The Collapsing Empire

The empire in John Scalzi’s The Collapsing Empire is formed by a series of interdependent star systems connected by a phenomena called the “flow” that allows for faster than light transportation between them.  As our story opens it has been discovered by a few physicists that the flow is not stable and is in fact in the process of drawing down which will leave all the star systems isolated.  The story follows the newly coronated Emperox as she learns about this and deals with the political reality in her empire, one of the physicists knowledgeable about the problem and his struggle to get to the Emperox, and a merchant influential in the empire’s very stratified power structure. After a lot of universe building and hectic plot shenanigans the book ends very abruptly in a way that pretty much guarantees that it is the first of a series. 

The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable though I found the characters way less likeable than I’ve come to expect from Scalzi.  Recommended for those looking for a quick read who don’t mind hating the characters and can live with an irresolute conclusion.