Books: The Last Emperox By John Scalzi (2020)

 

"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 from 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?"

As I mentioned in the review of the first book, I read somewhere this series was supposed to be two volumes, not three. I think it should’ve stayed two books. Part of the problem lies in how many times Scalzi reminds the reader of the plot and while less obvious, here than book two, there still remains an over-reliance on the expository narrative trope –he tells too much of the story instead of showing it. Once again, the books ideas will resonant with modern times -the story isn't very subtle as we see greedy capitalists trying to save themselves and their fortunes and are willing letting the rest of the humans die a horrible death. Of course, not all are evil.

Despite some of my nitpicking, the three female leads are pretty fun, even if they all seem self-aware. Kiva is the best, though.

Books: The Consuming Fire By John Scalzi (2018)

 

"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 the altars of worship. 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."

As with all middle books within a trilogy, everything must be set-up for the conclusion. The Consuming Fire is good, a fun space opera filled with interesting characters and some clever storytelling. But Scalzi relies too much on exposition here and amazing convenience. Everyone knows everything and vomits it out at a drop of hat. The Memory Room is used too much to explain the plot points for readers who’ll read this book in front of the TV or between vids on TickTok. So in the end, this middle book becomes all explanations with little plot. 

The there is the arrival of the mysterious walking holo dude (woman?) Tomas Reynauld Chenevert, who either holds the keys the Interdependency survival or has some other plan to bring it to its knees.

Some reviews claim to think this is Scalzi’s Dune, but this series is not as dense or complex as Herbert’s work. And while it features conspiracies, this series is seemly more an espionage thriller with humor, a lot of fucking, a lot chewing at the scenery. Still, at its heart, I continue to see the many parallels of modern America here. Here Scalzi makes it obvious that it was written during the most divisive time in our modern history.

So onto book three…

Books: The Collapsing Empire By John Scalzi (2017)

"The universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible -- until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war -- and a system of control for the rulers of the empire. The Flow is eternal -- but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity (as happened with Earth some thousand years ago). When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals -- a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency -- are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse."

While John Scalzi’s latest space opera is bit complex –the science is real, and he tries not to dumb it down, but it does hurt the brain- the fun part is the characters, the politics and the sheer audacity of the whole series. At its core, though The Interdependency series (apparently originally two books, but was expanded to three) is about the fall of a civilization and the realization that that it can’t be stopped. Thus the flow (if you’ll excuse the phrase) of the tale is about who’ll control End –the evil or the semi-evil. I also felt the best example of understanding The Flow was make them wormholes like the one seen on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine mixed with the Barzan wormhole from the TNG episode The Price and its semi-sequel episode featured on VOY episode, False Profits. 

As with Scalzi’s other writings, it’s a witty book full of characters who, while charming, are all basically assholes. Of course, some are worse than others, and there are a few morally good folks, but all of them have potty mouths and use sex as political points. Political machinations abound here, and while I’m not fond of these themes, it still handled rather well here.

What works –beyond the humor- is that despite everyone not giving a “fuck” about anything, despite the politicking, despite the fact that there is no one really good here, you end up rooting for the House of Wu to win it all. We’ll see with book 2, coming up next.

Books: Old Man's War By John Scalzi (2005)

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. 

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine--and what he will become is far stranger.

I've read only two other books by John Scalzi, both skewed towards his snarky humor that I adore so much. And while Old Man's War (and the authors 2005 debut) has a lot of humor (especially in the first 100 pages or so), the rest of the novel -more or less- is a space war opera in the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. But I don't think that Scalzi is recycling Heinlein, but exploring new ideas that even the classic author may not even considered, like what it really means to be human when you've been regenerated (for lack of a better word) into a killing machine designed for one purpose: kill before being killed. 

Perry, like any good protagonist, is the reader. And through John, Scalzi can open a debate on the human condition and war. One the biggest questions that comes up is why the CDF does not try more diplomatic solutions when dealing with alien species than coming in, a guns ablazin'. 

Of course, we have many cliches of military here, the hardin' commanders who use colorful metaphors and fear to break in new recruits. There is also a self-awareness to the book, as Scalzi has the characters point out they are stereotypes we've seen many times over in real life and war fiction. But there is a heart to this tale, a lot of humor (even if Scalzi turns it down as the book progresses) and a lot of techno-babble. This was also the first book in a series, which means I'll probably have to read the others. 

I enjoyed the book, despite not being a huge fan of this sub-genre in science fiction -the military fiction. Perhaps, though, I enjoyed it because I like Scalzi's style, his sense of humor and his self-depricating ways. 

