pFrom the acclaimed 1 iNew York Timesi bestselling author of iEvolution's Darlingi Philip K. Dick Award special citation and a iNew York Timesi notable book and iUgliesi, iPrettiesi, and iSpecialsi, comes a sweeping epic. iThei iRisen Empirei is the first great space opera of the twenty-first century. pThe undead Emperor has ruled his mighty interstellar empire of eighty human worlds for sixteen hundred years. Because he can grant a form of eternal life-after-death, creating an elite known as the Risen, his power is absolute. He and his sister, the Child Empress, who is eternally a little girl, are worshipped as living gods. pThe Rix are machine-augmented humans who worship very different gods AI compound minds of planetary size. Cool, relentless fanatics, their only goal is to propagate such AIs. They seek to end the Emperor's prolonged rule, and supplant it with an eternal cybernetic dynasty. They begin by taking the Child Empress hostage. Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate