Reader discussion: Empire

Public reader discussion about Empire in the WeRead Catalog by Clifford D. Simak.

Change my view: Mistborn: The final empire by Brandon Sanderson is not a good book.

By DullZati

I’m honestly having a hard time getting into this book. I keep hearing how amazing Brandon Sanderson is, but this one feels way too formulaic—like the tropes are just lined up on every page and it’s kind of lost its heart for me. I was also reading (or trying to) Red Rising by Pierce Brown at the same time, and they feel basically like the same story. No big spoilers, just a few general comparisons: An evil kingdom crushing everyone. A strict caste system. A 16-year-old who’s weirdly mature for their age. A super special kid who gets mentored by older people to fix/save whatever—planet/kingdom/earth. And the villain is this god-like being that’s basically just absolutely terrible. I’m guessing that’ll get more fleshed out later, but it still feels like the end result will be “yep, he’s evil.”

Way Station…where’s the movie?

By motionGoose

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak is one of my favorite sci-fi books. I honestly think it’s some of the best sci-fi from the 20th century. My big question is why it never got turned into a movie—I'm genuinely surprised it hasn’t happened yet. Did something go on with Simak’s estate or the rights? And I know sometimes these things get optioned and then just sit around. I really hope that’s not what’s happened with Way Station.

Book club?

By poppy-corner

I’ve been thinking for a while about joining a book club, but I don’t really know where to start. Anyone have any suggestions on finding one?

I am John Scalzi, Hugo winner and bestselling science fiction author, and my new book "The Last Emperox" is now out! Ask me anything!

By ShadowWatches5

Hey everyone—John Scalzi here. If you’ve read stuff like *Old Man’s War*, *Redshirts*, or *Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City*, that’s probably why you recognize my name. My new book, *The Last Emperox*, just came out last week, and it wraps up the Interdependency trilogy that started with *The Collapsing Empire*. I’m around to answer questions about *Emperox* (or any of my other books/projects), and also about sci-fi/fantasy, writing, life, basically all of it. AMA! Also, if I don’t know something, I might just make something up right there on the spot—just so you’re aware, even if I do know, you might still get a made-up answer. Proof: https://i.redd.it/aiskx9goeft41.jpg

The real classics and must-reads of universal literature

By NinaInTucson95

Hey, I’m not totally sure if this is the right place to ask, but I could really use some input. I’m trying to figure out what people think are “must read” classics—stuff that matters if you want a decent understanding of fiction history—and also which books everyone calls classics but somehow nobody actually gets around to reading. Like, what would you put on a “universal” literature list? Right now we’ve got around 80 books, which honestly feels like not that many once you think about how much literature there is. A couple things about what we already picked: most of it is English + North American (like about two thirds). After that, most of the rest is Russian, but it’s mostly Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Then it’s basically Europe after that—Goethe for German, Camus/Hugo/Verne for French, Ibsen and Knut Hamsun for Norwegian, etc. Only real South American thing I’ve got is García Márquez. Africa and South Asia aren’t really on there at all. I know this isn’t just the education system, but I do feel like our surroundings and upbringing play a big role in what we end up thinking of. And we’re kind of on the “we read” end of the spectrum, so I don’t think we’re super insulated from that. Also the time periods aren’t super spread out. Besides ancient Greek stuff like Homer and Sophocles, the oldest we have is The Divine Comedy and then Utopia. After that it’s basically Shakespeare, and then it turns into mostly 19th century. I’m not trying to knock English classics—I’d still want the most famous ones too, and I’ve definitely leaned that way myself. But now I’m realizing that might just be what’s easiest/most obvious, and I’m hoping to get other suggestions that break out of that. Sorry if this turned into a ramble, I just hope I made sense lol.

Jay Kristoff's "Empire of the Vampire" is good.

