A great start for a new saga. A tipycal book of Scalzi: fun, action, conspirations... good job. Waiting for the next one.
Review in english: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-collapsing-empire-john-scalzi_13.html
Review in spanish: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-collapsing-empire-john-scalzi.html

<i>I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler free.</i>

<b>Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible -- until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war -- and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal -- but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals -- a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency -- are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.*</b>



I love John Scalzi's writing. Granted, Ihave only read <i>Redshirts</i>, but his style is so fun and engaging with just the right amount of humor and certain doom. His love of and passion for science fiction are easily seen in his stories. <i>The Collapsing Empire</i> is the first book in a new series set in a new universe -- people like me who haven't read his well-regarded <i>Old Man's War</i> series will not feel lost jumping right in and fans of those books will probably feel right at home in this new universe.

What makes this book so compelling is the wonderful cast of characters -- of all the main characters we meet in<i>The Collapsing Empire</i>, I don't think there is a single truly weak link. Lady Kiva is probably my favorite. The sweary, lewd, shrewd-minded representetive of the House of Lagos is not the kind of person you would want to know in real life but is just so fun to read about. The newly crowned empress Cardenia is incredibly charming because she's just like any of us if we suddenly found ourselves the head of a galactic empire. Her strength and weaknesses are just so human and easy to identify with -- this is a consistent characteristic between all the characters in the book, 'heroes' and 'villains' alike.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the technology. This is not a Star Trek or Star Wars universe where ease of travel and communication allows humans to reach the furthest points in the galaxy and create a homogenous community: this is an incredibly limited world where mankind bends to the limits of physics. Mankind has reached a point in its evolution in which it can crawl through space and is at the complete mercy of the Flow. There is no faster than light travel, there is no faster than light communications; if the Flow disappears, as it has in the past, everyone is in serious trouble. I find this so interesting and haven't read anything quite like it. I'm so excited to see where he goes with this concept and how he builds upon what he has established here.

Ultimately, what we have here is an exciting beginning to what promises to be a fun and innovative space opera. Full of Scalzi's usual humor, wit, and excellent worldbuilding, <i>The Collapsing Empire</i> will be a joy to established Scalzi readers and newcomers to the author's novels as well.

Rating: 4/5

<b>*copy courtesy of Goodreads</b>

In a galaxy far, far away (or at least an empire spread over a very large tract of space), an event is about to happen which will threaten the fragile hold humans have over this section of the universe.
The communities, only one of which is on a planet with a breathable atmosphere, are kept under control because of their dependency on one another. Their link is through ‘The Flow’ which allows rapid space travel. But ‘The Flow’ is about to make a radical shift, threatening to isolate each world. It is an event which spells disaster for what is left of human-kind, and signals the collapse of a powerful empire.
The Collapsing Empire begins as if someone is casually describing the events unfolding on the beleaguered starship Tell Me Another One (all the starships are named after songs) to an audience keen for a thrilling tale. The narrating voice reads like a running commentary delivered with the driest wit and is very dynamic.
The banter which sparks between the captain and her chief mutineer, at the beginning of The Collapsing Empire is priceless. John Scalzi just knows how to craft some terrific characters, the bad girls of which absolutely have you rooting for them. Sometimes it is hard to tell who the bad guys or girls are, because this is a movable feast depending on the situation.
The story is the most fantastic romp, complete with pirates, scoundrels, and a very reluctant empress who is a little cannier than people give her credit for.
There is some technobabble, but the story is written in a way that makes it highly accessible to new readers because Scalzi doesn’t forget to fill it with interesting people, interacting with each other like normal people do, only with tons of panache. The dialogue is also a really good way of adding to the world building.
Every gender gets a fair hearing in this novel, although the women definitely come out on top and not just metaphorically given one noble lady's voracious sexual appetite.
This is why The Collapsing Empire, is the type of book someone who would not normally consider reading scifi should give a go.

Hmm where to begin with this one?

The Collapsing Empire is the weakest of the four books by Scalzi that I've read. Its a novel about the political machinations of the super rich, their schemes and the downfall of their Empire.

It follows a group of planets which have been colonised by humans who are united under the rule of the Emperox of the Interdependency. These planets are united by a mysterious force called The Flow which has made faster than light travel a reality. Now The Flow is becoming unstable and acting in ways it hasn't in recent history, a fact which may threaten the survival of the Interpendency and of human life on these planets.

The world is supposedly no longer heternormative and same-sex couples are totally accepted, in fact the reigning female Emperox is told multiple times that it's totally okay if she wants to marry another female. This was initially quite exciting but in the end it felt like mere lip service to the concept because there was not one single same-sex relationship in the book nor one character who had a preference for same-sex relationships or relationships with males and females. EVERYONE WAS STRAIGHT. I'm sorry but you can't tell me that being gay or bi is totally fine when EVERYONE IS STRAIGHT, if you're not showing me on the page its just mere platitudes.

Also can I ask why there is no mention of trans or non-binary people? What about the ace and aro communities? Do these people just disappear when humans colonise space or...? I appreciate that Scalzi is trying to depart from the heteronormativity shown in the previous three books he wrote, I just don't feel he's doing a good job.

