I got through this in about five evenings or so. Guys, this is The Good Shit. It’s the feel of a good space based fantasy JRPG game or some of the really old school sci-fi, but almost all female characters. The way I heard it pitched, which may have been by the author was - imagine Elon Musk was an Asian woman, and she got kidnapped by the Queen of the Shi’ar, and REALIZED SHE WAS A DICK, and has to fight the Queen to get home with a ragtag band? Yeah. This is fun, well written, and just an amazing ride from start to finish. The characters are great, the plot, while it does spin off into small side diversions frequently, all comes together beautifully, and there’s just such wonderful snarky asides that you can’t help but to grin reading it. I’ve also seen Journey to the West cited as an influence, which does not surprise me tbh. I’d love to see this get an adaptation to another form of media, honestly. It’s about 500 pages, and it’ll go quick, but in a good way.

Book Summary:

Vivian Liao is what some may call a contemporary of Steve Jobs. She’s brilliant, tactical, and occasionally ruthless in her decisions. Now, she’s about to make another move - her great achievement. Pulling the trigger will send her through space and time to a future beyond what any of us can imagine,

What will she find there? Well, as it turns out, the end of time is ruled by a being that, until now, nobody was capable of resisting. Viv’s arrival is about to change all that, setting her perfectly in the middle of a new type of battle.

My Review:

If you’re looking for an action-packed space opera novel, Empress of Forever certainly delivers. It’s a thrilling and admittedly quite unique romp through space and time. I’m not sure I would have made the comparisons for this book’s pitch (feminist Guardians of the Galaxy meets Star Wars), but maybe that’s just me.

If you check out the reviews for Empress of Forever, you’ll see that they’re largely split. My theory is that this book took big swings, and not all of them landed. I’m more ambivalent on the swings, but that’s probably because I’ve enjoyed Max Gladstone’s writing in the past. I also love it when authors take risks.

Overall, I’d say I decently enjoyed Empress of Forever. It was fun and different. However, I’m not sure that I would choose to continue reading if it became a series. I hope that makes sense.

Highlights:
Science Fiction
Space Opera
LGBTQ+

Full Disclosure: I made it through 8 chapters, to 19% of the book. And there I gave up. Let me tell you why.

But first, I’ll explain why I picked up this book.

* Look at that cover. Wow. Gorgeous. Reminds me of Hela, and I have always loved Hela. Give me a good anti-hero or villain and I’m happier than hell.
* “Feminist Guardians of the Galaxy.” I mean YES PLEASE AND GIVE IT TO ME NOOOOOWWWWW.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t let covers get my hopes up too high. I’ve long since learned not to let the hype, comparing it to something else that’s fun and fantastic, drive my interest higher. I was somewhat concerned about how the lesbian aspect of the character would be handled, but not enough to put me off reading. I was hoping for a reasonably fun, fast paced, well written story about space and time and all the weirdness that could possibly come with it.

Well, I got the weirdness. That’s for sure. On top of that, I got a ton of purple prose that, honestly, got annoying. I got pages and pages and pages of words, but they weren’t describing anything actually happening. They weren’t giving me backstory – despite them trying so hard to appear like they contained information.

So, honest truth here: the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs in the blurb? That accurately describes what happens in the first 2 chapters (5% of the book) That’s approximately 31 pages of … overwrought descriptions of Viv existing? Seriously, those 2 small paragraphs and it is honestly all you need. Because all the extra words in those 31 pages? They don’t tell you ANYTHING about Viv, about why she’s really running, about what she intends to do, about her history…nothing. It’s just words.

I’ve often said words mean things. Sometimes they mean what you expect them to mean, sometimes there are varied and layered meanings you know nothing about. But they still mean them. So what were all these words saying?

It felt, to me, like they were saying how overly pleased the author was with their ability to string together the longest, most over-wrought, sentences in existence.