By smallotter

I was in the mood to read about vampires, but I didn’t want the usual horror thing and definitely not that whole Twilight vibe. So this book basically landed in my hands. The setup is that the sky has this dark “dome,” so vampires can walk around in daylight now, just not as strong as at night. And they get hunted by monster hunters called dhampirs, who have to use sanctus from vampire blood to survive and it also boosts them. Also, vampires aren’t the only monsters in the world, but they don’t really get into it much. The world itself doesn’t feel super original, it gives off Witcher vibes—hunters, stuff that strengthens them (here it’s more like smoking it or using it somehow, and then they also drink blood), plus the whole “monster hunters vs creatures” thing. Still, it’s pretty well explained and even kind of funny at times. The plot follows Gabriel, the last hunter, who gets captured by vampires and is going to be executed. But before that the vampire queen wants him to tell his life story, so she sends a scribe to write everything down. The book is split into six parts and it’s basically two storylines that alternate: how Gabriel becomes a hunter, and then the hunt for the holy Grail. After a couple parts it keeps switching back and forth (I hope I’m describing it right). Some people might not like that structure, but I was fine with it. Both story threads worked for me—they’re intense and sometimes surprisingly funny. I especially liked the first one because it shows Gabriel’s personality and how he and the others hunt vampires, and it’s also full of little puzzles he’s trying to figure out. The Grail story was good too, mostly because of the relationship between Gabriel and Dior. It feels like they’re clearly drawn from the kind of main characters you’d expect from The Last of Us, if that makes sense. And yeah, the prison scenes with the scribe had me laughing a bit. As for the characters, I liked how they look—like their designs actually fit who they are. They feel interesting even if they’re not explained fully, and some of them are pretty well developed (Gabriel and Dior especially). Gabriel himself is kind of a rude, battle-worn hunter. In the second storyline he’s also depressed and drinks way too much, but underneath he’s still got a good heart, and in a way he snaps out of it and starts thinking more clearly. You can really tell the first and second versions of him aren’t the same person. Also, he gives off this Trevor Belmont energy, just with long hair. And I liked the writing style. It’s easy to read and moves fast. The author mostly writes from Gabriel’s perspective, so Gabriel’s not exactly poetic or super articulate—so the descriptions end up being kind of funny because of that. I can’t help comparing it to the English dub of Ghost Stories: not polished, but you immediately get what they’re going for. There are also a lot of swear words. In the Russian translation it feels even stronger—like where Gabriel in English apparently uses “fuck” a lot, in Russian it’s more like “suka,” and it hits harder because of that. Overall, I liked the book. It feels like the author knew what they were doing and didn’t try to force some extra “deep meaning” or nonsense. Like they wouldn’t go around comparing a cold lake to something super ridiculous.

What have you unexpectedly learned from a fiction book?

By door_rusty92

Just finished reading *News From Nowhere* by William Morris and there’s that line where the character basically says, “I have to ask questions… whether you like it or not, will I’nill I.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, so I went and looked it up, and turns out that “willy nilly” comes from there.

Babel, by R.F. Kuang

By apron-fork56

I just finished Babel after a friend basically begged me to read it. Overall, I did like it—mostly. The writing is pretty smooth and I stayed interested the whole time, so I’ll definitely be able to tell my friend I had fun. But “fun” isn’t the same thing as “I think this book deserves all the hype,” and I don’t really feel like joining the usual pile of super positive reviews without saying what bothered me. Okay, here’s where I get picky and probably ramble a bit: Babel kept feeling like it was doing Star Wars cosplay more than anything. Like, rebel kids vs evil empire, except the “evil” side is cartoonishly nasty and the “good” side is a bunch of nonwhite university students who somehow all talk and think like people from the 2020s. And they’re saving a bunch of helpless colonized people in the early 1800s. I couldn’t quite get past that vibe. The biggest problem for me was how often it felt anachronistic. I don’t mean “it has modern ideas,” I mean it felt like the book doesn’t care about how 1800s people actually lived or communicated. It’s not really interested in the past as a foreign place—it’s more like the past is just a stage set for contemporary attitudes. They also market it as some kind of response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I love, but that comparison feels pretty shallow to me. JS&MN actually feels like you’re reading something from that era. Babel doesn’t. Even if I ignore the historical fiction angle and treat it like fantasy, the “magic” still didn’t work for me as a metaphor. The whole translation/silver/industrialization thing is clearly meant to map onto real history and why Europe industrialized differently than China… except then the book basically shrugs at the “so why didn’t China just do the same thing?” part. It says China has tons of silver and it’s linguistically diverse and full of scholars. So why aren’t they making the translation center too? The answer is basically “surely there’s a reason,” but it never actually gives one. That made the metaphor feel like it falls apart the second you think about it. And then there’s the editing/pacing stuff. It’s long, and some of it feels like the author just keeps going because she can. I don’t think she’s bad—she’d probably crush nonfiction or teaching material—but in novel form it reads like self-indulgent lectures. The footnotes didn’t help either. In JS&MN the footnotes feel like they add atmosphere or extra texture. In Babel they feel like the book keeps stepping in to explain things that didn’t need explaining. Nothing is allowed to be mysterious or inferred; it’s all spelled out, including repetitive details and random little word-obsessions. What really turned me off, though, was the narrator’s tone. It’s constantly patronizing, and it feels like it’s convinced it’s right about everything. There’s no real space for disagreement or nuance, and the book keeps telling you what to think rather than letting you decide. It’s engaging sometimes, but honestly it’s the kind of “engaging” you get when someone is confidently wrong in a way that’s hard to look away from. The messages are easy to agree with on paper—colonialism is bad, racism is bad, forcing a country to do stuff under the threat of war is bad, etc. But the details get flattened into a morality tale, and it feels hypocritical in places. One example that irritated me: religion is handled in a weirdly selective way. Christianity gets snide jabs while Islam and Vodoun get reverence, and that’s one thing. But then there’s this random footnote that basically takes a petty shot at astrology just to be like, “don’t worry, it’s fake,” and it felt mean for no reason. It came off like academic snobbery showing. I also had a huge issue with Letty. Her arc *sounds* interesting, but the book treats her like she’s a problem character the author can’t stand, and it constantly nudges you to hate her too—no matter what she’s doing. And even when the other characters should logically be able to stand her sometimes, the book keeps making it clear they’re supposed to find her annoying. It’s like she’s only there to be punished, judged, or corrected. The part that really got under my skin was how the book handled misogyny through her. Like, the narration and framing keep positioning her as “not helping the feminist cause” and then leaning on super gross stereotypes. The climax with the ball scene (and yeah, this touches on sexual assault, so I’ll keep it vague) is what finally made it feel truly ugly to me: she and her friends leave, Ramy blames Letty for bringing them, and Letty points out she was nearly assaulted too—then the narration basically acts like her argument is “bizarre.” The emotional takeaway feels totally unsympathetic, and only certain characters are allowed to be upset “the right way,” which just… didn’t sit right. So yeah, I went in thinking it would be more thoughtful than this. I’m still not convinced it’s really the kind of book it pretends to be—especially with the whole “violence is necessary for change” framing at the end, said in a pretty preachy way while the cost of that violence mostly stays abstract and off to the side for non-characters. It left me with the impression it’s more of a YA-ish power fantasy for certain kinds of leftist roleplay than a serious “look at history and its systems” story. That said—I did have fun reading it. Which is probably the most annoying part.