Scalzi's typical humour is indeed present but it felt like perhaps his dry wit either wasn't as effective here or there was simply less of it as if the book was attempting to strike a more serious tone than Scalzi's previous works. I get that this was probably intentional given the story but I did miss Scalzi's signature wit and the light tone he can strike even in tense situations.

On the plus side back room scheming, I love a few back room deals and a world of political bargaining, completely my thing so I enjoyed that aspect. I also liked the strong female characters that we had, nearly all the MCs were female. (I also read the new Emperox as PoC because her surname was Wu, however that was never confirmed on the page so I'm not giving Scalzi credit for that one.)

Overall, the story was interesting if underwhelming and could've done with a little bit more space law, cool tech, actual queer representation and a little bit more in the way of scientific explanation.

I received a free digital copy via netgalley for review, as always my reviews are unaffected by this and remain brutally honest, just like they are for books I purchase myself.

This is easily Scalzi's best book since Zoe's Tale.
The story is set in the Interdependency which is a collective of planets controlled by aristocrats and guilds and connected by a FTL network called the Flow. We arrive to find this fictional world in the midst of political upheaval and finding itself on the brink of disaster. Unusually for a book with many point-of-view characters I enjoyed spending time with all of them. It has to be said, though, that Kiva Lagos is my favourite. I definitely want more of her in the rest of the series.
Indeed the only real flaw of the book is that it feels very much like the set up for a series. I can't wait for the next one to come out so Scalzi's got me hooked already.

Después de la buenísima impresión que me llevé con Miniatures, tenía ganas de volver a leer a John Scalzi en un formato algo más largo, para que le diera tiempo a desarrollar una historia.

The Collapsing Empire aúna todas las virtudes de Scalzi así como algunos de sus defectos. Como era de esperar, es una lectura ágil y muy divertida, aunque la premisa no sea original.

La expansión de cualquier sociedad a través de la galaxia tiene como primer impedimento las increíbles distancias entre zonas habitables. No es la primera vez ni será la última que se recurre a tecnología o a leyes físicas poco conocidas para estos desplazamientos (sin ir más lejos, los relés de masa de Mass Effect). Si a esto añadimos una sociedad casi feudal basada en monopolios y aranceles al comercio, tenemos el caldo de cultivo perfecto para una space opera ligera con un poco de crítica social (pero solo un poco, no sea que se nos atragante).

Si os suena lo de la sociedad feudal en el espacio es porque ya tenemos bastante referentes en este campo, como las obras de Ian Sales, A Prospect of War y A Conflict of Orders, sin ir más lejos.

Entonces, si ni el desarrollo ni el escenario son originales, ¿qué es lo que merece la pena en este libro? Pues claramente, la forma de contarlo. The Collapsing Empire es una novela palomitera en el más amplio sentido de la palabra, con intrigas espaciales, persecuciones, peligro.... y mucho mucho humor. Tanto que en ocasiones se me escapaba una carcajada mientras lo leía. Le perdono a Scalzi incluso que sus personajes sean arquetipos andantes, porque consigue divertirme sin más complicación.

Lo que no me sentó tan bien es el precipitado final, que me dejó pensando si nos encontramos ante la primera parte de una historia o simplemente ante un apuro por las fechas de entrega. No he encontrado información al respecto, así que avisados quedáis.

5/10

I've never read any John Scalzi before and I saw this on NetGalley and decided it would be a good entry into his work (free) and a good indication on whether to read some of his other stuff like Old Man's War.

As you might be able to tell from the rating, I didn't overly like this book. The plot strands were a bit thin, the characters didn't jump off the page and felt a bit formulaic. It doesn't help that my only real comparison for this is the Expanse series which has style and quality characters in spades. Only a few days have passed since I finished it and I'm already struggling to fully remember the names and details.

That being said, Scalzi is a good writer in that at times I did want to read more and find out bits about the universe(s) and what might happen. There were some interesting ideas but they didn't overly work out in the end for me. I'm sure I'll read some of his over work and not judge him on this one alone.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy for review

On a side note; don't send a terrible formatted document to review. I even emailed NetGalley about it and they passed on my information but I've finished the book and heard nothing further. Sentences cut off and dropped onto a new line is annoying but words being cut off and dropped on a new line kills the flow. Maybe this has something to do with the overall score too?

The Collapsing Empire is the first novel in a new space opera series by John Scalzi. I don't read a lot of space opera: I've always found disbelief hard to suspend for interstellar settings, especially for serious books. However, John Scalzi is a writer whose books are fun first of all, and then about ideas. They may have serious thoughts, but they do not take themselves seriously. That makes all the difference.

The Collapsing Empire deals with the interstellar elephant in the room in its own way: humanity hasn't discovered technology that makes faster than light travel possible. Rather, it has stumbled upon 'The Flow' - a network of naturally occurring worm holes (by another name) which happens to connect various places in space.

