eBook, 336 pages
English language
Published Oct. 17, 2018 by Tom Doherty Associates.
The Interdependency, humanity's interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional pathway between the stars, is disappearing, leaving planets stranded. Billions of lives will be lost – unless desperate measures can be taken.
Emperox Grayland II, the leader of the Interdependency, is ready to take those measures. But it’s not that easy. There are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth – or an opportunity for them to ascend to power.
While Grayland prepares for disaster, others prepare for civil war. A war that will take place in the halls of power, by the altars of worship and amongst the titans of industry as much as between spaceships. Nothing about this power struggle will be simple or easy … and all of human civilization is at stake.
Great plot, great world, amazing characters, so fun and funny
The second book of the series and very enjoyable, like all Scalzi’s books. We learn lots of secrets about how The Interdependency was created and the Memory Room. There are cool AIs, conspirators, palace intrigues, plot twists, and people getting arrested. It ends in a cliffhanger so I had to jump to the third book right away.
Content warning ending metaspoilers
The way everything wraps up so neatly, while extremely satisfying, also puts a big dent in suspension of disbelief
This is very much just one part of a three-part novel, which I find difficult to review in isolation. Because this site works best when people review the things they read, however, I will be adding the same review to all volumes.
John Scalzi is a nice guy writing nice SF novels.
You could almost leave it at that, really. For the sake of context, I will add a few more details to this assessment. This, like all of his novels I have read, is smoothly plotted and written, entirely unsurprising in its cliffhangers and ultimate resolution, and contains exactly one original idea. This being said, it’s an entertaining read if, at times, a bit too glib to my taste (I don’t think Scalzi has ever seen a witty repartee he didn’t like). If what you want from your SF is what I just described, you could do a lot …
This is very much just one part of a three-part novel, which I find difficult to review in isolation. Because this site works best when people review the things they read, however, I will be adding the same review to all volumes.
John Scalzi is a nice guy writing nice SF novels.
You could almost leave it at that, really. For the sake of context, I will add a few more details to this assessment. This, like all of his novels I have read, is smoothly plotted and written, entirely unsurprising in its cliffhangers and ultimate resolution, and contains exactly one original idea. This being said, it’s an entertaining read if, at times, a bit too glib to my taste (I don’t think Scalzi has ever seen a witty repartee he didn’t like). If what you want from your SF is what I just described, you could do a lot worse than the Interdependency series.
Самая печальная связанная с этой книгой вещь - я не могу её даже ненавидеть, не за что: это просто более-менее работающая история из далёкого межпланетного будущего #29376, с центральной аркой 34/б: оказавшаяся на троне по ошибке императрица человечества спасает это самое человечество и наглядно демонстрирует сговорившейся против неё шушере, что сама куда более компетентна в закулисных играх. Форма ситуацию не спасает: в лучшие моменты Скальци неотличим от Рейнолдса, в худшие - вы с горькой ясностью понимаете, что это всё же несомненно именно Скальци. Тоска.
Да, это вторая книга видимо трилогии; рецензия применима и к первой.
Intriger och humor. Ska tydligen bli en trilogi, sista delen under 2020. Bladvändare som skapat underskott av sömn.
Overall, this is a nice, short book that further continues the story of The Interdependency. In my opinion, it's not as good as its predecessor though it has its redeeming moments. I wish the characters or the plot were a bit more complex, but at least the setting gives me many things to think about. Even though it started slow, it certainly picked up pace in the later half of the book and ended with some epic scenes.
For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2019/02/book-review-consuming-fire-by-john.html
I love Scalzi when he's being snarky. It's the kind of humor that made me fall in love with his writing when I read The Androids Dream.
I enjoyed the Skeptical attitude and Realpolitik, explaining the reason behind the forces at play.
However the whole book seems to be written with one voice. The same tone provides almost every sentence. Perhaps it's Wil Wheaton's Narration, but most of the characters seem to have the same attitude.
A great sequel to The Collapsing Empire. Still very entertaining characters (same ones, so if you didn't like them in the first book, don't expect to like them more here), a fair amount of smartassness and kickassery, cloak&dagger&treason, and IS THE THIRD BOOK AVAILABLE ALREADY? :P
