The Killing of Worlds
#1 New York Times bestselling author Westerfeld continues one of the first great space operas of this century.
Scott Westerfeld, New York Times bestselling author of Uglies, Pretties, and Specials, reached new heights of excitement with The Risen Empire and left readers begging for more. He delivers the dazzling payoff in book two, The Killing of Worlds.
The immortal Emperor can grant a form of eternal life-after-death, creating an elite known as the Risen, and so has ruled the eighty worlds unchallenged for sixteen hundred years. The only thing he fears are the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship AI compound minds. They are dedicated to replacing his prolonged rule with an eternal cybernetic dynasty of their own.
Brilliant tactician Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx faces a suicide mission: stopping the next thrust of the Rix invasion with just his own vessel. While ship-to-ship combat rages among the stars, Zai’s lover, Senator Nara Oxham, is caught in a deadly political fencing match with the Emperor himself. The Emperor has a terrible secret, a secret Nara is in danger of finding out, a secret for which he would countenance the killing of worlds.
Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld (born 1963) is an American author of science fiction. He was born in the U.S. state of Texas and now divides his time between Sydney, Australia and New York City, USA.
The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds are parts one and two of the same book, originally titled Succession. In 2005 it was published in the UK as one book under the title The Risen Empire.
So Yesterday has been optioned to be made into a film by one of the producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine.
The Uglies series was optioned by Twentieth Century Fox as a possible film series in 2006.
In 2001, Westerfeld married Australian author Justine Larbalestier.
Succession
Succession consists of two books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.