The novel starts with an prologue that very much sets the scene: a mutiny is under way on a space transport ship. The narrative voice is witty, the characters snappy and a bit laid back in the way they speak and face adversity (and death), and suddenly, the mutiny is interrupted when their ship finds itself evicted from the Flow in the middle of empty space, a completely unheard-of calamity...

Meanwhile, in the central Hub of mankind's empire (a giant man-made space habitat which sits at a place where many strands of The Flow happen to meet), the Emperox is about to die, and his only surviving daughter (born out of wedlock) is about to succeed to the Throne, reluctantly. Just before he dies, her father hints that trouble is on the horizon...

The Empire has a Senate and an Emperox and a Church, balancing each other for institutional power, but really, it's a family game, with inherited monopolies on products and industries for each dynasty of robber barons. It's hard not to see some of this setup as a Game-of-Thrones-in-space, but John Scalzi doesn't write his novels to be pompous, serious, or gritty, so the story never feels like a Song-of-Ice-and-Fire ripoff. In terms of tone, think Joss Whedon or Mira Grant, not GRRM.

It's an immensely readable novel. Fun, tongue in cheek, never boring. At times, it feels a bit like a giant metaphor for politicians' response to climate change, but it's not a deep novel. Space adventures with a group of fun snarky people - who wouldn't enjoy that?

John Scalzi is a worthy heir to the SF Grand Masters. He is working in the tradition of Heinlein and Azimov (the Good Doctor's "Foundation" series particularly springs to mind) - but, in my view, with more well-rounded characterisation. Each of his protagonists is strongly delineated and, despite the essential seriousness of the theme - the splintering of a Galactic Empire - Scalzi's trademark wit pervades the book. In fact, Eric Frank Russell's or Robert Sheckley's light but intelligent approach to Space Opera might make for more apt comparison. I have yet to encounter a John Scalzi book I haven't enjoyed immensely - and The Collapsing Empire is no exception. Highly recommended!

Absolutely nothing wrong with this, but nothing really stands out, either.

The Flow (think natural hyperspace highway) is about to collapse! And it gets worse! Not only will you be cut off from all your favorite interstellar holiday destinations, no, you're also gonna die, because no one system can subsist on its own. That seems a bit implausible, but oh well. Anyway! Because this universe is really bad at science, only a handful of people know about it, and now some of them are trying to save as many people as possible, while another set are maneuvering to get on top of the new world order.

At least in theory because this book is actually about how the information gets to the people who need to know about it rather than about the actual saving of the galaxy. I assume that will get sorted out in the sequel.

Plot moves at a decent clip, writing is functional with a pinch of humor, characters... well, there's one foul-mouthed happy-go-lucky psychopath with a heart of gold that injects some chutzpah into the proceedings, and she even has an eely former lover antagonist to foil off of, but everyone else is fairly forgettable. Worldbuilding, aside from the whole Flow business, couldn't be more standard.

So this is a moderately entertaining and completely straightforward space opera. If that's what you're looking for, you could do a lot worse... but then you could also do a little better (say The Expanse or the Vorkosigan series).

There comes a point in a book - it's normally about 3/4 of the way through - when one becomes aware that what one thought was going to be a complete story is in fact only the start of something bigger: a trilogy perhaps, or maybe something even longer. And this realisation engenders mixed feelings: annoyance, because why couldn't the publisher have told you, pleasure, because one is enjoying the book and it's great that there are going to be more, and impatience, because now one has to wait for who knows how long to get the next installment.
This is the case with this book. I really enjoyed it and am left waiting for more.

Imagine a far-future story of political maneuvering by interstellar nobility in the mode of Lois McMaster Bujold or Catherine Asaro. Season it with a touch of the Foundation universe and a nuance of John Hemry. This sounds like the ingredients for a good read. Give it to a talented “word chef” like John Scalzi, with his trademark sense of humor and skill with plots and characters, though, and he will turn it into a SUPER read.
In the Collapsing Empire multiple human-settled worlds are governed by the Interdependency. In addition to the ruling emperox (Yes, the title is emperox, not emperor. I have no idea why.), there is an executive committee composed of representatives of the main power centers: the guilds, the parliament, and the church. The Interdependency enables and controls travel between the worlds, using the Flow, “a river of space-time that makes faster-than-light travel possible”, but there is evidence the Flow may be breaking up. This would threaten the future of humanity, whose worlds are truly “interdependent”. Various forces are attempting to learn more about the phenomenon either to protect humanity’s future or to keep the Flow’s break-up secret long enough to turn the information to their own advantage.
In this environment Cardenia Wu-Patrick becomes Experox Grayland and has to figure out how to save her life, her throne, and humanity and also avoid having to marry that obnoxious Amit Nohamapetan. Young physicist Marce Clarement is trying to help his physicist father, the original discoverer of the Flow break-up, by getting accurate information to the Experox while keeping it from landing in the wrong hands. Lady Kiva Lagos, on the other hand, only wants to protect her family’s business interest, and, oh, yes, keep up her active sex life. They all have lots of challenges on all fronts. It makes for a good story.
Scalzi laces his plot with plenty of humor, some of it gentle, some of it barbed, and some of it rather broad. I enjoyed little exchanges like this one between the emperox and her aide: “
“[T]he executive committee…wants to marry me off.”
“They want to preserve an existing alliance.”
“An alliance with terrible people”
“Really nice people don’t usually accrue power.”
“You’re saying I’m kind of an outlier,” Cardenia said.
“I don’t recall saying you were nice.”
Scalzi’s characters come alive much better than is common in space opera. I enjoyed getting to know them and even to care about them, from spunky Cardenia, who had never expected or wanted to become experox, to Kiva, the potty-mouthed member of a powerful guild family. (SF readers who decry the relative deficit of strong female characters in the genre, take note. In retrospect I realize that most of the really memorable characters in the book are women.) The author takes pains to make the people of this world act human, with small touches like a moving portrayal of the grief of a family whose daughter is killed during an assassination attempt.
Providing adequate technical and scientific details to build a credible picture of a fictional future without interfering with the flow of the story is a perennial challenge for SF writers, and Scalzi strikes a good balance. There is enough description and explanation to make me feel he has thought about the Flow, the spaceships, etc., but I never felt I had wandered into a science text or engineering manual.
Since this is the beginning of a new series, not all the problems are solved or questions answered at the end of this book. There is enough of a sense of closure to avoid a total “cliffhanger” feeling…but a clever ending scene that makes the reader want to abduct the author and make him sit down to write the next installment RIGHT NOW. Scalzi says he has committed to it and even has a working title, but it is not due until 2019. Not soon enough, John; not soon enough.

