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tome15's review against another edition
4.0
Williams, Walter Jon. The Praxis. Dread Empire’s Fall No. 1. Harper, 2002.
Walter Jon Williams is a journeyman author of science fiction. He is well versed in all the tropes of the genre, builds consistent fictional worlds and always tells a good story. The Dread Empire’s Fall has a lot in common with other series of its kind—notably, David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. It is less wedded to the C. S. Forester model than Weber’s work and has a harder edge than Bujold’s novels. The premise is that an ancient race got to all the wormholes first and imposed a ruthless clan-based aristocracy on all the sentient species in the galaxy. Wen the last alien overlord dies, chaos erupts in the empire. Think Russia in the post-Soviet era. The series is held together by two strong characters, the second son of a mercantile family whose talents are unappreciated by the aristocratic military leadership, and a woman from the mean streets masquerading as an aristocrat. Both are highly skilled starship commanders. They are attracted to one another but also highly competitive. This frenemy relationship keeps our interest through the series. If epic space opera is your thing, you will be hooked by The Praxis.
Walter Jon Williams is a journeyman author of science fiction. He is well versed in all the tropes of the genre, builds consistent fictional worlds and always tells a good story. The Dread Empire’s Fall has a lot in common with other series of its kind—notably, David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. It is less wedded to the C. S. Forester model than Weber’s work and has a harder edge than Bujold’s novels. The premise is that an ancient race got to all the wormholes first and imposed a ruthless clan-based aristocracy on all the sentient species in the galaxy. Wen the last alien overlord dies, chaos erupts in the empire. Think Russia in the post-Soviet era. The series is held together by two strong characters, the second son of a mercantile family whose talents are unappreciated by the aristocratic military leadership, and a woman from the mean streets masquerading as an aristocrat. Both are highly skilled starship commanders. They are attracted to one another but also highly competitive. This frenemy relationship keeps our interest through the series. If epic space opera is your thing, you will be hooked by The Praxis.
jmeston's review against another edition
4.0
Exciting adventure. The long set up is worth it. Heart pounding action by the last third. The main characters have high quality flaws to go along with all their brilliance and chutzpah.
eisn's review against another edition
4.0
Really solid military SF story. It really captures a military stuck in stasis.
The only thing I actually disliked was the secondary's character origin story. It didn't bring anything to the main plot other than padding.
The only thing I actually disliked was the secondary's character origin story. It didn't bring anything to the main plot other than padding.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
3.0
The Praxis is grand space opera with the fatal flaw of being glacially paced. For thousands of years, the galactic empire has been dominated by the all-powerful Shaa, who haver gathered the lesser races beneath them. But the Shaa have dwindled, and their last survivor is dying. Something like 80% of the book is taken up with the mundane business of main characters in these last days of peace. Martinez is a junior officer in the navy, maneuvering to advance his own career and his noble house. Sula is another junior officer, who's disgraced name hides the darker secret that she's an imposter, and the real Lady Sula is dead.
The story ambles through the non-events of these non-entities lives, until the 80% mark, where it turns out that one of the races of the Praxis has planned a coup to make themselves the new immortal masters. Martinez is the only one to spot the coup going off, while lucky coincidence saves the Home Fleet from the rebellion. Then there's a titanic battle that sees the good guys losing, but our heroes advancing, ready for book 2.
The pacing is awful. If there's any saving grace, it's that it does help set up the general incompetence of all involved. The Shaa have ruled for 3400 years, and the closest thing to battles in all that time have been bombarding much more primitive races. The finely tuned antimatters weapons have never been fired in anger, and the navy is full of deadwood, incompetent third sons, and officers more interested in sports than tactics. No one knows what they're doing in a way that very reminiscent of the slaughters of the opening days of the First World War.
At the same time, the other saving grace of space opera, a fantastic setting, is barely used. Galactic politics are another top-heavy bureaucracy with aristocratic elegance, without the delightful tense fragility of say, Tsarist Russia, or the absurdity of the late Austro-Hungarian empire. There are many alien species, but our characters are human, and don't even get a good evolutionarily derived stereotype.
I'll probably pick up book two from the library to see if it's better now that the shooting has started, but for now I'm notably bored.
The story ambles through the non-events of these non-entities lives, until the 80% mark, where it turns out that one of the races of the Praxis has planned a coup to make themselves the new immortal masters. Martinez is the only one to spot the coup going off, while lucky coincidence saves the Home Fleet from the rebellion. Then there's a titanic battle that sees the good guys losing, but our heroes advancing, ready for book 2.