Empire of Silence review; uniquely derivative

By curious-library2000

Empire of Silence gets compared to Name of the Wind and Dune a lot, and I get why, but I don’t really see it that way. For me, this one just works way better. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t super into either Name of the Wind or Dune. Name of the Wind felt kind of painfully average to me, and I never even finished Dune. Sci-fi in general has also always been a struggle for me—too much technical stuff, all the science-y theories, and it makes it feel like you have to be some kind of nerd just to keep up. So yeah, I was convinced pretty hard to start Sun Eater… and I’m really glad I did. This series feels like it’s built for both sci-fi and fantasy people. It has enough space/alien mystery to respect the sci-fi side, but it doesn’t drown you in the science. And honestly, there’s a lot here for basically any SFF reader—nice writing, big ideas, tangled plots, and characters that actually stick. I also didn’t run into many obvious weak spots in Ruocchio’s writing; he seems good at balancing the stuff that makes a story work. The setup is Hadrian Marlowe looking back on everything that led to him destroying a sun, wiping out an alien race, and being responsible for the deaths of something like 4 billion humans. It takes place like 20,000 years from now, when the Sollan Empire (very “Roman Empire” vibes) has taken over a huge chunk of the galaxy. And I really liked how Hadrian comes across, because throughout Empire of Silence I kept thinking, “Wait… this is the same guy who did *that*?” The version of him you see here feels almost nothing like what you’d expect from a character type like Darth Vader. It added this weird tension to everything—like I was waiting for the pieces to click into place and explain how he became that person at the start of the story. The worldbuilding is futuristic but still has a grounded feel, which is probably why Dune gets brought up. There are definitely some echoes—shield stuff pushing people into melee instead of ranged, machine uprising stuff (no worms, thankfully). But the stuff Ruocchio adds on his own doesn’t feel like it’s just copy-paste, and the Dune-ish elements don’t take over the whole plot either. One part I especially liked was the Chantry. It’s this serious religious organization that worships the depleted Earth and is obsessed with preventing another Mericanii machine uprising. Their answer is basically: eliminate the risk, and they do it through the Inquisition, which means brutal questioning. To me it comes off like a comment on religion today—like if the only info believers get is filtered through the religion itself, how much of it are we really seeing clearly? It makes you think about what might be left out or hidden, and it makes the whole “truth in transcripts” thing feel a little shaky. The prose is really smooth and kind of lyrical in a good way. The descriptions feel like they get the right amount of attention, not just filler, and the philosophical bits don’t feel random. The “choice, consequence, prisons” themes really come through too, because you see Hadrian making decisions, but then the fallout just wrecks him mentally. It also gives off this vibe of “calm down, humans, you’re not the center of everything,” while still acknowledging that we’re still part of the larger universe. That said, it isn’t perfect. Because of how the story is set up, Ruocchio has to spend a lot of time introducing characters, background, and the world so everything later makes sense. And I felt like the early stretch—especially the beginning and middle—went on a bit too long. If the inciting event didn’t happen around the halfway point, I think my interest would’ve dropped hard. A few scenes in that part felt forced to me, and when the book tries to pull emotion out of you, I didn’t always feel the payoff, since it didn’t give me enough time to really care about the outcomes inside the scene. It wasn’t a dealbreaker, but it did mess with my connection slightly. If the inciting event hadn’t hit, though, I think that would’ve been a bigger issue. As it was, I pretty much devoured it right after. Also, some side characters felt a little flat to me compared to the main pull of the story—there’s one I liked a lot more than the rest, but I’ll keep that to myself until you meet them. Overall, I do think Empire of Silence is clearly inspired by big genre classics, but it still finds its own lane and doesn’t feel stuck living off comparisons. It’s a really strong start to Sun Eater, and now I’m invested enough to see where Ruocchio takes things next. And random update: I actually got an ARC for Ashes of Man (Sun Eater book 5), which comes out this December. I just finished it and I’m thinking of posting a review for it before I go back to the other books’ reviews. Do you want me to share it right away once it’s done, or post it after I finish the rest of my Sun Eater review work? Let me know.