I really enjoyed this book. It did take me a little while to get into it - I would say the first quarter of the book I wasn't fully engaged with but after that I started to really enjoy it. If you are a fan of Scalzi other sci-fi series then I think you will enjoy this. I thought the world was an interesting one and well written, while the plot is engaging throughout. The characters were great as well. Overall I enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to seeing where the sequels will go. I recommend checking it out.

Titel: The Collapsing Empire (zur Zeit kein deutscher Titel)
Autor: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller
Jahr: 2017
Durchschnittliche Lesedauer: 10 Stunden
Kurz und Knapp: Der Beginn eines neuen SciFi Zyklus, der seine Protagonisten in Stellung bringt, aber sonst mit nicht viel aufwartet
Wertung: 3.5 / 5

Beschreibung:
Kommt die größte Bedrohung aus dem Inneren? In der fernen Zukunft hat die Menschheit die Erde verlassen, um ein glorreiches Reich zu schaffen. Jetzt steht dieses interstellare Netz von Welten vor einer Katastrophe - können aber drei Individuen ihre Menschen retten? Die Vorposten des Imperiums sind aufeinander angewiesen: auf Ressourcen, auf einen Schutz vor Krieg und auf eine Art, wie seine Herrscher Kontrolle ausüben können. Dies beruht auf extradimensionalen Bahnen zwischen den Sternen, die die Welten verbinden. Aber 'Der Fluss' ändert seinen Kurs, der jede Kolonie in tödliche Isolation stürzen könnte. Ein Wissenschaftler wird sein Leben riskieren, um den Herrscher des Imperiums zu informieren. Ein Spross eines Kaufmannshauses stolpert auf Verschwörer, die Macht suchen. Und die neue Kaiserin der Interdependenz muss gegen Lügen, Rebellion und Verrat kämpfen. Doch während sie daran arbeiten, die Zivilisation am Rande des Zusammenbruchs zu retten, haben andere sehr unterschiedliche Pläne. . .

Review (könnte leichte Spoiler enthalten):
Ich habe mir bereits einige Werke von John Scalzi zu Gemüte geführt und war bisher immer positiv überrascht. Zuvor war mir der Name nur in Buchhandlungen aufgefallen, jedoch wirkten die deutschen Cover wie Standardwerke, die mich nicht zum Kauf animierten. Dann zeigte mir das Internet allerdings “Der wilde Planet” (Fuzzy Nation). Während das deutsche Cover auch hier mit einem “Das Buch ist Scifi, deswegen gehört da auch ein Raumschiff drauf”daher kommt, zeigte das Originalbild den Helden des Buches, der vom original Kampfstern Galaktika stammen könnte, wie er einem Fuzzy (dargestellt als Mischung aus Schimpanse und Katze) beim Inspizieren einer Frucht zuguckt. Im Hintergrund eine Mischung aus Dschungel mit einem geparkten Raumgleiter. Das wirkt nicht so verzweifelt wie in Deutschland und die Art des Bildes erinnert an die Science Fiction Romane von damals. Denn dort hat der Roman seinen Ursprung. Er ist als eine Art Reboot der Hugo-nominierten 1962 Science Fiction Geschichte “Little Fuzzy” von H. Beam Piper.
Ich wusste nicht, was mich erwarten würde und war dermaßen überrascht, dass mich eine Geschichte, deren große Actionszene eine Gerichtsverhandlung am Ende des Buches war, so unterhalten konnte. Es war wie das eisgekühlte Getränk deiner Wahl am heißesten Tag des Jahres. Es traf genau den Punkt.
Danach habe ich noch “Androidenträume” und “Agent der Sterne” gelesen, die bei mir das gleiche Gefühl hinterlassen haben.