The pacing is awful. If there's any saving grace, it's that it does help set up the general incompetence of all involved. The Shaa have ruled for 3400 years, and the closest thing to battles in all that time have been bombarding much more primitive races. The finely tuned antimatters weapons have never been fired in anger, and the navy is full of deadwood, incompetent third sons, and officers more interested in sports than tactics. No one knows what they're doing in a way that very reminiscent of the slaughters of the opening days of the First World War.
At the same time, the other saving grace of space opera, a fantastic setting, is barely used. Galactic politics are another top-heavy bureaucracy with aristocratic elegance, without the delightful tense fragility of say, Tsarist Russia, or the absurdity of the late Austro-Hungarian empire. There are many alien species, but our characters are human, and don't even get a good evolutionarily derived stereotype.
I'll probably pick up book two from the library to see if it's better now that the shooting has started, but for now I'm notably bored.
kake's review against another edition
DNF: Got to the end of the Kindle sample and was just finding the writing too bland to continue. Very interesting premise, but very little real feel of the world in the writing.
milos_dumbraci's review against another edition
2.0
decentă, nimic remarcabil pozitiv sau negativ. o carte ce mi-ar fi plăcut în adolescență, dar acum nu am putut trece de jumătate.
noragracereads's review against another edition
2.0
I stopped reading The Praxis after the fifth use of the word "lush" to describe a woman's body. (So I read about 30% of the novel.) Regardless of the discomforting objectification of women, even when they're doing their highly skilled jobs, The Praxis lacks the world building that I think is necessary at the start of any sci-fi novel. I felt thrust into a complex setting without much explanation along the way. The Praxis also lacks something that makes it "The Praxis"/ "Dread Empire's Fall" like the way lightsabers make Star Wars Star Wars or the spice makes Dune Dune. It felt too generically science fiction instead of something truly independent and unique. I think Williams tried to go for something as grand as Dune but missed the target entirely.
One of the reasons why I love and appreciate sci-fi novels like Dune is because of the way it feels like it was simply written from a human's perspective, not specifically a man's (or a woman's). I don't know if I can properly convey what I'm thinking about this into words... It's just that science fiction is a genre that isn't specifically catered to any sex. At least, it shouldn't be. The genre was, after all, invented by a woman, Mary Shelley. I don't think The Praxis is meant to be male gender exclusive, especially since one of the two main characters is a woman, but even when reading her scenes I definitely felt like it was meant to be read from a male perspective. Good novels are the ones that examine human nature as it applies to everyone. This means that authors have to write with what's in their head and not what's between their legs. The Praxis isn't the only sci-fi novel with this problem, it's just unfortunate that I expected to really enjoy it but was unpleasantly surprised by how alienated I felt by the writing.
One of the reasons why I love and appreciate sci-fi novels like Dune is because of the way it feels like it was simply written from a human's perspective, not specifically a man's (or a woman's). I don't know if I can properly convey what I'm thinking about this into words... It's just that science fiction is a genre that isn't specifically catered to any sex. At least, it shouldn't be. The genre was, after all, invented by a woman, Mary Shelley. I don't think The Praxis is meant to be male gender exclusive, especially since one of the two main characters is a woman, but even when reading her scenes I definitely felt like it was meant to be read from a male perspective. Good novels are the ones that examine human nature as it applies to everyone. This means that authors have to write with what's in their head and not what's between their legs. The Praxis isn't the only sci-fi novel with this problem, it's just unfortunate that I expected to really enjoy it but was unpleasantly surprised by how alienated I felt by the writing.
mediumdave's review against another edition
4.0
Very good sci-fi. Hundreds of years after most of the galaxy got their asses kicked, everyone is part of the Praxis. This isn't a book that takes place as humanity is defending itself; we already lost and assimilated.
It's real good setting, lot's of good world building, a couple of solid leads. Honestly, the only real problem I had was a repeated flashback delve into the backstory of one of the leads. I thought it was clear early on what was going to happen, but 50 plus pages were spent on something that could've been done, all at once, in a single chapter.
Other than that, I was a huge fan and have already added the next book to my Amazon wish list.
It's real good setting, lot's of good world building, a couple of solid leads. Honestly, the only real problem I had was a repeated flashback delve into the backstory of one of the leads. I thought it was clear early on what was going to happen, but 50 plus pages were spent on something that could've been done, all at once, in a single chapter.
Other than that, I was a huge fan and have already added the next book to my Amazon wish list.