Book Review: Tiamat's Wrath

Wow, that was something!

This is book two in the third and final trilogy of trilogies that compose this series. And it might be difficult to top this one.

The book opens with Avasarala's funeral on Laconia of all places. Holden is still there and gets to talk to a few people—those willing to be seen talking to Duarte's "dancing bear"—about her and how much she'd hate it, which was probably Emperor Duarte's intent.

Except for the Epilogue, the rest of the book is told from the viewpoints of Bobbi, Alex, Naomi, Dr. Elvi Okoye (from Cibola Burn), and Teresa Duarte—yes, the Emperor's daughter. I'll start with her. Teresa is on a slow burn of teenage rebellion. She's growing disillusioned with people, whether they're her classmates or her adult handlers treating her with kid gloves. She loves her father, who is grooming her to be his replacement should anything ever happen to him. She finds solace with her dog and some hermit named Timothy who lives in a cave, calls her "Tiny," and says that she's the angriest person he's ever known.

Elvi has been drafted into the Laconian Navy and goes on exploration missions to the weirdest systems encountered in the gate network. Along the way, she's tasked with gathering as much information about the aliens that killed the protomolecule builders. Duarte has a plan for how to deal with them and has apparently never heard the adage to never poke the bear. He pokes it, of course, and boy oh boy does it get pissed off, hence the book's title.

Meanwhile, Bobbi and Naomi are at odds as to the resistance's strategy. Bobbi wants guerrila warfare and Naomi, who has sneaking around in shipping containers, prefers infiltration (putting their people in key positions) while Alex is caught in the middle. They're still family, but the way each deals with feeling powerless and seemingly hopeless odds, couldn't be any more different. Eventually, one of Bobbi's raids pays off, giving them a weapon they can use to strike back. But the price is so high.

If you've made it this far in the series and love these characters, you shouldn't be disappointed (but 6% are). There are a couple epic battles wherein our heroes depend on cunning to outwit the Laconians. The inside look at the Laconian inner circle from both Teresa's and Elvi's perspectives hammers home just how messed up cults of personality can be, not just the figurehead but the officers whose job it is to carry out the vision.

5 stars

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DED

Gateway to Empire Now Available

Gateway to Empire is now available in print and on the Kindle!

Other ebook formats to come.

Book Review: The Last Emperox

The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems―and billions of people―are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. This collapse was foretold through scientific prediction... and yet, even as the evidence is obvious and insurmountable, many still try to rationalize, delay and profit from, these final days of one of the greatest empires humanity has ever known.

Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of this collapse. But "control" is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people form impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough.

Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization... or the last emperox to wear the crown?

In my review of the previous novel, The Consuming Fire, I drew a comparison to the original Star Wars trilogy, in that, many (most?) fans/critics consider the middle film, The Empire Strikes Back, the best one. After reading The Consuming Fire, I wrote that it wasn't the typical middle story in a trilogy, but, in fact, it was highly enjoyable, like Empire... Now I'm here to write that it was indeed the best book in the trilogy, also like Empire...

The Last Emperox starts off interesting enough. There's the great hook to lure you in:

The funny thing was, Ghreni Nohamapetan actually saw the surface-to-air missile that slammed into his aircar a second before it hit.

From there, the bad guys scheme, there's another assassination, and then more scheming by the bad guys. Meanwhile, Emperox Grayland and her lover, Marce Claremont, are trying to figure out how to save the billions of inhabitants of the Interdependency while being a cute couple. Kiva Lagos continues to not to have any patience for villains and their incompetent vassals and lets them know in no uncertain terms. And this is how the story goes until a little past halfway when the first surprise plot twist comes along to one of the major characters that puts a wrench into plans. 70% of the way in there's a surprise revelation. And then things just run along until 80% of the way when the bad guys put their evil plan into motion.

The usual elements of this series are still present: witty banter (always with Scalzi), surprise violence that comes out of nowhere, and villains who are really high on themselves and love to talk about their evil plans. There's a lot of talk about data modeling. Maybe too much. Lots of intrigue between ridiculously wealthy people.