So habe ich mich sehr auf das neue Machwerk von John Scalzi gefreut als ich es gesehen habe: The Collapsing Empire. Und dann habe ich den Roman gelesen.
Ich liebe den Schreibstil von John Scalzi, der auch bei den ernstesten Situationen eine Prise Humor mit einbringt und auch der Roman ist gut geschrieben. Man will weiterlesen. Und hier kommt auch schon mein Problem: er endet, bevor er richtig beginnt. Dieser Roman krankt an der “Wir müssen unbedingt mindestens 3 Bände rausbringen”-Psychose, die im Buchhandel leider überall zu sehen ist. Wir bekommen hier die Protagonisten vorgestellt und die Situation mit “Dem Fluss”, sowie die Grundsteine der Intrigen, die an ein Game of Thrones oder Dune Light denken lassen mit Bezug auf unsere Welt nach dem Jahre 2000. Und dann ist er vorbei ohne wirklich etwas abgeschlossen zu haben. Mich stört das im Moment sehr bei Büchern. Man denkt, man hat ein vollständiges Produkt, muss dann aber auf die Fortsetzungen warten. Hey, ich habe mir ein neues Computerspiel gekauft. Wie, ich muss DLC im Werte von 100 Euro kaufen, um das Ende zu sehen?

Sollten alle “Empire”-Teile vorliegen, werde ich wohl ein Binge-Reading der Romane machen. Unter Umständen geht dann auch die Wertung um 0,5 bis 1 Punkt weiter hoch. Aber zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt ist mein Ratschlag: lest euch nur Kapitel 1 durch. Das funktioniert prima als alleinstehende Kurzgeschichte. Bei dem Rest würde ich eine Leseempfehlung geben, sobald die anderen Teile da sind. In der Zwischenzeit sind noch genug andere Werke von Scalzi vorhanden, um die Zeit zu überbrücken :-)

________
English Version:

Title: The Collapsing Empire
Author: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller
Year: 2017
Average reading time: 10 hours
In short: The beginning of a new SciFi cycle, which puts its protagonists in position, but otherwise does not much else
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Description
Does the biggest threat lie within? In the far future, humanity has left Earth to create a glorious empire. Now this interstellar network of worlds faces disaster - but can three individuals save their people? The empire''s outposts are utterly dependent on each other for resources, a safeguard against war, and a way its rulers can exert control. This relies on extra-dimensional pathways between the stars, connecting worlds. But 'The Flow' is changing course, which could plunge every colony into fatal isolation. A scientist will risk his life to inform the empire's ruler. A scion of a Merchant House stumbles upon conspirators seeking power. And the new Empress of the Interdependency must battle lies, rebellion and treason. Yet as they work to save a civilization on the brink of collapse, others have very different plans . . .

Review (may contain light spoilers):
I have already read some works by John Scalzi and have always been pleasantly surprised. Previously, I had noticed the name only in bookshops, but the German covers looked like standard works, which did not animate me to pruchase them. Then the Internet showed me "Der Wilde Planet" (Fuzzy Nation). While the German cover again shows us a "This book is Scifi, therefore we need a generic space ship on it", the original illustration showed the hero of the book, who could be from the original Battlestar Galactic, with a fuzzy (pictured as a mixture of Chimpanzee and cat) inspecting a fruit. In the background a mixture of jungle with a parked glider. This does not seem as desperate as in Germany and the nature of the picture is reminiscent of the science fiction novels of old times. For there the novel has its origin. It is a sort of reboot of the Hugo-nominated 1962 science fiction story "Little Fuzzy" by H. Beam Piper.
I did not know what to expect and was so surprised that a story, which great action scene was a court ruling at the end of the book, could entertain me that much. It was like the ice-cold drink of your choice on the hottest day of the year. It hit the right spot.
After that I have read "Androiddreams" and "Agent to the Stars", which have left me with the same feeling.

So I was really looking forward to the new work of John Scalzi when I saw it: The Collapsing Empire. And then I read the novel.
I love the writing style of John Scalzi, who always brings a sense of humor in the most serious situations and the novel is very well-written. You want to read more. And here comes my problem: it ends before it starts properly. This novel suffers from the "We necessarily must have at least three volumes" psychosis, which is unfortunately everywhere in the book trade. We get the protagonists presented here and the situation with "The Flow", as well as the foundations of the intrigues that seem like a Game of Thrones or Dune Light with connections to our world after the year 2000. And then it's over without really finishing anything. Not even a “We have not destroyed the empire but the first death star is gone, here have a medal”. This is disturbing me very much at the moment. One thinks one has a complete product, but then has to wait for the sequels. Hey, I bought a new computer game. What, I need to buy DLC in the value of 100 euros to see the end?

If all "Empire" parts are available, I will probably make a binge reading of the novels. In that case, the score will probably increase by 0.5 to 1 point. But at the present time my advice is: read only the first chapter. This works fine as a stand-alone short story. For the rest I would give a reading recommendation, as soon as the other parts are available.
In the meantime, read some other Scalzi and wait for more Empire. :-)

I've read a lot of Scalzi in the last 12 months, including the entire Old Man's War series, and I think I can say that this is my favourite of his so far. The larger space opera canvas suits his easy style well, and his characterisations are, as always, sketched in with a deftness which renders them instantly relatable - he's really very good at that, I cannot overstate how good.

