what? When a spouse dies, the natural thing would be for the survivor to help the children work through their grief. Instead, she becomes selfish and ignores them? Completely inconsistent with the character which Card had created. |
A good point. That had bothered me too, but I really hadn't put my finger on it until you pointed it out.
The whole book is so highly unrealistic, that I feel misled by the packaging of the idea. The cover doesn't have any giant robot men or dudes firing anti-tank gear from hovercycles. It refers to a "disturbing possible future", but the future in this book isn't that disturbing and even less "possible".
I do believe that our country could be torn apart by different belief systems, but it wouldn't happen the way he describes at all. You'd have anarchist punk kids rioting not so-called "Progressives" dressed up like video-game icons!
There isn't even a real "Civil War" in this book, just a half-assed rebellion that is put down easily and apparently wasn't even connected to the assassination of the president. Very misleading. I won't be reading the sequel should he dare write that. |
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librarylover
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:49 am |
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| The ending was a huge disappointment for me. So many loose threads. Would I recommend the book? I don't think so. |
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Violanthe
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Joined: 24 Jul 2003
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:08 am |
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In general I was disappointed that the story did not unfold with more realism. Rather that showing a truly morally ambiguous portrait of a possible near-future America, a speculation on how ordinary people could quickly splinter into enemier... Instead Card showed how one extremist and a bunch of high-tech gadgets gave the USA some trouble.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction |
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Alicia GA
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Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 23
Location: near Atlanta, GA
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:50 pm |
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I couldn't get into this book solely because I could tell by the picture on the cover where it was going to go. The main character was interesting. His wife was likable. The day that he met the new assistant was exciting. But I knew it was going to turn into an America Armageddon type of thing, and I find that too depressing, and unlikely, to spend my free time contemplating it. And, it was so obviously politically slanted.
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Violanthe
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:17 am |
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It was politically slanted, but I found that kind of a novelty since if was conservatively slanted. I read so many books that are liberally slanted, that it's interesting to see the other perspective.
I actually found that this book did not go in the direction I expected. The nouveau American civil war fell pretty flat and turned out to be surprisingly small scale.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction |
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