Risen Empire

The Risen Empireis the first great space opera of the 21st century. "The action moves with the pace of a well-executed military operation; a fascinating clash of supertechnologies. This story has everything: combat, intrigue, politics, and even an undead cat collection." -John C. Wright The undead Emperor has ruled his mighty interstellar empire of eighty human worlds for sixteen hundred years. Because he can grant a form of eternal life, creating an elite known as the Risen, his power has been absolute. He is worshipped as a living god. No one can touch him. Not until the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship AI minds of planetary extent. The Rix are cool, relentless fanatics, whose only goal is to propagate such AIs throughout the galaxy. They seek to end the Emperor's tyranny, and replace it with an eternal cybernetic dynasty. They begin by taking hostage the Child Empress, his sister, who is eternally a little girl. Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx is tasked with her rescue. Separated by light years, bound by an unlikely love, Zai and pacifist Senator Nara Oxham must each, in their own way, face the challenge of the Rix, as they hold the fate of the empire in their hands. From the acclaimed author ofFine Prey,Polymorph, andEvolution's Darling(Philip K. Dick Award special citation and aNew York TimesNotable Book) comes a sweeping epic, Succession, which begins inThe Risen Empire.Westerfeld, Scott is the author of 'Risen Empire', published 2004 under ISBN 9780765344670 and ISBN 076534467X.