Thanks to Net Gallery for the advance copy.

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A big thanks to Netgalley for this ARC!

This novel marks a very strong return to Space Opera for Scalzi and I'll admit that I felt slightly trepidatious about it, after all, these tomes usually require a fairly substantial investment of time and energy, especially when contemplating an extensive book deal for him running to 2027! (Congrats, by the way!)

However, I should just go ahead and trust that my favorite authors, Scalzi included, can pull off these kinds of really ambitious undertakings. He's done it before and he has serious writing chops. Where's your faith, man?

It's here! It's here! Sorry I required proof! It won't happen again! I swear! (Pre-orders the next in this series.)

So what is so special about this new Space Opera? Is it the basic concept behind "the Flow" which bypasses natural physics and allows a river-like network to be maintained between all the human settlements? Is it the social setup that requires each human settlement to maintain and support each of the others?

Partially, but these great ideas, however deeply realized and explored by the author, of course, has their own little conflicts. And when I say little, I mean absolutely huge. Brilliant drill-down. :)

But of course no tale can be complete without great characters, too, and we mainly get in deep with the new leader of the empire, Cardenia, who actually charms my pants off with her constant need to pee and the constantly bribing or bribable Kiva who merchants or fails to merchant her way across the galaxy, and of course there's Ghreni. Trust me. He's quite interesting, too. :)

We get all kinds of cross sections of the populace, and even if I may have felt like some of the sections were kinda slow, all of the characters eventually grew on me and kept me glued to the page until the next great reveal or action or twist. Like I said, Scalzi is a man with serious writing chops. This is a very ambitious beginning of a series and two whole planets, in particular, are now firmly rooted in my consciousness. This is not the End. Or rather, the End is going to be really, really big. (For those in the know, End is a backwater planet that no one really cares about. Reversals!) :)

I'm hooked and seriously looking forward to every new installment. :)

When a fellow blogger mentioned that NetGalley had this title available for request I applied immediately: how could I not, since I'm a huge Scalzi fan? Not that I had many hopes of seeing my request accepted, since I'm well aware that my blog is a small one, with a low posting rate, but I had to try anyway. So you can imagine my delighted surprise when I received the confirmation email: the wait for the official release of the book would not have been long, granted, but the possibility of reading this new story right there and then was very exciting. To say the least…

The premise of The Collapsing Empire is that the impossibility of attaining faster-than-light travel has been bypassed by the discovery of the Flow, a sort of inter-dimensional set of "corridors" able to bring ships toward other worlds, not unlike a set of currents in an ocean. Moving away from mother Earth, humanity has established a huge interstellar empire, the Interdependency, spreading among the stars in search of habitable worlds. Not finding any, with the exception of End - aptly named because it's the terminus of the Flow - the Interdependency chose to build stations and artificial habitats where civilization flourished in a tightly connected web of mutual support.

Until the time when the story begins, the Flow has been believed to be set and immutable - that is, with the exception of the tragedy of Dalasysla, whose inhabitants were cut off from the Interdependency by what was termed a once-only destabilization of the Flow. People can choose selective blindness when it suits them, however, and for centuries they have blithely ignored the simple fact that something named Flow is all but static, and the Flow is indeed destabilizing, or probably changing the direction of its currents, so that the human colonies that it connected until this moment are now threatened with permanent isolation, and probably extinction.

In times of such massive changes or upheavals that menace the fabric of society, there are those who prefer to turn a blind eye to it all, those who try to profit from the turmoil, and those who attempt to salvage the salvageable: these different positions constitute the core of the novel and should be discovered by reading it, so I will not reveal anything else about the plot, focusing rather on the central characters.

For those readers who enjoy the presence of solid female characters, The Collapsing Empire does not disappoint, on the contrary the most prominent figures in the story are mostly women, starting with Cardenia Wu-Patrick, the newly elected emperox of the Interdependency. Elected by default, it must be said, because she's the sort-of-illegitimate daughter of the previous emperox and she entered in the line of succession due to an unfortunate accident in which the rightful heir was involved. Finding the unexpected weight of the Interdependency on her shoulders, she tries to adapt to her new role, and it's through the trial-and-error of her first few days, marred by some very harrowing circumstances, that her strength of character and quiet determination come to the fore - nicely balanced by a touch of humor and self-deprecating irony. I believe that the story so far just showed the tip of the iceberg with Cardenia, and that this is one character who has many interesting developments in store for the readers along the way.