[Book Club] "The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson: Week 1, Part One

By otoscope8

Hey all, Here’s the first discussion post for the June pick, The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. Hopefully everyone has the book by now, but if not, you can still catch up and jump into a later thread. This one is open for discussion through Part One, including it. A few starter questions are below, but you can answer as many or as few as you want, or just talk about whatever stood out to you. - What characters, scenes, or quotes did you like best? What parts were hard to follow? - How do you feel about the magic system so far? Is Allomancy interesting or satisfying to you, and what questions did it bring up? How does it stack up against other magic systems you like or dislike? - What do you think the ash and mist do for the world and its stories? Who talks about them, and how do they seem to affect different characters? - Do you think Mistings and Mistborns are shaped by their abilities? In what ways do their powers influence who they are? Which character are you most interested in? - What questions or guesses do you have going forward, and what are you hoping to see? Which unanswered things seem the most intriguing? - BONUS: what artist or song would fit the reading so far? Just a reminder, the second discussion will go up on Friday, June 17th and cover through Part Three, Chapter 19.

What are your opinions on the epic of gilgamesh?

By valley_salpoid44

I really liked the book and how it gave the audience a peek into life and culture—like not just through the story, but also the word choices and the metaphors. Overall I think it’s an awesome book, but I’m definitely not a literary expert, so I’m curious what other people thought too.

Is the hindu epic 'Mahabharata' fiction or nonfiction fiction?

By carefulWren

I was chatting with my mom and somehow we ended up on the Mahabharata. I’m really not religious, so when she said it was “real,” I basically brushed it off. Then I got curious, mostly because I wanted to be right, and I was surprised to see that a lot of people—like even scholars—argue it’s non-fiction. Some stuff seems to match details from the story, like the whole rock bridge thing from India to Sri Lanka, or the research people cite about war evidence around that time near Sri Lanka. But then there are also parts that feel like total made-up stuff, like the whole gods and demons angle, the demon with eight heads, or the monkey moving a mountain. So… which is it? I’m trying to figure out the definite answer, but the closest thing I can land on is that it might be based on real events, and they just used the gods/demons stuff to make the characters more dramatic.

One Step Closer To Finishing The Masters of Rome Series By Colleen McCullough

By PlainShadowSeal3

Just finished The October Horse, which is the 6th one in McCullough’s Masters of Rome series. It jumps around the 48–41 BC stretch, basically from when Caesar first connects with Cleopatra to the Battle of Philippi. I’m honestly still blown away by how much she can make Ancient Rome feel alive. A bunch of the characters share the same names, but somehow they all come across as different people. And it really got to me when some characters I’ve been following for the last few books finally meet their end. I knew it was coming because, yeah, it’s real history, but it still hit harder than I expected. Caesar’s death especially—there’s that hint that he might’ve been tired enough that dying wasn’t totally the worst thing, if that makes sense. The last chunk is mostly about Octavian taking over, and TBH I ended up liking him a lot. If Caesar is like fire, then Octavian is ice. They’ve got some parallels since he’s kind of modeled after Caesar, but he’s way more ruthless. If you want solid Roman historical fiction, this whole Masters of Rome series is definitely worth a try.

