John Scalzi is by far one of the most imaginative (and funny at the same time) authors that I read in the last years. This book is not an exception. He brings drama and laughts, gives interesting characters, and give us a great book, once again.

i love anything this man writes, but i will not be continuing on with this series unfortunately. i will try something else from him when he writes a new novel.

The Interdependency had endured for thousands of years. All the far flung countries that composed it were connected by the Flow, the mechanism that allowed travel between places so far apart that without the Flow there would be no way to reach them in a man's lifetime. The Interdependency was ruled by the Emperoux who resided at the capital, the Hub. Another place of note was The End, a small world which had been originally populated by criminals exiled from other worlds.
But things are changing. There is a new Emperoux, a young girl who never thought she would be in charge and thrust into the role when her brother, the heir, died in an accident followed by the death of their father. The merchant families, which hold much of the power in all worlds and control the traffic between them, seem to be embroiled in a power struggle. End is engaged in a native rebellion that seems likely to topple its ruler. Most importantly, something seems to be happening with The Flow. Some of the entry points seem to be collapsing, which means no one can enter or exit there.

On the End, a friend of the Emperoux continues his work. A brilliant physicist, he had come to the Emperoux decades ago showing him the prediction his math equations showed; the entire collapse of the Flow. Since that time, he appeared to have been exiled to End but in reality he is there continuing his work. Now his son must reach the Emperoux and weeks into her reign, inform her that everything on which the world has been built, will change in the near future. How will humanity survive? Will the Emperoux prove up to the challenge?

This is the first in a planned trilogy about this world and the challenges facing it in the collapse of everything on which their reality is based. There are many interesting characters and the struggles between trading families trying to secure power and wealth is fascinating. But what drives the novel is the idea that humanity could be faced with a challenge of the entire system collapsing and the survival of life at stake. Readers will want to continue the series to see what happens next. This book is recommended for readers of science fiction.

If you love a really good Space Opera book - then this is for you .

The premise of Humanity using the 'flow' to travel to the stars eventually forming the Interdependency is a new approach ....... novel new approaches to Sci Fi are hard to come by but very welcome when they appear .

The Flow runs like a river through space and allows the spaceships that enter it to travel at speeds faster than light and across the vast universe in months or years rather than centuries. However, just like a river, the Flow is changing course and millions of lives might be lost in space if this occurs.
The Emporex rules the planets and space stations that make up the Interdependency around her, however the Rebels warring at the Interdependecy's outer edges, the End, have a far-reaching impact ...... just what are they fighting for? Will the noble houses manage to unite or run and hide if the Flow does begin to segregate Humanity

I did find the multiple perspective narrative a little off putting at times as my focus was pulled hither and thither BUT overall it did not detract from the overall storyline , which was enthralling .

I was given an arc of this book by the Publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This was such a great read! I hadn't read a good science-fiction / space opera in a long time, and I was thrilled to discover this one.
I had read a few reviews saying that the story was okay, but the stars of the show were the characters. This is not wrong. Although I have to say that the story in itself was very compelling, and only highlighted and emphasised by the great characters.
I am very much looking forward to reading the next two books in the series!

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Fits every definition of a space opera. The characters are very well developed with interesting quirks. The conversations are entertaining and thoughtful. Scalzi tends to get wordy when he is writing about the situations and thoughts of the characters.

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, a great author. I normally enjoy this author's work very much but really had a hard time connecting with this series.

This is the first instalment in The Interdependency series.

The Interdependency is a space empire spanning innumerable light years and travel between each human colony is viable via the Flow. The Flow runs like a river through space and allows the spaceships that enter it to travel at a speed faster than light and across the vast universe in months or years rather than centuries and multiple lifetimes. However, just like a river, the Flow is changing course and millions of lives might be lost in space if this occurs.

The Emporex rules the planets and space stations that make up the Interdependency around her, but the figure currently residing in this role was never the one born for it. How will she measure up to her predecessor, the father she never knew? Will the rebels warring at the Interdependecy's outer edges, the End, have a far-reaching impact and just what are they fighting for? How are the noble houses going to unite and fight or run and hide if the Flow really does begin to segregate all of humanity?

