The Risen Empire - Succession Author:Scott Westerfeld From Scott Westerfeld, the acclaimed author of Fine Prey, Polymorph, and Evolution's Darling (Philip K. Dick Award special citation and a New York Times Notable Book), comes a sweeping space opera, The Risen Empire.The undead Emperor has ruled his mighty interstellar empire of eighty human worlds for sixteen hundred years. He and his sister, the... more » Child Empress, who is eternally a little girl, are worshiped as living gods. No one can touch them. Not until the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship the AI compound minds of planetary extent. Cool, relentless fanatics, the Rix seek to end, by any means necessary, the Emperor's tyranny and supplant it with an eternal cybernetic dynasty of their own.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, and they each will hold the fate of the empire in their hands.« less
I think that objectively, this was a better book than his "Specials" series, but somehow, it just didn't grab me emotionally. I'm still going to read the sequel, since I already have it.