Dread Empire's Fall : The Praxis
by Walter Jon Williams
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Book Summary Information
Author: Walter Jon WilliamsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-26
ISBN: 038082020X
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Reviews of Dread Empire's Fall : The Praxis
Book Review: "Rare and Special Porcelain"
Summary: 5 Stars
When you see on the cover "Dread Empire's Fall" in large type, and "The Praxis" in smaller type, you suspect this is the first of a series, and you'd be right. And by the time you pelt through Mr. Williams's deftly told tale you'll probably want to continue on with him, because he has a way of turning space opera into an art form all its own.
All the standard elements are here--a tyrannic race falls, successor races (Homo sapiens among them, of course) battle for primacy, and there is much contrast between the aristocracy and the lower classes. Why it is obligatory in these far-future epics that a neoliberal society structured along military-civil class-ordered lines similar to the British Raj be the norm, I do not know; but norm it is. Whatever: the author makes great use of the convention here, and he brings some fresh ideas of his own to the table as well.
He's created two memorable characters, too: Gareth Martinez of the space fleet, and the green-eyed blonde, Caroline Sula--space cadet, genius, and probably the only porcelain connoisseuse in the genre (when she comes into some money she can't decide whether to buy a new apartment or a vase). There hasn't been anything quite like her since we first made the acquaintance of Catherine Asaro's Soz Valdoria, and from the moment Mr. Williams introduces her, she dominates the tale. You become hooked not only on what she's going to do, but how she got where she is.
Gareth, on the other hand, at first seems far more conventional. He's an ambitious striver from a minor aristocratic family, and he's not a fool. Unlike his colleagues, he learns that because conditions are rapidly changing, he must learn to think outside the box--that's something Caroline's known all along.
We meet them first as they try to rescue an out-of-control space yacht. It's a terrific sequence, and its only the beginning.
First of (at least) three.
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