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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