Violanthe Destroyer-Ensign Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 185
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.
Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Posts: 1630 Location: Behind the ruck
From Publishers Weekly
Right-wing rhetoric trumps the logic of story and character in this near-future political thriller about a red-state vs. blue-state American civil war, an implausibly plotted departure from Card's bestselling science fiction (Ender's Game, etc.). When the president and vice-president are killed by domestic terrorists (of unknown political identity), a radical leftist army calling itself the Progressive Restoration takes over New York City and declares itself the rightful government of the United States. Other blue states officially recognize the legitimacy of the group, thus starting a second civil war. Card's heroic red-state protagonists, Maj. Reuben "Rube" Malek and Capt. Bartholomew "Cole" Coleman, draw on their Special Ops training to take down the extremist leftists and restore peace to the nation. The action is overshadowed by the novel's polemical message, which Card tops off with an afterword decrying his own politically-motivated exclusion from various conventions and campuses, the "national media elite" and the divisive excesses of both the right and the left.
From the Counte:
Sounds like Card has finished losing the marbles he starter misplacing several years ago. Why in the world would he write a book like this? And is it even science fiction? _________________ "A country, finally, erodes and the dust blows away, the people all die and none of them were of any importance permanently, except those who practiced the arts..." Ernest Hemingway
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
