John Scalzi: The Collapsing Empire
May. 1st, 2018 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
You have to admit, John Scalzi writes a damn good story. Certainly, The Collapsing Empire, the first volume in his new space opera series, The Interdependency, starts off with an adrenaline-drenched bang. A mutiny about a merchant ship suddenly derailed by a near-catastrophic failure of the Flow - an interdimensional current that subs in for FTL in this fictional universe.
The Interdependency is a galaxy-spanning trade empire comprising planets and space stations located near exit and entry points to the Flow. Without access to the Flow, these locations are isolated, light years away from each other. Humans are cut off from Earth, which is no longer accessible by Flow, and most of the other habitats of humanity depend on trade to survive, they are not fully self-sustaining ecologies.
The Interdependency has survived for centuries, during which time the Flow has been relatively stable. Sometimes it shifts, and a planet falls out of the web, or a new one is brought into reach and colonised, but the changes have always been small enough not to affect the Interdependancy as a whole. But now that is changing, and all of humanity’s planets are at risk of isolation and eventual collapse.
There are some great good guys - Cardenia, styled Emperox Grayland II, the newly crowned head of the Interdependency, the unexpected heir following her older half-brother’s accidental death in a racing accident, and Mance Clermont, son of the late emperox’s old friend and, like his father, a theoretical physicist, and the somewhat morally ambiguous, profane, and pragmatic Kiva Lagos, daughter of a major noble house which, like all the great trading houses, depends on trade for its wealth and power. And some fantastic bad guys - the ambitious, scheming, and greedy scions of house Nohamapetan, Ghreni, Amit, and Nadashe.
This is a nicely political space opera, with internal struggles between ruling houses and intrigues and all those nice twisty things that make for interesting reading. And it is worth noting that many of the key characters, good guys or bad, are intelligent, competent, and very interesting women. Scalzi is good at being simultaneously entertaining and thoughtful, which makes this novel a superior read.
The Interdependency is a galaxy-spanning trade empire comprising planets and space stations located near exit and entry points to the Flow. Without access to the Flow, these locations are isolated, light years away from each other. Humans are cut off from Earth, which is no longer accessible by Flow, and most of the other habitats of humanity depend on trade to survive, they are not fully self-sustaining ecologies.
The Interdependency has survived for centuries, during which time the Flow has been relatively stable. Sometimes it shifts, and a planet falls out of the web, or a new one is brought into reach and colonised, but the changes have always been small enough not to affect the Interdependancy as a whole. But now that is changing, and all of humanity’s planets are at risk of isolation and eventual collapse.
There are some great good guys - Cardenia, styled Emperox Grayland II, the newly crowned head of the Interdependency, the unexpected heir following her older half-brother’s accidental death in a racing accident, and Mance Clermont, son of the late emperox’s old friend and, like his father, a theoretical physicist, and the somewhat morally ambiguous, profane, and pragmatic Kiva Lagos, daughter of a major noble house which, like all the great trading houses, depends on trade for its wealth and power. And some fantastic bad guys - the ambitious, scheming, and greedy scions of house Nohamapetan, Ghreni, Amit, and Nadashe.
This is a nicely political space opera, with internal struggles between ruling houses and intrigues and all those nice twisty things that make for interesting reading. And it is worth noting that many of the key characters, good guys or bad, are intelligent, competent, and very interesting women. Scalzi is good at being simultaneously entertaining and thoughtful, which makes this novel a superior read.