Reviews

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

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brassduke's review against another edition

adventurous funny

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It's enjoyable to be back in the interdependancy. Perhaps not as much happens in the first book but it's still fun to spend time with these character's. Some are noble, some are foul mouthed and some are slightly mustache twirlingly evil. Many strong female characters and some nice relationships.

mattp3's review against another edition

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5.0

The plot and world building begins to open up, we (finally) get a semi-plausible reason for the weird technology discrepancies, and flesh out the characters even more whilst introducing some interesting new ones. Enjoying this series very much. And only 4 days to wait for the final book to come out!

timinbc's review against another edition

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4.0

Pretty good as #2 of 3. Satisfactory plot, good pace except for a few "you see, Jim" parts that dragged.

I don't think it's fair to introduce Chenevert as the solution to everything and not explain it much at all. Book 3 had better get on that. Got some 'splainin' to do.

At first I felt as if I had slipped into Wagers' Farian War series, but we got out of that just in time–not that it's a bad thing. Just that space operas don't differ much in some aspects. There have to be plots and factions.

Marce was good.

#%$@^# Kiva was a #%$@^# interesting idea, but badly #%$@^# overdrawn. I had a #%$@^# guy like that in my #%$@^# high school, and he #%$@^# got boring quite #%$@^# quickly. (Yes, he would put #%$@^# in the middle of long words. Abso-#%$@^#-lutely.) It also seemed #%$@^# unlikely that someone whose only interests are sex and swearing also managed to pick up advanced accounting skills and the trust of the emperox.

Is the climate chamge parallel handled well? I dunno. You don't want to be so subtle that people miss it.

Sure, I'll read #3.

testaroscia's review against another edition

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5.0

Kiva (and the other characters) just keep on getting better. Quite short (so short I quickly re-read Collapsing Empire to re-familiarize me with the plot). I am very much looking forward to the next installment.

gorasa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

5.0

eesh25's review against another edition

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4.0

When I think about it, The Collapsing Empire could have been a standalone novel if it wanted to be. You can see a direction for the story at the end of the book. The Emperox finally knew about the collapse of the flow, she was still alive, Nadashe had gotten arrested... except this book didn't go in the direction one might have thought, which kinda justified why this needed to be a series. Because it not only continues the plot but delves more into the concept of the Flow and the history of the Interdependency.

The book takes place soon after the last. Nothing's been resolved because the Emperox saying the flow is collapsing doesn't mean anyone believes her. Also, it turns out the rich and powerful don't give a fuck about the fate of the world (shocker, I know). And Nadashe may be in prison, but her fucking mother's arrived.

The plot of the book, in the beginning, is just to get the general public and other major Houses to take the problem seriously. Which, of course, they don't. It makes a nice parallel to climate change in the real world.

The Flow issue is what Cardenia and Marce are working on. Kiva is just trying to keep things running smoothly and fucking with the Nohamapetans, and I love her for it. Kiva is my favourite character in this series and the one whose survival I care about the most. Though I'd like Marce to survive as well. Cardenia... I really like her, but I think her death would be interesting and I kinda want it to happen.

So anyway, after the initial plot, there are several new findings that I won't be revealing. Let's just say they're unexpected and intriguing, and they give the book more significance.

The thing that's missing from the book is everything related to End. There's nothing about End here. There are no POVs and, because the flow shoal from there collapsed, no word. It was weird having no clue what was going on there. I'm hoping that Vrenna has whipped Ghreni into shape, but we just don't know. Though it does serve to amp you up for the third book.

Overall, this was a solid installment. The ending was epic, the pace was good but slower than the last, the plot and further world-building were great, I still like the characters—though we're missing a few from End—and I'm excited to see how the story will conclude.