Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 For fans only August 25, 2008
MacD
While an interesting product for fans of the EVE game, other readers will probably find this novel lacking. In particular, scene setting seems lacking - why describe what a ship/space station/city/planet looks like, when the reader has probably already seen it online? Many of the characters are sparingly described, either because it is assumed the reader is already familiar with them from the game or other fiction, or simply due to a lack of space. Throughout, pieces of background exposition are awkwardly thrown into the narrative, to explain to non-eve players what is going on.
Altogether, not a stand-alone piece of SF fiction.
 Great standalone novel, but people familiar with the game will appreciate wider impact on backstory. August 12, 2008
E. Swartz (Missouri, USA)
So I read EVE: The Empyrean Age by Tony Gonzales, now a published author who is also the Lead Writer for EVE Online at Crowd Control Productions. Before the novel, he was known for his two novellas set in the game universe, Theodicy and Ruthless. This latest work details the events approaching Zero Hour, the momentous battles that kicked off the war between the four empires of New Eden.
As stated in the previous post, I normally make it a point to avoid books based on entertainment franchises. God knows the world would not miss the dozens of Warcraft and Star Wars novels which occupy metres of shelf space in otherwise reputable bookstores. "Oh no! The Burning Legion threatens to destroy Azeroth!" "Oh no! A heretofore unknown Sith lord threatens the love child of Yoda and a heretofore unknown but beautiful mysterious rogue female internally conflicted jedi! Again!" Even worse are the thousand-odd extended synopses of Star Trek episodes that clog the racks of used book stores everywhere.
I digresss.
The focus of the book is on major characters, rather than events as such, which is refreshing given that nearly all of the backstory for EVE Online's latest expansion pack has come in the form of news bulletins. The war is accepted as inevitable, but outside of the novel, the reader knows only as much about, say, the attack at CONCORD headquarters in Yulai as news agencies are able to provide. The means and motives behind the actions of key figures in New Eden (and sometimes the actions themselves) were entirely opaque to the outside world.
Empyrean Age follows Keitan Yun, the Minmatar Republic's ambassador to CONCORD; Tibus Heth, a Caldari Constructions worker with revolution on his mind and a sinister backer; "Marius," the clone of a deceased Amarrian potentate who has no memory of his past life; Jamyl Sarum, the demigoddess destined to lead Amarr to universal supremacy; and Korvin Lears, a capsuleer in the Federation Navy. Sometimes this focus on so many different storylines causes mild dissonance, but any meandering in plot direction is minor if it occurs at all.
The fact that this story highlights perhaps two months of the history of the four Empires, and that that history must necessarily continue after its end, could frustrate some readers. I know that Marius's story in particular lacked a satisfying conclusion, and the omnipotent narration could have been put to good use clearing up much of the mystery about his past. The book does not lend itself to a sequel, so I don't hold out much hope for ever finding out more about him. The other four major arcs were resolved as well as they could have been, so this lapse was fairly disappointing.
Though its focus was on only a few people, Empyrean Age was careful to make clear the broad implications of their actions. It read like historical fiction rather than sci-fi; at its heart, it was a story about humanity rather than technology, the horror of war rather than the mechanics of plasma rifles. In this regard, it mimics EVE Online, which is widely regarded to be a political game masquerading as sci-fi. That humans now have spaceships is largely irrelevant; they are still human. The notable exception to this, one that is covered extensively in the book, is the moral obligation of the immortal capsuleer to his crew and to his duty.
Every one of Empyrean Age's 517 pages feels fresh, interesting, and relevant to the story, and nowhere does it lean on information that could only be gleaned from an outside source. Despite its basis in a game universe, it could very well stand alone as just a good book. Anyone reading the book without outside knowledge of EVE would definitely be puzzled by the last two pages, however, which bring to mind about a hundred questions that I will be asking in a spoiler thread on the EVE forums.
Anyway, time for the cliffs notes for the people who don't like walls of text:
------Pros------
* Well-written, deep story.
* Answers a lot of questions surrounding the events of EVE Online: The Empyrean Age.
* Good stand-alone read.
* Nice cover art.
------Cons------
* TYPOS! Far too many typos and misspellings for a published work. "Ragnarok," the ship class of the Minmatar titan, is consistently misspelled many tiems. I'm not even counting all the ways the redcoats butcher words like "color" and "savory."
* "Marius" story arc lacks closure.
Rating: 9/10, for showing that game novels can be inspirational.
 empyrean age comments August 5, 2008
R. Wydler Haduch
simplistic, cliche ridden, adolescent, illogical, one dimensional and no dimensional. makes for a great doorstop.Eve: The Empyrean Age
Good Story and an important read to the serious EVE player July 24, 2008
Mr. G. Reynolds (London,UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you've been playing eve for a while, you will know all about the ideology and politics between the four main races. This book brings them together in an interesting and cohesive way. I guess in a way it sews the plotlines all together and is a good exciting read for the Eve player.
But, for those that are not eve players, picking up this book cold, they will likely find it a little too descriptive, which it may have to be for the new reader, and perhaps this is why Tony went to the lengths he did. For the eve player, the descriptive is simply an affirmation of our knowledge, setting the scene, as it were... but the cold reader might not realise the importance of certain elements without having played the game first, thus, significance might be lost.
The book reminds me in a way of Dune by Frank Herbert. Dune is an excellent read; descriptive just enough to titalate the imagination, and puts you on a wild ride through interstellar politics, racial tension, religious beliefs and all out combat in a massive space-scape. The Empyrean Age attempts to do the same and, in my book, passes, but only just.
 Slightly turgid writing, but fun read July 24, 2008
DGT (London)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am not a game player and had never heard of this until the book kept appearing in my Amazon recommendations. I am therefore reviewing it, as I must, as a stand-alone sf novel. In many ways it is reminiscent of the old "Golden Age" of sf, E. E. (Doc) Smith and the like, or, more recently, Kevin Anderson's Saga of 7 Suns, and it shares many of Anderson's strengths and weaknesses. The stage is a group of humanity cut off from the mainstream and confined to a mere 5000 star systems. The plot concerns wars, their preludes and sequels, and the characters are largely cardboard. There is also rather too much going on - OK, that happens in real life, but it does make a novel hard to follow, with leaps from one story to another every few pages, especially if you cannot read the book in one sitting.
I agree with another reviewer that the writing is a bit hard-going, especially compared with that from masters like Stross or MacLeod, but this is the author's first novel, and I hope he will take on board any constructive criticism he receives, since I feel sure that his next novel could be a much better read.
Meanwhile this one is not bad. Some passages apart, I mostly enjoyed it, and I guess trying to keep all the different stories straight must have been good brain training! Don't open it expecting a masterpiece and you won't be disappointed.
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