“Oligarchs and video stars and billionaires and their daughters, princesses and actresses hoping for her notice, fresh-faced tech circuit darlings hungry to stand where Viv now stood but with only the vaguest sense of what that meant, people she’d sent invitations and people she’d let bribe or beg their way onto the guest list, they came. The Saint Kitts airport had hummed with Cessnas and Gulfstreams and Tesla Aeros for days before the party, and the long black glistening cars that wound up the driveway of the beach-front mansion might have been a funeral procession save for the passengers’ brightly colored plumage. A funeral, maybe, for a tyrant.” Empress of Forever, Chapter 1, 2nd paragraph

Come on. That’s TWO sentences. Can we say run-on? This isn’t to say that extremely long sentences don’t have their place. They do. Just like incredibly short sentences do. They help to set cadence and give variety so the mind doesn’t get bored. But this is common throughout the entire 19% (almost 90 pages) of the book that I read.

“A current swirled the stellar surface beneath them, at first a barely sensible discoloration, but, as the note grew (so loud now that Viv staggered with the pain of it, grabbed the stanchion white-knuckled and refused to collapse), it became a plasma whirlpool, boring down into the depths of the star to reveal a web of strands that could not be diamond because diamonds would have melted here. The strands glowed with heat, and in their center hung a box that was not a box, which changed dimensions as Viv watched, unwilling to sit in three.”
Empress of Forever, Chapter 6

“Unwilling to sit in three.” Really? Also – 4 commas in that first sentence and a parenthetical, with a comma within the parenthetical. Now, I’m a staunch supporter of the Oxford comma. So much so that I edit everything I do in my day job to ensure it’s in there. But this is excessive.

The author seems to be going for beautiful prose, but he’s overshot it by a couple light years and straight into purple.

“She came back to herself, panting on the floor, drooling rainbow blood on crystal.”
Empress of Forever, Chapter 7

And here’s the real problem. Because maybe this character (not Viv) actually does have rainbow blood. I mean, there’s some bizarre stuff happening, so this could be possible. The problem arises when the writing is so over-wrought that I can’t tell what’s hyperbole and what’s actual description anymore. Because there’s no basis for me to understand reality in this future world.

I’ll be completely honest, I started to thing I was just not smart enough to read this book. I ended up Googling so many things while reading. So when Viv mentions “hate fractal,” I went to look and see if there was a fractal that I was unaware of, specifically named. There’s not. This was what I came up against with everything I looked up. It wasn’t something that I just didn’t understand, it was world-building that was poorly done.

Though I’d welcome anyone to tell me I’m wrong, with information on what exactly a “hate fractal” is.

Things finally seemed to be actually moving along by the time I hit Chapter 9, and perhaps I should have just kept on pushing through. But the prose never let up. I was rolling my eyes at least every other paragraph or trying to figure out what actually was happening; what was real and true and what was just prose. I could not continue.

But. I had a theory. I had it ever since Chapter 3. So I went to the last 2 Chapters of the book to see if I was right.

I was. I guess this was supposed to be some sort of twist and big reveal. It’s ridiculously easy to guess. If you’re going to throw a twist in, make me never see it coming.

Though, to be fair to the author, I can only think of 1 book and 1 series that ever managed to completely blow my mind with the reveal. Because they’d seeded the information so beautifully throughout and then convinced me to look elsewhere. Don’t pay attention to that, pay attention to this.

In Empress of Forever every single moment serves to say what the twist is. I saw the reveal coming from 400+ pages away.

Maybe this gets better, maybe it picks up and becomes the rag-tag group of misfits fighting against impossible odds. Maybe it’s feminist AF.

No maybe about it: I don’t care. Your mileage may vary.

I'm a fan of Max Gladstone's writing and have read almost everything he's written, including the lesser known Bookburner's series. Of course, it was his highly original godpunk Craft Sequence series that really drew me in and his recent collaboration with Amal El-Mohtar was outstanding as well.

This was...okay. I'm used to Gladstone's writing with multiple layers of philosophical meaning and the plot deliciously complex, crisscrossing time, space and dimensions. Here we concentrate on one character Vivian Liao from earth to space future in a fairly linear fashion. The space opera plot seems purely driven by action sequences. I do like Vivian's no nonsense capable personality and I imagine her real life corresponding person to be Ellen Pao taking on the Silicon Valley bros.

