The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)

by John Scalzi

The Collapsing Empire is an exciting space opera from John Scalzi, the first in the award-winning Interdependency series.

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 . . .

Continue the space adventure trilogy with The Consuming Fire.

'Rousing storytelling and satisfying intrigue . . . an engaging, well-crafted sci-fi drama.' - SFX

• ISBN10: 1509835083
• ISBN13: 9781509835089
• Publish Date: 23 March 2017 (first published 21 March 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Two Hoots
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[empressbrooke]

I had put off picking up this trilogy for a while, because given the state of *gestures at the world* whenever I read a synopsis that invokes societal collapse (or climate disasters or a post-apocalyptic setting) I nope right out of that and look for something less likely to be on the news that evening. Luckily, book #1 is not about despair and hopelessness and grim descriptions of everything going wrong. Very little, if any, of the titular empire has collapsed by the end of this book. Additionally, this is a John Scalzi book, so it has all the trademark Scalzi snark and I am not sure if he will venture into particularly dark corners in the remaining books.

The most striking thing to me about this book was that it really just serves as a set-up for everything that will come. It introduces the characters, explains the rules of the universe, and puts all the pieces in place where the plot will go later, but the plot itself doesn't really make a strong showing here. That isn't to say this was boring - it most certainly was not. But unlike some trilogies where book 1 has a fully contained story with threads that a book 2 can pick up, this is absolutely not a standalone and would not be satisfying without knowing that the rest of the story will be coming.