Card on Empire
Orson Scott Card has a new book called Empire out. It’s apparently a mix between Tom Clancy and a cautionary tale about how our political differences are getting a tad out of hand. We’ll see if this is one of the all too often of late mediocre Card books or one of his fantastic ones. For those interested Instapundit has a post and podcast interview with Card about the book. Since you can’t comment there, feel free to comment here.
You can read the first five chapters (though it has a disclaimer that the published version may be somewhat different) at hatrack.com.
Card once mentioned in his “Reviews Everything” column that he watched 24 on DVD to get the pacing down for a book he was writing. After reading the first five chapters on Card’s website, I figured this was the book he was talking about. It reads like 24. It moves fast, deals in only the most cursory and surface level characterization and is light on description.
Which is rather unusual for a Card book, since generally he has chapters of self-relfection and angst. But perhaps later in the book it changes.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — November 28, 2006 @ 5:12 pm
He’s done “imitation” stories before. Back in the days of cyberpunk he did a quasi-William Gibson short story that was actually quite good. Arguably his best stuff has been when imitating styles. Take the first Alvin Maker series which I thought was a fantastic imitation of several different styles. I never quite fathomed why stylistically he changed that series into his more straightforward narrative. It lost considerable force.
Comment by Clark Goble — November 29, 2006 @ 1:27 am
Tom Clancy huh?
I remember reading his books in high school and college. Think I got about as far the book where Jack Ryan winds up as President before abandoning Clancy as a lost cause.
In my experience, Clancy is a very interesting read when he sticks to technical descriptions of various cool military technology, culture, and protocal.
But sorry, the guy is dumb as a bag of rocks when it comes to politics and diplomacy.
Tom Clancy’s basic solution to just about every problem can be summarized thus:
“A few good men with high tech weaponry and an appropriately macho attitude can solve just about everything.”
It’s almost painful to read. Starting with “The Sum of All Fears” Clancy took a nosedive and never recovered. The only stuff he wrote worth reading since then are his literary explanations of aircraft carriers, the 3rd Armored Cavalry, etc.
Comment by Seth R. — November 29, 2006 @ 5:18 pm
Oh yeah, Alicublog posted a review of sorts on Empire as well.
Comment by Seth R. — November 29, 2006 @ 7:01 pm
That was one of the most disingenuous and dishonest reviews I think I’ve ever read. Card’s rhetoric is overheated at times, but he does not hold half the views alicu attributes to him (quotes taken out of context, or else given the most uncharitable and vicious reading possible).
That wasn’t a review, it was character assassination by a guy who can’t stand the fact a moderate Democrat might exist. Alicu is clearly interested in attacking Card along partisan lines, rather than actually understanding the guy.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — November 29, 2006 @ 8:05 pm
Alicublog is a blatantly liberal, and usually snarky blog. I’d expect no less.
But I still found it funny.
Comment by Seth R. — November 30, 2006 @ 8:39 am
If it makes you happy, then it can’t be that bad.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — November 30, 2006 @ 10:07 am
Then why am I soooo sad?
Comment by Seth R. — November 30, 2006 @ 11:00 am
On another note, that right-wing neocon propoganda magazine Entertainment Weekly gave Empire a B+.
Review isn’t online yet, though. And I’m too lazy to type in an excerpt.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — November 30, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
Some more reviews and other articles:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72093-0.html?tw=wn_index_2
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=112906B
http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2006/11/30/orson_scott_card_confounds_the_far_left/
http://edwardwillett.blogspot.com/2006/11/orson-scott-card-interview.html
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004577
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — December 1, 2006 @ 2:37 pm
Having just finished Empire a couple hours ago, I think that the reviews calling it a right-wing rant, etc., are pretty off base. While there are a couple characters who don’t think too highly of the Left, it really is more a cautionary tale about the dangers of extremism than anything else. In fact, I thought that the main “left” character was the most developed and most likeable one in the book.
Style wise, definitely none of the brooding of Speaker for the Dead or the metaphysical discussions of Xenocide. Its much closer to the his Shadow books than the rest of his writing, but it is much faster paced compared to everything else.
>
And there’s a Mormon President. What more could you want?
Comment by a random cougar — December 1, 2006 @ 4:30 pm
Seth, I agree with Clancy. His early books were pretty good I thought. Once Denver got nuked I thought the weren’t worth reading. Although I did like that Clark book about the CIA guy in the 60′s. I can’t remember when that came out.
BTW – outside of the war on terrorism, isn’t Card pretty much a Nibley-like Liberal? He favors strong gun control, socialized health care, more welfare and a bunch else. I don’t quite understand how some pretty blatant liberals like say Lieberman are considered conservative. Weird.
Comment by Clark Goble — December 1, 2006 @ 11:30 pm
Clark -
Well, to be somewhat fair, Card is conservative on abortion, gay marriage and a few other things.
But a lot of the anger or misconceptions come from his political rhetoric. If you read his essays at ornery.org, he doesn’t pull punches and lets the vitrol towards the left roll. He takes quite a few potshots at the right as well, but 80% of his political writings for the last 5+ years have been aimed at attacking the left for abandoning what he thinks should be the core of the Democratic party.
And he’s not very nice about it – Card seems to have reached a point in his life where he no longer cares whether people think he is politically reasonable or accomodating.
So I can see why many liberals, rather than see if his criticisms have any value, would prefer to lump him in with “the wacko right” since in a binary world view, that would be the only place they could put him without taking him seriously.
Comment by Ivan A. Wolfe — December 5, 2006 @ 10:52 am
Yes, this is an “older” post, but right wing propoganda mill Entertainment Weekly has the Empire review online here:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/book/0,6115,1562776_5_0_,00.html
It’s brief, but it gets a B+. Here’s part of the review:
Empire, a cautionary adventure about a second U.S. Civil War between liberals and conservatives, is a similarly blistering read. Card plots hard-boiled action just as well as Tom Clancy, and layers in character detail and dialogue you’ll never find in a Jack Ryan novel.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — January 2, 2007 @ 1:38 pm