I know SyFy is working on an adaptation of this book into a TV series. Much like The Expanse series, I'm hoping for a workable translation that keeps the themes (politics, war, human condition) in place and not watered down for the masses who just want simple stories with a lot of violence and little in the way of social commentary -which has always been science fiction's bread and butter. 

Books: Redshirts by John Scalzi (2012)

Like many of a certain age who grew up with Star Trek and its various spin-offs, John Scalzi’s Redshirts is a brilliant nod to the workers on the lower decks of a starship; though, more to the point, the red shirted security men and women. We know that any security guard who beamed down with Kirk, Spock and McCoy crew usually ended dying before the opening credit –though they could also be killed off to heighten commercial act breaks through the rest of the episode. 

This is a comic riff on the phenomenon of those apparently expendable and unending supply of security guards who’s jobs, it seems, is to be shot, stabbed, eaten or crushed into stone dust so the main cast can emote and keep the narrative going (in that sort of “we have to do this in the memory of security guard #4”).

Set in the 25th century and centered on the crew of the Universal Union flagship Intrepid, Redshirts focuses on ensign Andrew Dahl, who just transferred to the ship, along with a few other newly assigned security guards. But only a few hours on the ship, Dahl thinks something odd is going on and confronts some of his fellow crew members: 

“So, did you guys get asked about away teams?” Duvall asked, as she brought her mess tray to the table where Dahl and Hanson were already sitting.

“I did,” Hanson said.

“So did I,” Dahl said.

“Is it just me, or does everyone on this ship seem a little weird about them?” Duvall asked.

“Give me an example,” Dahl said.

“I mean that within five minutes of getting to my new post I heard three different stories of crew buying the farm on an away mission. Death by falling rock. Death by toxic atmosphere. Death by pulse gun vaporization.”

“Death by shuttle door malfunction,” Hanson said.

“Death by ice shark,” Dahl said.

“Death by what?” Duvall said, blinking. “What the hell is an ice shark?”

“You got me,” Dahl said. “I had no idea there was such a thing.”

“Is it a shark made of ice?” Hanson asked. “Or a shark that lives in ice?”

“It wasn’t specified at the time,” Dahl said, spearing a meat bit on his tray.

“I’m thinking you should have called bullshit on the ice shark story,” Duvall said.

Scalzi is brilliant at the whole absurdity of the redshirt trope, and yet does not make a mockery of it. The characters are wonderfully drawn and the book itself is designed to poke fun at all the illogical fallacies and cheap tricks –or what Scalzi calls lazy writing- to get their heroes to the next episode, sans a couple of security people. 

It also has some surprising emotional heft to it, and most of the humor is spot on. Also, readers of Jasper Fforde may find a familiarity with it as well.

I really liked it.

Books: Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi (2008)

In John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars we get fast paced, very humorous look at first contact between humans and aliens, the Yherajk (a gelatinous species that resemble Jell-O and speak with smells). While I’ve never read a Scalzi book before, I have sometime trafficked his Whatever blog (and have a collection of those postings in a book called Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, which I still have not read) and found his style often humors and very personable. Little of what he says, on the site or this book, seems wasted.

Unlike most first contact stories, Agent takes a different route, dealing with issues like mind control and whether there is a soul. But it also takes a unique way of looking at how an alien, in hopes of showing they’re not hostile, would want to be introduced to humans. Hiring a PR from Hollywood was a clever idea. 

For us Southern California residents, the main character of Tom Stein visits many local venues outside of Los Angeles itself, and it often reminded me of Stephen King who sometimes did this. Still, King has often been criticized for using too much in the way of current cultural references such as TV shows and movies. Though there maybe a reason for this as Scalzi says in his forward this was his first book, and at the time, he never thought this would see the light of day.  It was originally published online in 1999, then picked up and republished in 2005 by Subterranean as a limited edition, then republished by Tor in 2008 (though the first mass market edition did not hit until 2010)

The book loses its steam towards the end, and you could easily figure out how it was going to conclude, plus the whole plot is propped up  almost entirely on coincidence –as a PR guy, he’s a bit dumb when it comes to real ideas, he sort of reacts to them. In the final analysis, the plausibility factor got skewered and its own internal logic slips the beam. And it took a while to get figure out the characters, as they seemed to talk alike (and because of that, at time I felt confused between the two female characters, Miranda and Michelle. They were not distinctly different, and having names start with the same letter added to the problem).

Again, it’s fast paced, at times really funny, and very readable. The concept of the aliens was interesting, but by the end, you realize that you’ve been caught up in a deus ex machine. Again.