The Collapsing Empire

The Interdependency, Book 1

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

2018 Locus Award, Best Science Fiction Novel

Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal - but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it's discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster-than-light travel forever, three individuals - a scientist, a starship captain, and the empress of the Interdependency - are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

©2017 John Scalzi (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Fans of Game of Thrones and Dune will enjoy this bawdy, brutal, and brilliant political adventure." (Booklist)

"Scalzi has constructed a thrilling novel so in tune with the flow of politics that it would feel relevant at almost any time." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Political plotting, plenty of snark, puzzle-solving, and a healthy dose of action…Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure." (Kirkus Reviews)

The Collapsing Empire

I love John Scalzi and have loved all of his books. This one disappointed in that it denigrated in superfluous use of "fuck" and sex with anything breathing. He's smarter than that . :/

Half a story

I world agree with others that Scalzi has written half a book here. I'd add that I'm not a fan of Wil Weaton, although he did a better job here than he's done in other audio books, he still doesn't know how to pause when there are commas, sounds like he's rushing to get it over with. I picked the book up at a local bookstore and much preferred reading it myself.

The performance, like, totally killed it.

I struggled to finish this, not because of the content, even though the phrase 'it's a bit more complicated than that' was used around 5 times (I could have done with a bit more complication in the story). The narrator read almost every character the same, and in a very male-version valley girl sort of way. Maybe just VERY Californian, but it was too much. If it's the same guy narrating any of the sequels, I will not be listening to them.

Another Scalzi Triumph

I always greatly anticipate the next book by John Scalzi and he always delivers! The worst part about reading his books is that they eventually come to an end. This book has delightful characters, hilarious dialogue, and an intriguing plot. A fun and enjoyable sci-fi adventure. You can't go wrong with this book or any of his books. Scalzi is an excellent writer and Wil Wheaton is the perfect narrator for this book! Both do an excellent job and iblook forward to the next Scalzi/Wheaton team-up! I just hope I don't have to wait for too long!

I did not enjoy this book

this book has lots of attitude and personal conflict. Things I do not enjoy and and would not recommend it or purchase another book by this author or reader.

Excellent!

Scalzi does it again! Both the story and dialog is wonderful. And Will Wheaton to. 😁

An Interesting New Series

Scalzi's new series has a well planned and interesting premise. Millennia from now, humanity has developed an interstellar civilization thanks to a network of faster than light superhighways called the Flow. However, the Flow's highways are starting to mysteriously disappear, which will leave every single colony isolated from the others. How this empire and its people react to this and plan their survival is the crux of the story.

This book is classic Scalzi sci-fi but kicking it up a notch in terms of scale. It doesn't quite enter the realm of space opera, but there definitely is the sense that there's a lot more to this universe than his standalone novels. It's probably his most ambitious world since the Old Man's War series.

There's a lot of trademark humor, as well as political maneuvering and politicking, which he pulls off rather well. There's also a sense of urgency and mystery that keeps the story going and makes me look forward to more in the series. Finally, I found the characters all well done and distinct, and I would definitely like to meet some of them in real life.

As a warning, this book has a lot of foul language (mostly from a character with a propensity for this) as well as sex (also from this same character) compared to most of Scalzi's books.

Incomplete story

I usually love any Scalzi book. I even preordered this one. Wil Wheaton was great as usual, but this book just didn't quite have the usual depth that Is normally present in a Scalzi book. Just when I thought there was going to be some additional character development they went right back to predictable or died. Too much of it was simply expected without any real interesting turns. This is book one of a series with book two coming out in 2019 I have heard. I have read other series books and this was the biggest disappointment with really next to nothing revealed at the end. Imaginative story overall, but really could have been expanded a lot more. I would have liked to see the story bring in a lot more "science" about the flow or at least more history regarding the journey from Earth. Book two could easily go in that direction with teams sent out in all directions for further study. Great start to an original story, it just needs some expansion on the idea. For me though, it just felt rushed.

John Scalzi returns to space opera

Scalzi has been and remains one of my favorite authors. His last several books have been a complete departure from earlier work . But still great.
He never bowls you over with technical jargon, more like really likable characters that you can instantly connect with. Or characters that you can really , really hate. The usual lots of foul language and sex. Cannot wait for the next installment !

Scalzi is back

Best Scalzi book since old man's war. This book is back to those roots. A gritty story with dry humor. The characters are engaging and fun. I'm glad I gave Scalzi another chance. Wil Wheaton is fantastic as always.