The Consuming Fire

June 1, 2018

The Interdependency, humanity's interstellar empire, is in grave danger as the extradimensional conduit that has facilitated travel among stars fades. Second in a series from Hugo Award-winning, New York Times best-selling Scalzi.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 10, 2018
Scalzi makes good use of the setting and characters established in The Collapsing Empire for a space opera sequel centered on the battle for control of the interstellar Interdependency. The ruling House of Wu clashes with the ambitious Nohamapetan family in the face of undeniable evidence of changing physics that could isolate whole worlds: the Flow, the naturally occurring interstellar travel network that forms the empire’s infrastructure, is collapsing. Wildcard Emperinox Grayland II claims to have religious visions as part of her calculated attempt to save humankind. Scalzi’s key players remain individually distinctive and delightfully outrageous in their interactions without becoming caricatured. A section about the exploration of a newly reaccessible world falls into a tired mode as old computers reboot and a meeting with a degraded remnant of the population feels like alien first contact, but the story brightens again when the shipbound avatar of an old king breezes in to do historical exposition. This novel sits perfectly in its second-book role, leaving the reader deeply invested in the developing story, with plenty left to tell. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Literary.

October 15, 2018
The empire of humanity, the Interdependency, is collapsing. The Flow, which allows vessels to travel from world to world in a fraction of the time it would take even moving at near the speed of light, is slowly but inevitably shutting down. It's only a matter of time before the worlds of humanity are separated from one another by the yawning abyss of space. In this follow-up to the Hugo-nominated The Collapsing Empire (2017), Emperox Grayland II is scrambling to find a way to keep the empire from descending into anarchy, while her very vocal critics are preparing for a civil war that could destroy the empire before Grayland can save it. If you're picturing a plodding tome about intergalactic politics, think again: Scalzi writes, as always, in a lively, occasionally flamboyant style, and his characters are, despite the fact that they live in the far-flung future, as real and human as anyone you'd meet in the here and now. Scalzi once again demonstrates why he is one of the most popular SF novelists currently writing. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The buzz is growing steadily around this second in Scalzi's new series, including its selection as one of Goodreads' Most Anticipated Fantasy and Science Fiction Books.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)