There is no story without an evil counterpart, and no one is more fit for this role than House Nohamapetan - one of the many trading Houses of the Interdependency - and its de-facto ruler lady Nadashe. She is above all a skilled manipulator, an intelligent, ambitious woman who knows what she wants and how to get it: by contrast, her two brothers - equally scheming and ambitious - appear as no more than putty in her competent hands, and it's no surprise that she is the one pulling all the strings. Even those leading to murder…

The most conspicuous, striking - and ultimately amusing - character remains however that of Kiva Lagos, representative of the Lagos trading House and my absolute winner in case of a contest among the novel's figures: she is brash, outspoken and uncaring of any behavioral or diplomatic convention, and she peppers her speeches with an amount of profanity that would give the Expanse's Avarasala a run for her money - although, unlike the more eloquent Avarasala, her four-letter vocabulary is exclusively limited to the f* word in all its declinations… Needless to say, I loved Kiva since she first appeared on the scene: only a skilled writer like John Scalzi could deftly manage such a foul-mouthed character, and the endless stream of expletives hovering like a cloud around her, and at the same time turn Kiva Lagos into a reader's number one choice for… well, heroine. And I have not even mentioned her equally formidable mother!

As far as the narrative itself is concerned, the tone and mood are what I've come to expect, and enjoy, from a Scalzi novel: serious business interspersed with humorous commentaries on situations and the vagaries of the human mind, and an intriguing core concept that promises to develop into fascinating directions. One detail I'd like to mention in particular is the homage paid toward Iain Banks' Culture series (or so I like to believe) in the names of the ships listed in the story: names like Yes Sir, That's My Baby; Some Nerve!; If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out. It was both amusing and charming, and I appreciated it greatly.

My only complaint (if I can call it that) is that The Collapsing Empire is mostly dedicated to building the framework for this new series, and as such it's focused on laying the foundation for the future developments, ending when separate events start coalescing into an intriguing whole: the novel does not close with a cliffhanger, not as such, but the promise of things to come is not enough - I want more, and I want it right now. Which means I'm happily on board to see how this will all pan out.

In a universe where faster-than-light travel is impossible, an interstellar empire is held together by the Flow – essentially, currents outside our reality, within which distance works differently. Except the currents are not as stable as everyone has complacently assumed, and now they’re shifting, dooming the habitats they link to slow, isolated deaths. But the great empire of the Interdependency is ultimately more focused on its own perpetuation, and on the finely balanced interests of the corporations which hold most of its power, than it is on the continued survival of the human race. Even when prevented with the scientific evidence, they’d rather muddy the water with rival theories than risk upsetting the status quo, doomed as that status quo may be.

It’s a global warming allegory, isn’t it? Which in itself is not remotely a problem. One of the uses of SF is to show us the present in new lights, pointing out our foolishness in fresh relief. But I’m not convinced this particular example adds much to what anyone sane (which is to say, nobody in a position of world power as of January 20th) already knows. I mean, maybe that’s the point – Scalzi writes the sort of good old-fashioned SF which even Republicans and Puppies* could go for, so maybe when they read this a few of them might have their own (energy efficient) lightbulb moment? Similarly, the notion of having the two main leads be ballsy, horny and female…it wouldn’t be far out of place in Warren Ellis 15 years ago, or indeed Heinlein 45 years ago, but if you consider Scalzi as being engaged in a mopping-up operation in the heartland, while others do the vanguard work, well, that’s legitimate. Though you could contend that even seventies (if not sixties) Heinlein was happy to have the future’s default bisexuality run both ways, while here it seems, pornily, to be much more emphasised for the women.

But beyond that, I’m not entirely convinced of how well this works as basic spaceships and explosions SF. Yes, there’s space piracy and terrorist attacks** on cathedrals in asteroids and that sort of stuff, but otherwise this centuries-hence world seems suspiciously like ours in a lot of respects, and spends more time in confrontations on the bridge or tense trade negotiations than it does in the sort of noticeably SF action which made Old Man’s War such fun. Which, yes, implicitly makes sense for plot reasons…but also left me thinking at times how easily this could be done as the sort of cheap SF TV movie which restrains itself to a few quick effects shots every so often, before moving to the inexpensive interior sets for the rest. Sure, it's nice to see space adventure from Scalzi outside the Old Man's War universe (in which I lost my initial delight a few books back). And I certainly wouldn't say this was a bad book, beyond maybe the pacing issues which make perfect sense once it becomes apparent that, much like an Interdependency world, this book is not intended to stand alone. But on some level it's just not for me.

*Despite his own position on the SJW side of the fight, because, again, he’s sane.
**Which it’s glaringly obvious from the off are false flag jobs. And I doubt this is intentional, but given how closely the rest of the allegory maps to our world, that makes me very uneasy.

(Netgalley ARC)

In the week after Christmas I spent quite some time cleaning up and sorting my “to read” list. It had gotten rather large and chaotic, and I liked the idea of having it nice and tidy before 2017 got underway. Of course I reminded myself to actually try and start with book #1, then #2 and so forth.

But then I made a big mistake; I had 5 minutes of spare time, picked up John Scalzi’s new book, read “The Collapsing Empire”’s first sentence and forgot all about my nicely ordered reading list. And arrived too late at my appointment.

I was immediately drawn into the book, or rather the prologue to the actual story. Fast-paced action, understated humour and smart dialogue right on the first page, along with Culture-like ship names.

