Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90612 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-28
• Released on: 2006-11-28
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
In a departure from the science fiction and the historical re-creations for which hes known, the ENDERS GAME scribe explores what might happen if a civil war were to break out in early-twenty-first-century America. The battle lines this time are drawn not along North and South, but between liberal and conservative. Stefan Rudnickis hypnotic bass voice reflects both Cards cynicism and his guarded optimism as he narrates the story of Major Reuben Malek and Captain Bartholomew Coleman, who find themselves in the middle of a coup mounted by a thinly veiled George Soros. The author adds to the experience by reading chapter epigraphs and the insightful afterword. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Some video-game developers asked Card to write a scenario for "an entertainment franchise . . . about a near-future American civil war." They came to the right man and held off on releasing the game until he completed this relentless thriller, which couldn't be timelier and is, for all its hyperactivity and flip, Hollywoodish one-liners, heartfelt and sobering. Its heroes are two special-ops army officers who keep their oaths to defend the U.S. against all enemies when far too many of their ostensible colleagues have decided to abandon theirs. A rocket hits the west wing of the White House, killing the president, vice-president, and secretary of defense. While those directly responsible are Arabs, the next day, 14-foot-tall, bulletproof, armed globes on mechanical legs, backed by shooters on individual hovercraft, seize New York City by killing anyone in uniform. None of the new attackers looks anything other than American. A "Progressive Restoration" administration is established in the city, and it encourages other cities and states to join it to restore government as it should have been but for the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004. Intriguing plot wrinkles come fore and aft of those basic developments, there are many deftly shaped supporting players, and major shocks explode in a split second (no Stephen King slo-mo for Card!). Moreover, all the action doesn't obscure the author's message about the dangers of extreme political polarization and the need to reassert moderation and mutual citizenship; indeed, it drives it home. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Yeah, I didn't like it, either.
I gave in to my weakness for political rhetoric -- probably because it's been more than half a year since I was last on a political debating site -- and bought Empire, by Orson Scott Card, when we were getting a buy-two-get-one deal. So the interesting part is that it's Orson Scott Card, whose writing I like very much -- Alvin Maker and Ender are two of my favorite series -- and the downside is, this book makes it seem that OSC is a die-hard conservative, who believes Bush has done great things for our country by making our military strong again and using our might to combat the deadly threat of Islamic terrorism, despite the whining of European intellectuals who don't admit how lucky they are that we are around to save their butts, and despite the treasonous actions of liberals here in the US, whose opposition to the war has done great harm to our mighty and courageous troops.

Reading Empire was like that from start to finish. I still like Card's writing, especially the way he does action scenes; one of the more exciting writers I know. I like the characters he creates (for the most part) and I like the way he leaves endings open while still wrapping up the main storyline. But criminy, did I get sick of reading right-wing propaganda about how worthless and vile and stupid all liberals are, how nobody who has any brains or balls would ever support the left. He tried to disavow any allegiance to either side of the divide in his Author's Note, claiming that the greatest threat to America is the extremists on either side, particularly the rhetoric that both sides use to castigate each other, but it was tough to swallow his serene distance after reading all the mud he slung at liberals. It's pretty clear that he saw this book as an opportunity to get some payback on what he sees as the liberal media's domination of spin in this country (This despite some nods in the book to Fox as the preferred news outlet for the men of the armed forces, a seemingly neutral comment except for the fact that everyone in this book falls into two categories: rightwing conservative military men, and scum. He also makes Bill O'Reilly look fair and balanced [He has a Fox executive say that in all earnestness, by the by] and like a reasonable man who's just looking to broadcast the truth in order to serve his fellow man.) and that's exactly what he tries to do.

In terms of the plot, it would be reasonable except for one thing: in this world, liberals start an armed insurrection in the US, asking the state legislatures to disavow the government in Washington and join with the Progressive movement to remove the evil President Bush. This is never going to happen, regardless of conservative paranoia and the hurt feelings of right-wingers who are sick of hearing that they are the ones who are dangerous to the country and not the Left. I hate to say it, boys, but it's true: I could see the Left taking over the government through elections, and maybe even going too far towards despotism/oligarchy once they were duly elected, but there's no way that the liberals of this country will ever start the fight. If anyone is going to start a revolution, it's going to be the right wing, or at best the Libertarians et al, assuming we are not meant to see them as conservative, per se. But it ain't ever going to be people like me and my family who break out the guns. We're too whiny and cowardly, remember?

I did realize, after reading this book, that Orson Scott Card apparently subscribes to Ayn Rand's philosophy of human perfection, that a man with sufficient talent and ambition can become so perfect in every way that not only can that person make the entire world dance to his tune, but we should be glad to do so. The war in this book is apparently fomented single-handedly by the true hero, the unparalleled genius who seeks to take over the US in order to begin the movement away from the American Republic and towards the American Empire, exactly as the Romans did. And though it seems that this may be an evil thing to do, it's also fairly clear that Card is rooting for this, as the apparent hero has great admiration for the magnificence of the Great Man who would become Augustus (that's what the hero calls the Great Man, because we don't believe in subtlety here), and since the apparent hero is such a magnificent person in every possible way -- fit, brilliant, honorable, heroic, virile, and the perfect friend, father, husband, and team leader -- the person that he admires? Surely that man must be like unto a GOD! Even if he is trying to become a despot, dammit, that's the kind of despotism that would make America the greatest country in the world! Oh, if only we had a perfect tyrant to take over and make everything good again!

Alas.

forget the timely story - just not a great read
Thought this book might be good. Great subject matter, great author. It just wasnt that good.
I think OSC is jumping on the Tom Clancy/Dale Brown bandwagon and just cranking out terrorist stories- the kind you buy at the airport to pass the time on the plane ride. Maybe he needs the cash or is trying to get out of his contract.

Paperbacks are expensive these days - buy something else.

Jumpy Story and Inconsistent Characterization
Card can do much better than this book. The story's flow was herky-jerky. There were some characters on the way to being very developed who just disappeared and other non-developed characters that came out of nowhere to play a major role in the story.

Nonetheless, Empire is still a page turner and I'd recommend it as light reading if you cannot get enough OSC after reading his better stuff - The Maker and Ender Series ...