The Collapsing Empire (Scalzi)

[cahn]

3/5. Read for "Best Series" Hugos.

...I got to this at exactly the right time; I would probably have bounced off its breezy shallowness a couple years ago -- no wait, ha, I did bounce off its breezy shallowness when I was supposed to read it for 2018 Hugo-reading -- and six months ago I wasn't reading much at all -- but I've started reading things again now, and I was in the mood for popcorn. Which this is. It hasn't got much in the way of substance, but it's fun light space opera. Well, the book deals with... a collapsing empire, and various people die, etc. so I guess in that way it's kind of dark? But the plot and characters are entertaining while also being shallow, so one doesn't have to care very hard about any of it.

The most hilarious part of it was what I think was supposed to be a major plot/thematic twist, but which really wasn't. Midway through, the emperox dramatically learns that -- horrors!! the foundation of the Empire was motivated not by idealistic goals and prophecies for humanity but by trade guilds wanting to secure their hegemonies and maximize their profits!! WHO COULD EVER HAVE GUESSED.

Like, okay, I know basically zero history (except, now, for gossipy sensationalism in 18th C Prussia, in what continues to be Total Awesomeness) but even before the last couple of years I knew that... empires don't get founded out of idealism. No matter what the propaganda says.

First of a trilogy (so the story is only a third done at the end of this book), and against my expectations I actually ended up placing a hold on the next book right away. I wouldn't rec it unless you were in the mood for something pretty shallow where you don't have to care about anything you're reading about, but if you are, this is fun!

Comments

[cahn]

I've now finished the second, and I'm curious to see whether I'll get through the third -- I'm already surprised by having finished the second one, which I suspect only happened because it was relatively short. I mean, overall I enjoyed the experience, but as I mentioned a couple of comments back I have a bad habit of dropping series in the second book, especially when they're doorstoppers. Anyway, my local library has the third, so I'll probably at least try it.

...it will probably rank above Lady Astronaut for me, as I've yet to get more than a couple of chapters into any of them. Lots of people seem to like the last book, even people who didn't like the first one, but I couldn't get very far into it either; there's something about her writing that sets my teeth on edge. And then there's, well, McGuire. I don't know anything about October Daye, and I did like Middlegame actually more than this Scalzi, so I suppose it could go either way.

[hamsterwoman]

I've only read the first Lady Astronaut, and I liked it quite a bit, but have had trouble getting into the second book. (This is my first experience of MRK's writing, not counting some Rothfuss pastiche porn she'd written for one of Rothfuss's fundraisers (context, if you want it, LOL), so I don't know if her writing works for me on the whole or not, but I did like what The Calculating Stars specifically was doing.

October Daye... On the one hand, I've read 7? 8? books of it, and I think on average I enjoy it more than the Wayward Children books or anything else by McGuire I've attempted (which, I haven't tried Middlegame). On the other hand, I don't think it's a very good series, actually. There are aspects of it I enjoy (a couple of recurring characters, some nicely creepy setpieces, a couple of twists), and there are things it does that set my teeth on edge. For example, starting out writing "urban fantasy P.I." type of stories when McGuire really does not seem to be any good at writing mysteries. On the other hand, I do feel like at least the Toby Daye books tend to be less preachy than the Wayward Children books, which is a plus in my book.

Anyway, I'll be curious to see what you think of that series if/when you get around to it.

[cahn]

I did manage to mostly skim through the first Lady Astronaut, but I never really warmed up to it. I felt like there was too much check-in-the-box Diversity Bingo (I like diversity! but not when I feel like it's check-in-the-box) and also Elma never rang true to me as someone who was actually interested in math. One of those might have been okay, but both of them made me not like it very much.

Heh, maybe I should read some October Daye, then. The preachiness of the Wayward Children books is what makes me really unhappy about it, and I seem to be more-or-less enjoying Scalzi's series, so!