Read All About It: The Collapsing Empire

Welcome back to this edition of "I really, really love John Scalzi's books."

No joke, John Scalzi has been a consistent favorite of mine over the last few months. From Old Man's War to Redshirts, I have consistently enjoyed his novels, and The Collapsing Empire has emerged as my absolute favorite.

Staying in a traditional science-fiction pose, but replacing traditionally male characters with an almost entirely female cast, Scalzi delivers a stunning novel that packs action, disaster, and crude humor into an attractive package that I was unable to put down.

Humanity has spread across the stars, abandoning their former home Earth, by means of the Flow. The Flow is an extradimensional field that allows for faster-than-light travel--but there's a catch. The Flow may be about to move, abandoning the various human worlds and causing the downfall of an empire.

A scientist, a starship captain, and the emperor of the Interdependency are in a race against very limited time--and desperate to salvage what they can from this empire that may just be on the brink of utter collapse.

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For starters: I loved the three main characters. Scalzi delivers this narrative from several vantage points, notable in their locations, attitudes, and ranks. Two of the three are women, and well-written women at that. Scalzi doesn't shy away from imbuing these women with forceful personalities, while also constantly reminding readers that the fact that they are women is simultaneously unremarkable and one of the most important pieces of the story.

The starship captain, Kiva Lagos, is a noblewoman who has a remarkable sex drive and a ruthless desire to be just as bad-ass as her mother. The emperox, Cardenia, was never supposed to be in her position, but with the mantle thrust onto her shoulders, she is determined to save her people from absolute destruction. Both are remarkable on their own, and Scalzi is a genius for giving us such amazing female characters to grow his new world from. The dude is pretty cool too, but in my opinion was really there to serve as the connection between Kiva and Cardenia's circumstances.

Humanity in this universe has grown up, forgotten Earth, moved on and advanced scientifically. Scalzi builds a world where humanity doesn't care how dangerous a planet is, and will build where they can, ignoring dangers and conquering worlds. Humanity is reckless and daring, and his main characters embody those traits because they are humanity at its limits. The worlds this universe embodies are varied and dangerous.

The only thing this series lacks is aliens. Maybe next time? Maybe his humans are alien enough in this one, separated as they are from Earth.

Scalzi is a known master of captivating science fiction, and The Collapsing Empire is genuinely a masterpiece. It sets up an intriguing world on the brink of collapse, and expects its readers to root for it while it begins its abrupt and uncontrolled descent into madness. If you look deep enough, there are definitely parallels between this fantastic fiction and our own world, but they're meant to make readers look deeper at why Scalzi's version of humanity evolved as it did.

I eagerly await the next novel in this series, because I love these characters and this version of humanity, spread thin across the stars by a force they have no control over, but sought to use anyways. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until 2019 for this currently untitled sequel--but I'm sure it will be worth it. Until then, keep an eye out for these women. They're gonna change the world. Well, their world at least.