Reviews

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

jyb's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

After starting the book with an extremely exhilarating and intriguing prologue, I was on the verge of DNF-ing this book in the first 30%, and things literally only picked up in the second half of the book. The entire first half felt like endless introductions and exposition (except for a couple things in between 30% and 50%), making it a plotless bore. 

As for the plot itself, it felt so... plain? Predictable? Something along those lines. There was nothing about the plot that actually stuck out to me because I felt like I had seen it all before and could just predict it. A couple parts of the plot actually wasn't predictable, which was really nice. 

People have also complained about the snark and the swearing, but I honestly didn't mind that too much. It got a bit blatant at times, but it didn't ruin my experience. The good thing about this book is once it picked up, I was actually having a good time trying to figure out how things were going to turn up... even though some things stayed as predictable as ever. I also had a great time with the range of different characters we got to see, along with their POVs. And I must say, I really wasn't expecting

Naffa to die

! At least that surprised me.

Overall, I'd give this 2.75 stars. I'd give it 3-3.5 for how much the latter half made me feel so much better about this book, but I really slogged through the first 30% and it was extremely difficult to actually make myself keep picking it up. That's where you're supposed to be hooking your reader in! (I also noticed the first 30% is where several people DNF'd...) Alas, the plot feels a bit too predictable and I'm just not hooked enough to keep going. Maybe I'll try the second book if the spoilers are interesting enough. Final verdict: 2.75 stars.

breezer's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

ajahax's review

4.0

Rated 4 stars, but really a 3.5 star read.
Overall, the pacing of this novel was good and the characters were okay (I was a big fan of Kiva). However, the world building lacked for me (overwhelming focus on the nobility; I would have liked to see a focus on the working class) and left me disappointed. It is a coin toss if I'll read the next book in this trilogy. Perhaps if I have nothing else to read.

daneelolivaw67's review against another edition

3.0

Sembra un Dallas o un Dinasty (soap anni '80) ambientato nel futuro. La storia è comunque godibile e scorrevole. Una sorta di metafora sulla globalizzazione e la sua fine, storia di amori, sesso e potere. Qui troviamo le navi con i nomi più inverosimili che possano esistere, del tipo "Si signore, questo è il miobambino" ecc.

tanishamahajan's review

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

asdvj's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

mattp3's review against another edition

4.0

So this is John Scalzi's go at a Dune-like, and I must admit it's pretty fun. The Macguffin is pretty well thought out and at least partly original. Scalzi pulls off the vibrant, bold and sarcastic characters with aplomb, though his prose is typically casual. His science fiction could be improved, especially since technology only seems to have improved from current where the plot demands, which is a bit jarring. However he does buck the trend of sci-fi authors being useless at people, so for that I am thankful. I'll be ploughing straight into the next one in the series.

kizalia's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.25

logistical's review

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bulwark's review

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0