The ending left me flat. Did it resolve things? Yes and no. And what didn't get resolved is what was disappointing. It was talked about, but there wasn't a heroic solution found within the allotted space for story. The protagonists took care of one thing in hopes that it would pave the way for the other thing. So, those feels I had at the end of The Consuming Fire weren't there for this one. But at least there weren't any Ewoks.

3.5 stars

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DED

Book Review: Persepolis Rising

This is book one in the third and final trilogy of trilogies that compose this series.

Nearly three decades have passed since Marcos Inaros was defeated. The Belters run the Transport Union, which oversees the traffic between the thirteen hundred worlds of the ring gates. Terraformers from Mars are applying their knowledge to Earth to speed its recovery from environmental damage inflicted by Marcos and his henchmen during the war. So while the worlds of the Sol System are pretty much status quo, technologically speaking, the Martian traitors who sold Marcos the ships and weapons he needed to go to war against the Inners have been busy. Led by Duarte, the Laconians (as that's what they refer to themselves now) have been playing around with the protomolecule, plugging into an abandoned shipyard and seeing what else it can do.

Apparently, a lot.

Duarte decides that now is the time to unite humanity under his rule. By force, if necessary. And of course it's necessary. Humans just don't abdicate to someone claiming to be superior; they need proof. And the Laconians do just that.

It's much like 18th century warships going up against an Iowa class battleship.

Holden and Naomi were going to retire, but that's been put on hold. They and the rest of the Rocinante crew join some OPA vets and form an underground resistance on Medina Station. Meanwhile the navies of Earth, Mars, and the Transport Union prepare to defend Sol System from the Laconian warship. And how these two fronts play out make up the rest of the novel.

We see how Drummer, who's running the Transport Union, deals with the Laconian incursion. While interstellar travel through the ring gates takes place in the blink of an eye, in-system travel is still painfully slow, like watching an army march across Europe. She's constantly looking for weak points in this vessel. Things can't be this bad, right? Right?

And on Medina Station, it's life during the occupation with echoes from WWII, complete with puppet rulers, propaganda, infiltrators and traitors, and military checkpoints. To top it off, there's a military governor who's in over his head but doesn't want anyone else to know, so he errs on the draconian side.

It's bleak. All of our protagonists feel powerless, trying to do their part to confound the enemy and find their weak points so that they can exploit them. Everyone deals with the situation in their own way. Amos even gets a chapter, so that we can see how he deals with this in his emotionally damaged way.

In terms of the protomolecule, the first trilogy dealt with its discovery and seeing the power that it could unleash. The second trilogy was a power struggle over who would possess it while the realization came that someone exterminated its creators. In this last trilogy, with the protomolecule's powers unleashed, it is certain that whoever killed its creators will awaken and punish those who use its power now. Definitely curious to see how that plays out.

4 stars

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Book Review: The Consuming Fire

The Interdependency—humanity's interstellar empire—is on the verge of collapse. The extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible is disappearing, leaving entire systems and human civilizations stranded.

Emperox Grayland II of the Interdependency is ready to take desperate measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth—or at the very least an opportunity to an ascension to power.

While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are preparing for a civil war. A war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will between spaceships and battlefields.

The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, as are her enemies. Nothing about this will be easy... and all of humanity will be caught in its consuming fire.

In a trilogy, expectations for the middle novel (or film) are typically kept low. The first novel lays the groundwork for the plot, introducing the reader to the world and this mighty obstacle that must be overcome. The last novel resolves the conflict in an epic conclusion. The middle novel is typically treated as filler. Maybe there's some minor errands that the protagonists have to deal with in order to get them to the point where they can confront that calamitous problem that they've sought to solve since the first novel. While it might be a good story, written well, even entertaining, the epic feels won't be there.

But any old school Star Wars fan will tell you that of the original trilogy of films, the middle film, The Empire Strikes Back, was the best.

Now I'm not going to tell you that The Consuming Fire is better than The Last Emperox, namely because I haven't read it yet. No, what I'm here to say is that The Consuming Fire is not the typical middle episode novel. In fact, I'd put it much closer to Empire... in terms of enjoyability.