Space operas have always belonged to a genre of great interest to me, and yet have been something I struggled to immerse myself in. The vastness of space endlessly intrigues me, but the often science-heavy focus scares me away. Here, both were present and neither were intimidating in the slightest. Careful tactics were deployed to ensure the reader was always aware of the inner-workings of this complex empire, as well as how to travel inbetween them, yet they never felt overwhelming or confusing in the slightest.

This multiple perspective narrative meant the world was slowly unveile,d over the first quarter of the book, and it's true focus took even longer to find its direction. This gradual immersion heightened understanding and intrigue for me, ensuring I was never lost in space even when the later story flew by at the speed of Flow!

This is the first in a five book series, of which three are currently available. Humanity lives amongst the stars in colonies and space stations connected only by the Flow. In Hub, the great underground habitat where all the lanes of the Flow converge, there's a new Emperox, Cardenia, known as Grayland II, untested and not quite ready for her elevation to ruler of the (known) universe. On End, the farthest flung colony, revolution is in the air, and a flow-scientist, Marce, tries to keep his head down and stay safe, but he knows the Flow is changing course and his father wants him to take a message to the Emperox. Colonies could be lost to fatal isolation. Between Marce and Cardenia, Kiva Lagos, a ship-board daughter of one of the merchant houses, the House of Lagos, smells a rat. The Nohamapetan merchant house is conspiring to take over End from the present duke. This is very readable and moves along nicely, though never feels rushed. I enjoyed it so much I've already started to read the second book, The Consuming Fire.

Thanks Tor for making this available during the Quarantine.

Great story, great world-building, The characters were very funny and I know people that speak like them. Mr. Scalzi's a pretty good writer and this book shows off his talents.

Onto Consuming Fire.

Reviewed by my co-blogger, TS Chan, on Novel Notions

I think two words perfectly describe The Collapsing Empire – entertaining and accessible. This is science fiction for the masses that is fun and riveting.

I’ve only ever read one of Scalzi’s books, Old Man’s War, and really enjoyed it for its humour and entertainment value. I do get that humour in books is not something that works for everyone. For me, Scalzi’s does as did Douglas Adam’s. I would point out though that Adam’s humour was more quirky, while the former tended towards being snarky. Since I’ve read Old Man’s War several years ago, I’ve forgotten how accessible Scalzi’s science fiction was. By accessible, I do not mean that it’s simple or juvenile, but that it was easy to read and understand. Most science fiction, and particularly space operas, include a lot of politics in its narrative. It’s inevitable because most of the times science fiction depict the progression of humankind into the future and politics will always be the cornerstone of our evolution through time. I’ve read some SF books that have political narratives which takes quite a bit of effort to understand; this often takes me out of the story as I had to keep remembering the different leanings and machinations of certain organisations or parties, etc etc.

This was not so in The Collapsing Empire. The worldbuilding was solid and even fascinating, but at the same time, was really easy to understand. The Interdependency was the name of the empire that was built upon a system that relies on exactly what that it’s called. A life critical interdependency between all the different star systems where humans have scattered into across in the universe after leaving Earth. All of these human habitats safe one are not self-sustainable and depend on numerous trade routes through The Flow – a multi-dimensional phenomenon in space – which allows spaceships to travel through the immeasurably vast expanse of space in a significantly shorter amount of time. The story starts with a gripping Prologue that sets the stage for a resounding disaster that the intergalactic empire would be facing – the Flow is not static and its changes could bring the empire to the brink of destruction, and even perhaps the end of most of humankind whose ability to thrive and survive was built upon the existing structure of The Flow.

The story follows three main characters – an inexperienced daughter of a dying emperox who became the sole heir unexpectedly, a foul-mouthed daughter of the matriarch of a powerful guild house, and an unassuming Flow scientist. Of the three, Cardenia Wu-Patrick was the most interesting to follow as she, rather reluctantly, ascended to the throne as the new emperox. Unprepared and inexperienced as she was, her innate qualities from being born of the people instead of the nobility made her a much more compassionate and empathetic leader. Kiva Lagos was the said foul-mouthed daughter whose ability to inject profanity into every sentence was most impressive, followed by her ruthless savvy. Marce Claremont, the only male character with a POV, came across to be rather bland at this point in time. Hopefully, there will be room for him to grow in the future with the plot development towards the end of this book.

Speaking of the plot development, The Collapsing Empire was not one to be read on its own. There was no wrap-up or ending in this volume; it felt like the setting up the scene and its pieces, and that things are really going to escalate in the sequel. But for what it’s worth, it was a highly entertaining and fairly short read that has great ideas, a riveting plotline, and holds much promise for its future books.