I unfortunately read a spoiler on who the 'evil' empress was about a third into the book. The mysterious monk with powers seemed a bit typecast. In any case, DNF at about halfway on due to lack of sustained interest.

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

I tried to read this book several times and just couldn't get into the story. With that said, it's not really my genre so I am not blaming the author as I know he has lots of fans. The first couple of chapters need to be more engaging for the average reader.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Max Gladstone has written a rollicking, imaginative fire cracker of a space opera. The pace is fast and furious, the characters fascinating as they grow and develop, and the world, ne galaxy he creates novel. One of the best books of the year!

Not my usual thing, but I enjoyed this one! Good characters and a compelling storyline! I'd recommend giving it a try even if you are a typical SCIFI reader.

Empress of Forever (Paperback)
by Max Gladstone
It took a second read to understand the movement of the main character from Earth to the solar system with so much magic. I had to reread that section a couple of times. As I got into the story the universe he describes is dynamic and beautiful, the characters grow on you.
When a economic mogul is found to be standing on a platform of phisher rock with her empire crumbling does a dynamic mission to protect her friends and those in her employ. She is snatched from the moment by a green glowing woman, who takes her to another realm. Like dungeons and dragons she is left in a solar system of magic, battles, and gods. She has to find a way to gain allies and power to return home.
Max Gladstone has created the beginning of an epic space anthology that may en-capture those who love space, and magic. A great start, lets see more of this.

A pirate that was caught
A servant that refused to serve
A pilot without wings
A woman without a soul

WOW!!! Where do I start? Well, I listened to this using Audible and man oh man was it epic!! The narrator, Natalie Naudus, was ingenious with her portrayals of each character. She was so good that I never had to question who was speaking at any given time and she brought to life every beloved persona with style.

This book boasted excellent writing. There were loads of scenarios that were hard to envision though. Deep concepts with sweeping, unfathomable grandeur. How do you picture eating moons and spitting out galaxies? Being so large that whole solar systems are dwarfed? Shifts and metamorphosis in and out of dimensions and through a galactic network, called the Cloud? Where bodies are no longer necessary and the matter of having a soul is directly linked to ones ability to connect with and manipulate the Cloud?

The Character Development was beautific, rich. The world Development was immense, extremely confusing at times yet so dynamic I felt like I lived this life in this place with these characters. I know them so well as to be affected by the things that shaped them and terrified and in peril as they were...and they were in CONSTANT peril. There was absolute non stop action and it was unbelievably grand in scope and breadth.

What was it all for?? For the liberation of all sentient beings of course.

Was it worth it? Well you'll just have to see for yourself but as for my time and devotion? Heck yeah it was worth every nanosecond spent listening to this masterpiece.

~ Enjoy

*** I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ***

This was an interesting read! Confusing at first, and a bit of a morally gray character, but I really sympathized with Viv and I loved how much she cared for her friends and how she didn't leave behind even the odd creature that saved her once. She was a really well-written character and wow, Max Gladstone wrote such a feminist novel! This was great to read and refreshing after several contemporaries and urban fantasies.

Forever is in the title and that is how long I thought it would take me to read this book. It is very dense with a lot of background and world building. I kept putting it down and then picking it back up. I wanted to see where it went but would not recommend this as a casual read..

An interesting start. I am curious to see where this goes, but not super eager. There is a long list of books I have and series I am anticipating that would come before this. However, if you're a fan of Gladstone this probably won't disappoint.

The "sneak peek" I read was rather long so I'm not sure if I'm leaving this review in the correct spot or not. (The version I read left off with Viv, Zanj, Xiara, Grey and Hong off to confront the Empress. Assembling that whole crew was quite an undertaking that took many chapters, so I feel like read a pretty substantial section of this book already.)

I liked this book a lot, but for some reason I didn't quite love it (and I really WANTED to love it.) There is some great writing (LOVE calling Ken-doll like centaur creatures "Kentaurs) and decent action scenes, and some really strong characters (In particular Zanj! I liked Hong too but felt like he was a bit underwritten.)