I had difficulty putting the book down, as I liked the story and the style so much. There was much more humour than I expected. And the whole social/economic setup with guilds, church, monopolies, nobility was very convincingly done.

But almost halfway through I realised I had only just exited the “story setup phase”, and I have to say I feared the second half of the book might be not as good, Scalzi having to compress.

To be honest, I think my fear was warranted. Though still a very good read (with some cool plot twists), the second half came across as much more hurried.

This is the first Scalzi book I’ve read (though I had heard about him), but I’ll certainly try more of his work, including, of course, any sequel to “The Collapsing Empire”.

One last thing: in my opinion, it’s quite obvious from certain events and dialogues in the story that it was written in 2016; maybe it’s just me, but I found quite a lot of hints/references/parallels to world events of the last year. I liked that a lot.

The Collapsing Empire is the first in a new sci-fi series by John Scalzi. I’ve enjoyed Scalzi’s work before – his “Old Man’s War” is seminal, and “Redshirts” was delightfully high concept sci-fi with a bit of bite to it. I came to this latest effort with high expectations – and I’m happy to say that The Collapsing Empire is clever, self aware sci-fi, with some interesting ideas. It’s also rather funny.

The setting is a star-spanning collective, the Interdependency. It’s filled with space habitats – from huge stations to small settlements; these and other sealed environs sustain most of humanity. Each series of habitats sits inside a system tied together by the ‘Flow’, a sort of wormhole network – starships can enter the Flow in one system, and be decanted into another after a certain amount of flight time. Quite how the Flow works, and exactly why it ties the systems together, is less well understood. This sprawling network of human settlements is tied together by the habitable world of End, which sits far from the seat of political and trading power that is the imaginatively named ‘Hub’.

Scalzi does a great job of bringing End to life – a world populated by noble families with an entrenched sense of privilege, each with a monopoly on particular goods, working alongside guilds of workers to both maintain and expand their monopolies, a microcosm of the social structure of the Interdependency. Both the Nobility and the Guilds run alongside a universal Church, which itself appears to have a fair degree of soft power, and all sit below the “Emperox”. The Emperox is the head of the Church, the top of the heap of the nobles, and, not coincidentally, holds the Guild monopoly on starship and weapons construction. The social constructs make sense, and they act as a vivid, fascinating backdrop for the characters driving the narrative.

Speaking of characters – there’s a fair few of these kicking about. Our core focus is on the nobility and the Emperox. The latter is new at her role, having become heir apparent after an unexpected accident removed the preferred candidate. She’s wry, self-deprecating, and clearly intelligent – but very much unprepared, and thrown into a sink-or-swim environment. Watching her deal with the realpolitik climate in which she finds herself, whilst grappling with both larger issues and her own personal struggles makes for compelling reading.

Another core character is a member of one of the noble houses of End, also an expert on the physics of the Flow. He’s given a simple but vital mission, and then has to arrange to get away from End in order to achieve it. This means getting out of a war zone, evading powerful interests seeking him for their own ends, and then trying to make a pitch to the most powerful people in the Interdependency. He spends a large portion of the book also being introduced to the harsh realities of the world – occasionally at gunpoint – and discovering that the universe may not work exactly as he hopes it does, as he mixes in with the less noble members of his society. There’s an idealism here, and a sense of straightforward honest which contrasts nicely with the third member of the triad.

The third key character is a daughter of the noble houses, and owners representative on a starship. She’s coolly pragmatic, and typically thinks several steps ahead of her adversaries (and people who think they’re her friends). She’s also obviously very clever, or perhaps so sharp she cuts herself. This intelligence is backed up by a strong sense of self, and masked by a diverting amount of profanity. Her dialogue is always profane, but also typically intriguing, and absolutely sizzling with energy. If she’s shown with less of a journey than the other two central characters, it’s because of starting off more aware of who she is, and the roles she’s willing to play.

They’re faced by antagonists who are, in fact, rather similar to the protagonists – rich, powerful individuals, prepared to do a great deal to secure or extend their own positions. Here too are intelligences which could drill through steel. They’re as focused and driven as our protagonists, and less villainous than pragmatic, with goals opposed to the protagonists. They are, perhaps, slightly more morally flexible – but it’s possible to look at the opposition to our heroes, and empathise with them.

The plot – well, as the title implies, it’s focused on the end of the universe. Or at least, the Interdependency, and the complex web of systems which enable it to function. I don’t want to give anything away, but suffice to say, keeping the Interdependency from collapsing, ameliorating that collapse, or even surviving it, looks to be a rather big job. Watching the quickfire conflicts, largely dialogue rather than combat, is a delight, especially when some of the back and forth is laugh-out-loud funny, and other parts approach some of the big questions of sci-fi – who we are, why society is structured as it is, what we might do with the opportunity and necessity of reshaping the universe and ourselves. There’s some wonderfully tense political scenes, and some moments of spacefaring action that are both heart-stopping to read, and absolutely great fun.

In summary then, this is a cracking piece of sci-fi; broad in scope, with interesting characters in a believable world, which asks and quietly tries to answer some hard questions – whilst also providing a story which won’t let you put it down.