My thoughts on "Principles for dealing with the Changing world order" what are yours?

By dustyhare

I’ve talked about this book with a few people and the reactions were all over the place. My quick overall take is that it’s pretty interesting and definitely makes you think, even if you don’t agree with everything. The author comes at it from a finance/investing angle (he’s a hedge fund manager and investor), and he’s also known for predicting things about markets and the global economy pretty well. So when he lays out his view of what’s driving the world, it doesn’t feel like some random take—it feels like someone who’s been watching trends closely for a long time. What I kept coming back to is his push for plain, honest thinking—like, don’t just react to headlines, try to understand the deeper forces behind what’s happening. That part honestly feels useful, even if you’re not super into geopolitics. There are also ideas in here that are going to annoy some readers. For instance, he’s basically saying the current setup is moving away from the US-centered, one-big-power situation toward something more multipolar, with multiple major centers of power. I can totally see why that would be a hot button topic, and I’m not 100% sure everyone will buy it, but his background and past prediction record do give his argument more weight. So yeah, mixed opinions overall, but for me it was one of those books that gives you a lot to chew on. Even where you disagree, it’s not thin or sloppy—it’s still trying to connect history and patterns to what might be coming next.

[Book Club] "The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson: Week 2, Part Three - Chapter 19

By Superuser

Hi all! Glad we’re on the second discussion for June’s pick, *The Final Empire* by Brandon Sanderson. I’m hoping everyone’s got the book by now—if not, you can still jump in later, but this thread is going to be going all in up through Part Three, Chapter 19, so heads up. A couple questions to get things going (answer whatever you feel like, or just share your thoughts): - Who’s been your favorite character so far, and what parts or quotes have stuck with you? Anything that’s been confusing? - Kelsier tells Vin during training that basically every action has consequences. Besides the Allomancy metals, what other “opposing forces” or balancing effects feel like they show up in the story? - What do you think are the main reasons the Lord Ruler gives for why he stays in power, and do you think what’s really going on could be totally different than what everyone else believes? - How much of a threat do the Keepers actually feel like to the Empire, and how do they get treated compared to the other groups/classes? - What questions are you still sitting with, and what are you most hoping to see next? - BONUS: If this got adapted into a movie or TV show, who would you cast for each character, and who would you want directing/showrunning? Also, the next discussion thread goes up Friday, June 24th, and it’ll cover through Part Three: Chapter 19. And just a reminder—July’s selection announcement is already up, so try to get started early so you’re not scrambling.

I've just finished reading the Empire of Pain...

By TGrand8

This book lays out the Sacklers and how they ended up tied to the whole opioid crisis. It’s a lot, honestly. I did really like how Keefe goes through it step by step—how the different generations set things up, not just for pushing OxyContin, but also for the ways they responded once lawsuits started coming their way. It made it easier to see that the whole family is involved in some way, whether they were there before OxyContin, were actually part of the process, or just profited off it. What really bothered me was how it feels like they’re living in a completely different reality. The wealth is wild (and that’s saying something), but it’s more than that—their mindset, like they can’t or won’t connect their actions to the opioid mess we’re dealing with now. The compartmentalizing is kind of unreal. Maybe I’m just worn out from reading most of it over the holidays, but I kept catching myself thinking it would be nice if at least one of them had some kind of big, Dickens-style wake-up call and used their money to actually support treatment programs. But yeah, that’s not how it works—no haunting to scare them into seeing things, no consequences coming from above if they don’t straighten up.

Bought Orson Scott Card's Hidden Empire without reading the first one...

By goldenarch

I was just killing time in a bookstore and picked up *Hidden Empire* because it sounded interesting. Then I realized way too late that I’d skipped over the whole “sequel to *Empire*” thing on the cover. If you’ve read the *Empire* series, do you think I’ll be lost trying to start with the sequel, or can I jump in without reading the first one?

The World That Couldn't Be, by Clifford D. Simak

By littlemirrorrapid

The short story is free on Project Gutenberg (32026). I really liked how it ended—it makes you sit there for a minute and wonder how things might play out after that.

Couples book club

By wise_lake

Hey! I’m trying to pick a few books for my partner and me to read together, kind of like a mini book club. He’s into world building, political enemies/adversaries, sci-fi and fantasy. He’s really liked stuff like *Name of the Wind*, Michael Crichton books, *1984*, and the *Mistborn* series. I’m more into the emotional stuff—heartbreaking, messy feelings, and that sunshine vs grumpy vibe. The books I’ve liked include *Song of Achilles*, *Red Queen*, *Where the Crawdads Sing*, and *They Both Die at the End*. Any ideas for something we could both get into? Thanks!