The Consuming Fire gets my high praise because of the delightful way that Scalzi deals with the machinations of the antagonists. They're a cynical, devious lot. Always feigning respect in the most polite way possible while planning how to stick a knife in your back. We saw a good deal of that in the first novel, The Collapsing Empire. Once the news got out that the collapse of the Flow isn't bullshit, everyone and their mother decided to hatch a scheme to be top dog before it all falls apart rather than trying to work together to prepare for it. Because, you know, people. How Grayland deals with this is... tasty.

There are other enjoyable parts like the foul-mouthed, perpetually horny Kiva Lagos who receives a promotion from her usual duties in the first novel. There's the typical middle novel side quest, but here it's actually informative rather than just being a dreadful errand. And there's an assortment of backstabbery going on amongst the antagonists. Through it all, you have Scalzi's humor and humanizing of the heroes that makes his characters so wonderful. Forget the stuffy book blurb; this is Scalzi.

One observation I'll point out is that in both of these books, the action tends to come out of nowhere. One minute A is happening and then B comes in like a bolt of the blue. Now that might sound jarring, but life is like that, no? You're driving along, crossing through an intersection, when someone runs the red light and T-bones your car (Fortunately, I'm not speaking from experience). That's how Scalzi delivers some action events: The calm is suddenly, and without warning, interrupted by violence. I point this out as a pattern I observed, not as a criticism. It worked for me.

I look forward to reading how Emperox Grayland and her allies deal with the collapse of the Flow in the last novel of the trilogy.

4.5 stars

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DED

Cover Reveal for Gateway to Empire

Coming soon...

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Book Review: The Collapsing Empire

Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars.

Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war—and, for the empire's rulers, a system of control.

The Flow is eternal—but it's not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well. In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity. When it's discovered that the entire Flow is moving, possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever, three individuals—a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency—must race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

Books-A-Million (BAM!) had the entire trilogy on sale when I visited the Bangor, Maine location in May. I mention that because it was a totally random stop meant to kill time while my son wrapped up some post-college graduation activities. They had it for a price that I couldn't refuse. The store is located in the Bangor Mall commercial park, a solar system of stores orbiting the dying mall—watch out for the potholes!—at its center. And IIRC, BAM! is planning on re-locating to a commercially healthier part of the city. Every time we visit, I wonder how much longer it'll last. But unlike dying stars, it'll skip the supernova, just collapse in on itself like a black hole, possibly take the entire commercial park with it.

But I digress.

The book blurb tells you that humanity's means of FTL interstellar travel is unraveling. This is not good for business or humanity's survival. In the past, worlds that lost access to the Flow have died—for some reason the Flow predominantly only goes to worlds where atmospheric conditions are toxic to humans, thus forcing them to live in artificial constructs. And the economy is controlled by family-owned megacorporations who have been granted monopolies over segments of the economy. So we have insanely rich people behaving badly, always trying to get an edge over rival houses, politically and economically. This super secret information about the Flow is something that can give a clan an edge and thus is something that they're willing to kill for.

But as serious as that sounds, Scalzi includes a measure of his humor, brought out by the characters' dialogue, most notably through the corporate executive (Kiva) who carpet f-bombs people who annoy her. And there are characters who demonstrate relatability despite their positions. Cardenia has to become emperox as she's the only living heir to the throne, but she has spent her whole life living like a regular person, away from the trappings of royalty. And Claremont, a humble science teacher, has to take his father's work on the Flow and present it to the emperox and the other branches of government and get them to act now before it's too late.

At this point in his career, John Scalzi is comfortable. He has a solid fanbase that can be counted on to buy his books and thus keep his publisher happy. And happy publishers make authors' lives easier. Having mastered the formula that keeps his readers devoted and said publisher happy, he's not going to mess with that. So if you like Scalzi's past work, then it's highly likely you'll like this one too. But you have to go into this knowing that it's a series, and it won't get wrapped up until the last book. There will be unresolved bits when this book ends. I was fine with it, but not everyone will.

4 stars
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DED