You can purchase a copy from: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository (Free shipping worldwide) | Bookshop.Org

Published by Tor Books on March 21, 2017

The Collapsing Empire is the first book in a trilogy. The last book was recently published. I’ll read it after I finish the second novel, which (like the first one) the publisher kindly provided for review.

Interstellar travel in the Interdependency trilogy is possible because certain places in the universe are connected by navigable streams (“rivers of alternate space-time”) called the Flow. Each stream moves in one direction but is conveniently paired with a stream that moves in the opposite direction.

Humans established a presence in a few dozen star systems by traveling to them via the Flow. In most systems, humans live underground or in orbiting habitats. The humans in each system trade with humans in other systems through the Flow streams. All the humans belong to the Holy Empire of the Interdependent States and Mercantile Guilds, also known as the Interdependency.

While the streams remain stable for a considerable time, they sometimes shift or disappear. The stream to Earth collapsed about a millennium before The Collapsing Empire takes place. Another stream collapsed a couple of hundred years later, causing the loss of contact with the inhabitants of that system. The remaining systems of the Interdependency rely on the Flow for trade, and none of those habitats have sufficient resources to enable their long-term survival if they were cut off from the others.

The human presence at the center of the Interdependency (where flow streams converge) is called Hub, while the habitat that is farthest from the others is called End, because future humans are remarkably unimaginative. End is the only place on which humans actually colonized a planet. If the Flow streams disappear, End is the last hope for survival of the humans living in the Interdependency.

The imperial dynasty for some time has been the House of Wu. The emperox has ruling authority throughout the empire, although the emperox is advised by an executive committee that represents the legislature, the church, and trade unions. The emperox dies early in the novel, making his illegitimate daughter Cardenia the new emperox. It is a job she doesn’t particularly want.

So that’s the background against which the trilogy is set. The background, however, is about to be disrupted. A physicist named Hatide Roynold concluded that the Flow streams would soon rearrange, establishing End rather than Hub as their nexus. Her research was privately funded by the House of Nohamapetan, which hopes to keep her findings a secret so that the knowledge could be exploited to the family’s advantage. Lord Ghreni Nohamapetan on End and Lady Nadashe Nohamapetan on Hub are the novel’s principal villains.

However, a physicist on End, the Count of Claremont, has been secretly funded by the emperox. Claremont, assisted by his son Marce, determined that Roynold was wrong and that all the streams will soon collapse, isolating each system from every other system. Hence, the novel’s title and the driver of the plot.

Nearly all of this novel is a setup for the story to come. It introduces key characters, including Cardenia, Marce, Lady Kiva from the House of Lagos (a family of traders), and the villains. Political machinations include a couple of attempted assassinations on Hub and a rebellion on End. We learn a bit about Cardenia’s insecurities, revealed largely in conversation with the computer-stored constructs of earlier dynasty members who held the position of emperox. A romance or perhaps just lust begins to blossom between Cardenia and Marce, while lust pretty much defines the personality of Kiva.

The novel is of no more than average length, which makes me wonder whether the story might have been better told as a Dune-length novel rather than breaking it into three books. The book does not work as a standalone because no self-contained story is resolved. That makes The Collapsing Empire difficult to review — it’s like reviewing the first third of a novel — given that whether the novel is a worthy read will depend on the success of the trilogy as a whole. I can say, however, that the novel held my interest, that it moves quickly, and that the premise is intriguing.

RECOMMENDED

Enter into a world where the earth has long since been removed from current human affairs. Humans now live across many galaxies and travel faster than the soles of light through the ‘flow.’ Humanity now relies on the ‘flow,’ but is the ‘flow’ stable?

We follow multiple POVs in this epic space opera, all of which were entertaining. The characters are funny, relatable, and intelligent.

The Collapsing Empire was not only easy and fun to read, it also made me think about how greed, folly, and manipulation are associated with power.

I was surprised to love a Space Opera, but I am definitely excited that I read The Collapsing Empire. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

I fell in love with John Scalzi style of writing: he writes tongue in cheek and even if you are reading about some serious topics you cannot help smiling and being entertained.
This book is a great novel that mixes hard sci-fi with the humour usually find in other genres.
The world building is amazing as are the character and plot development.
I loved every moment of it and I think it's an excellent book, full of food for thought and fun to read.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

In the future a group of planets are collectively called the Interdependency and are connected via space travel channels called the Flow. Unfortunately this is all coming to an end.