I think I maybe just didn't love Viv. We spend a lot of time in her head, processing how she feels about things, describing what she's seeing, etc. (which meant this didn't particularly give me "space opera" vibes.) I felt at times like that narrative choice took me a bit out of the action.

For example, I think Hong is a fascinating character, but Viv rarely interacts with him, instead spending a lot of time figuring things out on her own. I guess I WANTED to feel a sense of camaraderie between these characters (like the Guardians of the Galaxy crew) but instead (with the exception of Zanj who gets her own chapter) it felt like "standoffish, confident genius goes on a space adventure and shares her thoughts about it."

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review..

Really enjoyed this preview with its complex characters, terrific writing style, and fantastic world building. I look forward to the full novel.

Viv is a computer super genius on the run from unknown enemies. When she attempts to undermine the entire world's Internet/data system to make it a better place (where she basically rules everything), a green, regal specter appears and thwarts her plans. Viv wakes in an unknown place and time fraught with many dangers, rescued by a mysterious monk, Viv must learn to navigate this new world.

The premise of Max Gladstone's EMPRESS OF FOREVER was fine and relatively unique. I found Viv lacked personality and I still wasn't 100% sure of the plot or conflict by 30% in. However, the main reason I will not be continuing is the writing. The writing is often confusing and I found myself having to read paragraphs twice to discern what was actually being said. Sentences ran on for paragraphs with an overabundance of commas. There are sentence fragments everywhere and half finished thoughts strewn around every chapter. I couldn't ignore the lack of finesse in the writing style and it made the book tedious to read.

Unique and promising plot, but doesn't deliver due to awkward writing (DNF at 30%).

A sci fi adventure to smash the patriarchy by! Viv is a tech visionary/genius a la Steve Jobs. Competitors have stolen her work, so she's determined to get it back. She breaks into her competitor's offices and plans to wipe her creations off their drive,s but everything changes when a mysterious woman in glowing green shows up and grabs Viv, rendering her unconscious. Viv wakes up a prisoner in a strange place, but realizes pretty quickly that she's in outer space, and a monk named Hong is there to save her. They join forces with a space pirate named Zanj (when she's not trying to kill them), who's been trapped by the Empress - the woman in glowing green - in a star for 3 thousand years. Together, the trio flies to a world called Orn, which has been left decimated by the Empress, but encounter a post-apocalyptic tribe called the Ornclan. Viv and the chieftain's daughter, Xiara, hit it off REALLY well, which helps, because Xiara has to keep Viv and Hong safe from her mother, who's selling them out to the bad guys.

Absolute fun, wild space opera adventure with fully realized, strong female characters, razor sharp wit, and fantastic worldbuilding. The last page left me yelling for more - when does book 2 come out?

I requested this knowing that I loved Gladstone's Craft series, and that he can write an engrossing and unusual fantasy world when he puts his mind to it. Empress of Forever starts a bit like Bored Super Rich Person Who Still Totally Doesn't Take It For Granted (I forget which movie that was) who walks away from it all to do something mysterious. The U.S. has become progressively farther along the road to a surveillance state, so the route she takes is complex, and had far too much detail. It allows us to get a BIT of backstory, but only a bit. It is clear very quickly that Vivian is a complete Mary Sue. She wrecks her sailboat, meets up with her BFF who doesn't realize how much crap they are about to be in, then heads to a server farm for standard Movie Hacking Sequence. Apparently, she is then is thrown into the future where some other Mary Stu martial-arts monk-dude (*Totally-Not-Keanu) saves her.

Honestly, that's where I stopped reading.

It could have been the future. It could have been a dream sequence. I found myself not particularly interested, and I was even on vacation. I stopped reading. The selection NetGalley shared with me was billed as "an exercerpt," but it felt about an hour too long, which made me quite sad. Maybe Gladestone's The Craft Sequence is his one-hit wonder for me (so to speak). This is a hard pass.

Excited to review the full novel after reading this preview, Love this author's writing. Gladstone always gives us complex characters and memorable world-building.

This strong start to the novel has me itching for more! I love Max's worldbuilding and this doesn't look like it will disappoint,