The Praxis: Dread Empire's Fall

I concur with another reviewer who remarked that space opera has not yet seen its Aubrey-Maturin saga (not counting of course, Star Trek's Kirk and Spock). Walter Jon Willams has done a superb job elevating space opera to a high literary art form, writing a captivating tale about the demise of a long-lived, despotic interstellar empire. It's a compelling saga focusing on two young Terran naval officers, Lady Caroline Sula, and especially, Lieutenant Gareth Martinez; it is Martinez who uncovers a plot by the Naxids, the second oldest member species of the empire, to seize control and become the new masters of the empire. Although I questioned originally Williams' decision to reveal some pivotal moments in Sulla's history, these moments are crucial in revealing her personality and motives to the reader. Williams has written splendid work in cyberpunk fiction and a successful fusion of it with space opera, so I am not at all surprised that he's been able to pull this off. Fans of David Weber's "Honorverse" may find this novel not only more compelling, but also, much better written than any by Weber and his colleagues about Honor Harrington and other characters in Weber's ongoing space opera series.

H. Beam Piper was a favorite author of mine, Walter Jon Williams is a favorite today. His "Ambassador of Progress" and "Hardwired" are two of the best Science Fiction novels ever written. In the past few years I have lost my taste for fiction, generally, but the Science Fiction of this author is the exception.This opening tale of "The Praxis" is some of his finest work; the book was impossible for me to put down, and I searched until I found a copy of "The Sundering", the second novel in the series, and couldn't put it down until I finished it, either.

While there are many excellent space opera stories, this one far exceeds the pack. I frankly am in awe of Williams' work on this story. Williams is one of the relatively few authors in the genre who can effectively and convincingly write intricate, functional, detailed intrigue. Many try, only to bore or disappoint their readers; Williams writes intrigue as if he was living it. This book contains relatively little action, though what action there is, is fast and furious. Mostly it's about setting the stage, yet for all that, it's very enjoyable, and pulls you in. You very quickly begin to identify with, and care about, the principle protagonists; the young officer, Lord Gareth Martinez, and the cadet Lady Caroline Sula.The basic setup is reasonably standard: It's placed in that hoary old cliche, the last days of glory for a massive stellar empire. What Williams *does* with this tired cliche is what's so impressive. To start, he gives the empire a reasonable excuse for existence. Almost every one of the usual reasons for interstellar empire falls apart under any reasonable examination, and most space operas blithely ignore this as they move on with the action. While that's often just fine, and many excellent genre books have been written without any rational explanation for the existence of empire, Williams actually gives a plausible explanation for such a cumbersome and inefficient social structure: Religion. Old-fashioned, fanatical, unyielding, uncompromising, burn-the-heretics religion. In another break from the 'usual,' the religion isn't human. Humans don't run the empire, they're not even second in charge. Nor, to avoid another cliche, is humanity an oppressed bottom-of-the-heap victim. Instead, humans are respected, powerful, third members of the empire; essential parts of the machinery of empire, but nothing more special than that. Earth itself is merely one planet among many human worlds, and only mildly notable.The religion in the case is the "Praxis," an uncompromising, vaguely feudal philosophy belonging to the undisputed masters of the empire, the Shaa. The Shaa have bent every species they've ever met to their will, and their will is the Praxis. No level of brutality has been spared in converting the various species to the Parxis, but once a species adapts to the Praxis, they are incorporated into the empire with full rights, and are assumed to be equals to all other species (save, of course for the Shaa... no one is equal to the Shaa). That's the theory, anyway. In practice, so long as the Shaa live, `practice' is pretty close to `theory.' Unfortunately for everyone, the Shaa are dying out. Having renounced immortality, the Shaa have diminished, and now only one remains. When the last Shaa dies, what will become the empire? At least one group has plans for the empire that don't include the status quo... Williams breaks a number of other stereotypes: There is no pan-galactic integration, but rather the various species keep to thei

I picked this book while waiting for the new Dune book to come out expecting to read a few chapters and put it down as i do with most books i get because they end up boring me. I finnished it in two days. The depth and thought that went into creating the soceity and characters is great i felt like i was there. WHile the book is low on action it is high on story. You get a real feel for how the society in the book works and I fully intend to pick up the next installment the Sundering.

This book was brilliant. A space opera that folds in court intrigue, characters with dark secrets, romance and military strategy without dragging down the pace. When I finished it, I gave it to my wife, and she was up until three a.m. with it.Anyone who enjoys David Weber or Lois McMasters Bujold should pick this one up *now*.