eBook, 336 pages
English language
Published March 21, 2017 by Tor Books.
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, …
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.
Залихватская мягкая фантастика со всеми обязательными элементами и достаточным количеством слов "fuck" чтобы я не начал ныть о том, что в книге в принципе ничего не происходит (а начнёт происходить в следующей, сюрприз).
Feels like the first third of a good book instead of a full story.
Damn it, unsatisfying cliffhanger ending leaving me wanting more. I hadn't realized that or I'd have waited till the ending was out too, but Scalzi has generally been good in the past (e.g. Old Man's War) of finishing books - even ones in a series - properly.
Aside from the annoyance of the cliffhanger ending, I enjoyed the story. He may not be the most stylistically beautiful writer but Scalzi writes fun, accessible space opera and despite apparently deciding to take this book in a more adult direction (swearing everywhere and occasional random, though not graphic, sex) this book is all those things. I actually listened to this on audible, where it's read by Wil Wheaton, so I don't know if it would have been less accessible in prose, but I certainly had no trouble finishing this off in 2 days.
Negatives: some lazy plot exposition (e.g. totally random scene …
Damn it, unsatisfying cliffhanger ending leaving me wanting more. I hadn't realized that or I'd have waited till the ending was out too, but Scalzi has generally been good in the past (e.g. Old Man's War) of finishing books - even ones in a series - properly.
Aside from the annoyance of the cliffhanger ending, I enjoyed the story. He may not be the most stylistically beautiful writer but Scalzi writes fun, accessible space opera and despite apparently deciding to take this book in a more adult direction (swearing everywhere and occasional random, though not graphic, sex) this book is all those things. I actually listened to this on audible, where it's read by Wil Wheaton, so I don't know if it would have been less accessible in prose, but I certainly had no trouble finishing this off in 2 days.
Negatives: some lazy plot exposition (e.g. totally random scene where a scientist explains the history of the empire to some random students, none of whom you ever see again), some bad grammar, and the plethora of "fucks" and gratuitous sex references that seemed to serve no actual plot reason except to show off this is not a YA book, and of course, cliffhanger ending on a book that was already fairly short to start with.
Good entertaining but fairly standard space opera.
Fast-paced space opera that inverts several tropes while keeping tradition.
Great plot, and the characters are well thought out. They are more than interesting enough to keep me engaged.
I listened to the Audiobook, and Wil Wheaton did an outstanding job.
