Book Review: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1)

by John Scalzi

Hardcover, 333 pages

Published March 21st 2017 by Tor Books

This is a very intensely political Science Fiction novel. It is not surprising that John Scalzi would do that, I mean his twitter feed is a source of hot button opinions. The right wing sad puppies (for those of you who don't know them, they're the sometimes far right and some times Libertarian sci-fi writers) despise him. I mean they tend to twist his words and critically tear about all he says. I think it is the fact that no one has been more popular or sold books more consistently in genre than Scalzi this century that breeds this kind of hatred. Personally I can set politics aside, Neal Asher is perhaps my favorite 21st century Sci-fi writer and his views are almost always opposite of my own. Enough on that, how about this book?

Despite the title Collapsing Empire is not ripped from the headlines look at Trump's blundering presidency or Hillary Clinton's almost guaranteed ascension. Nope this is a political but it is more of a statement on the sixteenth century than this one. Which is fine. This was a time when colonization was just starting in the Americas. It seems that Scalzi wanted to explore a world where this far flung space opera was dependent on something like trade winds were to Spain or the dutch east trading company part in the day. I suppose there is some modern climate commentary, but mostly I felt the commentary was old school.

I assume this is the reason so much of the story centered on the emperorox and the transition of power in the royal family. You see this novel takes place in a far future where a human empire has spread to the stars, and is cut off from earth. The vast empire is connected by faster than light travel that hitches on river like streams called the flow. The capital city Hub is on planet near spot where the flow all connects. The story kicks off when it is learned that the flow will soon be ending and this vast empire will have to face its demise.

With the dependence on a galactic ecology, and the great royal houses at conflict it would be easy to declare this Scalzi's answer to Dune, much in the way Old Man's war was his take on Starship Troopers. I am glad I didn't hear that comparison before hand. While Scalzi lived up and in my opinion out did his inspiration in Old Man's War. This is no Dune. Which is totally fine by the way. kinda sorta a really freaking high bar.

I have mixed feelings about this book and that comparison. Because I don't think this book can hold a candle to Dune on the world building. For one thing the world building is done in cheapest most simple way with a teacher explaining the world to school kids. It is effective but so on the nose I laughed at the book. I think a book would need probably two hundred more pages to build that kinda scope. Here is the thing, I didn't actually want two hundred more pages. It was just the right length, it didn't have scope, but that is fine. Not everything needs to be epic.

I didn't like this book as much as the Old Man's War books, and honestly I picked this up because I thought it was in that universe until I was on page 2. The characters were all good, but characters like Kiva who is the captain of a starship in the book gave me mixed feelings too. Great character, very funny and cool. The thing about Kiva is she felt like a Old Man's war character. She felt out of place. The characters at times felt to much like characters of today, not in this far future. You mean to tell centuries in the future cut off from earth and they still talk like us? Just some subtle changes in dialogue would be cool.

That said it was a page turner, filled with interesting ideas and I wasn't bored. I read it quickly enough. Not sure if I hooked enough to check out book two. Scalzi is a good writer filled with ideas, this is just not my favorite of his. It does have some neat concepts like the flow, the Memory room and Kiva has some really fun moments. Good but not great. If you have not read any Scalzi I would start with Old Man's War and it's totally genius sequel Ghost Brigades.