This book was exceptional. I love how Scalzi used action and politics to push forth a fast paced story. I never felt like this book drug in, every page was well written and edited. Scalzi also does an excellent job at world building and breathing life into a genre where new ideas are becoming less and less common.

An elegant opening salvo to an epic space opera trilogy... exuding interstellar travel, political intrigue, and Machiavellian machinations. Featuring elegant world building along with multi-layered characterizations and as always, Scalzi's snarky humor continually seeps through the pages. .... even, as apparently mundane as naming space vessels with song and movie titles from the ancestral Earth. (e.g Yes sir, that's my baby ). The fate of humanity is in jeopardy? The multiple star systems composing the Interdependency Empire are in danger of isolation and extinction. The Flow "streams" that allow faster-than-light travel between the planets and habitats is collapsing. Only one planet in all of the systems, called "End", is compatible with sustaining life on it's surface ... while all the others require habitats underground or floating in orbital space. The individual systems will be unable to sustain themselves when cut off from the other planets ... and once isolated, will be vulnerable to extinction. Megacorporations are run by century-old families that have controlled the mercantile economy and have become incredibly wealthy due to monopolies and favorable government sanctions. One of the oldest and deemed the Royal Family is the Wu dynasty ... a scion of this family has always been the Emperor ... the supreme leader ... the head of both Church and State. The present Emperox, Attavio VI is dying and will soon be succeeded by his bastard daughter, Cardenia Patrick-Wu. This will not be accepted without institution of political maneuvering and possibly even a coup attempt . Multiple players with extreme motives and unspeakable methods are in play. Although the notorious Nohamapetan family takes center stage, spearheaded by the despicable sister, Nadashe ... intrigue abounds with multiple unexpected friends and foes. Introduced with dramatic effect (and my most beloved character ) is the Lady Kiva Lagos ... she cuts a plucky and insolent figure, with a "potty mouth" that is unparalleled.
John Scalzi excels an seamlessly weaving a twisted narrative containing all the elements of a great story .... conflict, complications, crisis and finally an exhilarating conclusion. .... and, yet, some dilemmas to resolve.
Thanks to NetGalley Macmillan-Tor publications for providing an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review. This gem proves to be an irresistible prod to continue the journey.

The Collapsing Empire is a fast-moving space opera in a new Universe by John Scalzi.

Earth has been lost and humanity has spread to tenuous holds in several systems which can only economically be reached via an extradimensional space called The Flow. This space binds together the systems which each specialized in producing some, but not all of what is needed for survival. This is the basis for the human Empire known as the Interdependency.

If you are a Scalzi fan, you already know that he writes great characters. This story is no exception. The characters, with all their different quirks, are great fun besides being nuanced. Scalzi also keeps the story moving along well. From the tension in the opening scene to the simmering anticipation of the close this book is an attention grabber which leads to it being a fairly quick read.

I highly recommend it to anyone looking for great sci-fi.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a classic, kick ass space opera and I loved every second of it! I thought the characters were great, and the plot itself kept me gripped the whole time! It did drag in a few spots but overall I really enjoyed this book!

Fantastic, fast paced space opera set in a far flung future and a space faring civilisation on the verge of discovering the Flow - a way of immediate travel between planets. Told with Scalzi's characteristic wit and plenty of snappy dialogue, this is an absolute treat. I didn't even mind the cliffhanger.

This 1st in a brilliant, Machiavellian SF trilogy is set in a far future space empire that is about to collapse. Discovery of the Flow, an extradimensional field opening at certain points, allowed easy travel and trade between different planets.

Aside from one of them (End), humanity would be unable to survive on any on its own, hence interdependency. Unfortunately the Flow isn't fixed, though its entry and exit points have been stable for centuries, with Hub, the empire's capital, at the centre. That's about to change.

There are many plot threads to follow in this extraordinary trilogy, but the main ones relate to the very new emperox of the Interdependency; a scientist tasked with communicating the looming catastrophe to an empire in denial; and the daughter of a powerful merchant family with a monopoly on citrus.

The Collapsing Empire is engrossing and action-packed. It ends on a cliffhanger for all of humanity and sets the scene nicely for what's to follow.