Empire (Tor Science Fiction) [Mass Market Paperback]

Orson Scott Card has written many excellent books. This is not one of them.

It is clear from the author's Afterword, that the book was contrived to fit with a video game, and that roughly describes the sophistication of this plot which is well below Card's normal standard.

Reuben Malich is a major in the US Army working on secret assignments in Washington. He is joined by captain Bartholomew Coleman (Cole) just as an act of treachery takes a plan he wrote for the president's protection to carry out an assassination on the same. The success of this and other operations triggers a civil war, where members of the American democratic party, still smarting over the appointment of George Bush as president, when Al Gore won the vote - start a civil war.

In his afterword, Card indicates that it was all to easy to conceive of events that would lead to a civil war - but like "Shadow of the Hegemon", we see in this book that Card does not really do politics too well. For him, great events can be flawlessly shaped by the outrageous plans of a few. Compare with Tolstoy who says that those few are merely puppets of the greater circumstances, and you see the flaws in this plot laid bare. Frankly the whole plot is preposterous, and lacks the depth and strength of feeling required to make the preposterous plausible.

Could a stable democracy like the USA have another civil war? Certaily it is possible - but not over anything so petty as in this book! Civil wars have to be fomented over a period of time, a sharp division, and a growing sense of outrage that allows people to conceive of actions that are otherwise treasonable. The mistake that Card makes is to think that the differences between American Republicans and American Democrats are large enough for anyone to fight over. For anyone to destroy their deomcracy and country over. Much as they may dislike the other side, it is clear that the deomcratic ideal trumps the other ideology in their mind.

He almost recognises this early in the book, where in a university class discussion, Major Malich makes that very point in a voice we recognises as one of reason. He simply ignores the "conservative v liberal" debate and answers more intelligently as though those distinctions have no real existence of themselves. But then Card blows it by making the issues something that people really are willing to fight with bullets over - and it is not all clear why! To me there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the American political situation there.

I was reminded of "Shadow of the Hegemon" that read more like a game of "Risk" than anything close to real politics. And thus this book might make a reasonable game plot, but its not an intelligent book plot.

But so what? If it makes an enjoyable plot, what does it matter if the politics in Card's books are so black and white - so simplistic?

But there are other problems with this book too. One annoyance for someone who has probably read all of Card's books and short stories, is that he has recycled language, characters and plot elements from other works - and to poor effect. For instance, for me the word "jeesh" now refers to battle school kids - not a mature army combat unit. Ideas such as the double password on the PDA came from the short story "Dogwalker". And it went on!

Someone new to Card though would miss those references, but might still hate this book because the dialogue is so unconvincing. They might hate it because the plot is rather predictable (other than the odd choice to kill off ... well maybe I shouldn't say to avoid spoilers - but anyone reading the book is likely to know what I mean and agree it's an odd choice).

One of the things I have historically liked about Card is the way he focuses his books widely, incorporating foreign languages and cultures. Also the way he makes you think about issues. But in this book his cultural references are right out of an American right wing chat room, and show a remarkable lack of critical thinking!

When I read "European news media tells you what to think. American news media shows you enough so you make your own opinions", I was flabergasted, as should any other european who has numbed their mind watching the news on visits to that country! Not that I have a vested interest in news media, and not that I have any rosy spectacled view of European orgaisations. It just made me think that I was reading some American neo-con and not the Orson Scott Card who I have respected for very many years.

It seems to me that in recent years there has been a marked decline in the quality of Card's output. I suspect that this is an excellent writer with just too many projects with too short deadlines on the go.

Card completists (like me) will read this book whatever I say. Anyone else - avoid this one.

I really enjoyed the first 50% of this book, which is about a conspiracy amongst a small secret group of powerful citizens in the US making long-term plans to rule the world. Not such an unlikely possibility as the story unfolds in my view. However IMHO Orson Scott Card loses interest in his theme half way through and although the writing is exciting and full of action, the usual strong sense of direction in his works was missing I felt. Disappointing is how I sum it up.

Being a fan of Card's work mostly thanks to Ender's Game and sequels, I purchased Empire more due to its tie-in status with the Xbox Arcade game (Shadow of the Empire) than based on its subject matter. In other words I did not have any particular expectations about the novel, aside from a certain level of writing. Hence I was not terribly disappointed to discover that the book, while an enjoyable enough romp, really *is* a tie-in rather than a story that stands firmly on its own two feet. The premise of the novel - a new Civil War between Red & Blue factions - potentially provides enough material for an entire series, or a rather more substantial work than this one. Card chooses to focus on the 'human aspect', i.e. the ways in which people with strongly disagreeing opinions can still manage to live together in a civilized fashion rather than engage in increasingly hostile rethoric - a decision he describes in as many words in the afterword. The result is an odd mixture of somewhat subdued storytelling, punctuated by brief episodes of the more engaged, intense writing one might expect from Card. It is hard to shake the feeling that the characters are merely props to illustrate a thesis that comes down to "hatred is bad" - never more so then when one of the main characters is summarily killed off.
On the other hand the lack of detail and broad, sweeping descriptions do serve to create a convincing portrait of what a new American Civil War might look like, and it serves as an excellent backdrop for further stories and indeed games in this setting. Card is a capable enough writer that he never becomes boring, even if his tendency to preach is not as well encapsulated in a really rich story as in say, Speaker for the Dead.
Recommended as an easy read for those who like semi-futuristic thrillers (the description of near-future technology and liberal use of current technology is alternatingly convincing and irritating), especially if you are or will be playing the game. If you expect another Ender, steer clear - at best, Empire, approaches some of the less satisfactory novels from the 'Shadow' series.