The Collapsing Empire
by John Scalzi
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*2018 LOCUS AWARD WINNER OF BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL*
*2018 HUGO AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST NOVEL*
"John Scalzi is the most entertaining, accessible writer working in SF today." --Joe Hill, author of The Fireman
The first novel of a new space-opera sequence set in an all-new universe by the Hugo Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Redshirts and Old Man's War
Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible--until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars.
Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war--and, for the empire's rulers, a system of control.
The Flow is eternal--but it's not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well. In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity. When it's discovered that the entire Flow is moving, possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever, three individuals--a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency--must race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.
"Fans of Game of Thrones and Dune will enjoy this bawdy, brutal, and brilliant political adventure" --Booklist on The Collapsing Empire
"Political plotting, plenty of snark, puzzle-solving, and a healthy dose of action...Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure." --Kirkus Reviews on The Collapsing Empire
"Scalzi is one of the slickest writers that SF has ever produced." --The Wall Street Journal on The Human Division
The Interdependency Series
1. The Collapsing Empire
2. The Consuming Fire
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9780765388902
- Binding
- Mass Market Paperbound
- Authors
- John Scalzi
- Publisher
- Tor Books
- Published Date
- January 2, 2018
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 384
- Physical Info
- 1.2 in H x 7.4 in L x 4.1 in W (0.55 lb)
This was a delightful read. The story is well-thought-out, and the character development is excellent. I feel genuinely invested in the story, and I can’t wait to start book two.
Love the concept and the play of personalties overlaid onto a rigid class structure. Any fan of other Scalzi books should like this.
I read this book simply because the third book in the Old Man’s War series was not included in the Kindle Unlimited deal, and I’m finding I like this better. Don’t get me wrong, Old Man’s War is awesome, but the second book is lacking. The Collapsing Empire is fresh and full of emotions and surprises. Very happy I pivoted to this. Thanks.
John Scalzi is one of those authors where whatever he publishes, I buy. The Collapsing Empire is the first in a trilogy of books that describe humanity's scattering to the stars, only to be cut off from Earth by a fickle FTL network-subspace-thingy. The premise of this story though is what happens and what people do when it appears that the network linking all the barely-habitable systems in which humans have settled may be falling apart, resulting in huge upheavals and chaos.As usual, Scalzi does an admirable job of portraying complex characters, a richly built universe, and consistent science-fiction concepts and rule-following. I noticed no particular plot holes or anything.If I have to come up with a critique, it's that sometimes he has a little too much fondness for snarky characters who use numbered lists in their personal dialogue when making a forceful point. Other than that though, this is (and was) an entertaining epic space opera.
This book is yet another prime work of sci-fi by John Scalzi, not to be missed by fans of Redshirts or his other novels. The story is about an empire made up of interdependent space station across the galaxy that are connected by "the flow," a kind of jet stream in space or slipstream for superluminal space travel. Nobody understands what causes "the flow" to pass between places, so when the people of this empire realize that this slipstream is shutting down to reappear who knows elsewhere, thir empire is threatened. They set up this empire by ensuring no one space station was self sustaining through control of all trade, which is going to mean humanity will die out except for the one settled "goldilocks" planet. Which will be disastrous by all definition. This first book was really too short, lol. I'm already starting to read the sequel next, just had to pause to post my glowing review for John Scalzi's new series because it's quite deserving, IMO. I believe when we reader find great books, we should definitely share the news, and this was a great book. Although I'm wondering why the Emperor/Empress is called Emperox, is that from latin, or indicating a language shift in the 1000+ -year future this story is set?
