I had a great deal of fun with the first two books, and with the whole COVID madness thing in the world, I’d forgotten that April was the release date for the final book. Until I remembered. Then I promptly got on the library’s wait list for the eBook. I prefer to not deal in eBooks if at all possible for a multitude of reasons (these days it’s because I stare at a computer screen all day for work and my eyes want a damned break from a screen), but I didn’t exactly have a choice, so eBook it was. Honestly though, this series was such fun that even if the print version had been available, I might have chosen the eBook just to ensure I got my hands on it faster.
The Last Emperox (2020)
Written by: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 308 (eBook)
Series: The Interdependency #3
Publisher: Tor Books
The Premise:
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?
Spoilers for previous books and a few minor-ish ones for this book.
Discussion: I tried my best to pace myself with this book because I didn’t want to finish it too quickly. In some respects doing so was (occasionally) not too hard because a lot was going on and I needed a moment or two to digest all that good stuff. After all, the connections between worlds are disappearing so there’s a lot that needs to get done. I kept wondering how the hell it was all going to wrap up in this book — especially since so much of the book was wrapped up in petty political idiocy via Nadashe. Were we going to save the people of the Interdependency at some point or….?
But eventually — inevitably — as I got nearer to the end I plowed through the pages to the finish line. And what an interesting time it was.
For the most part, I liked this book just as much as the others. As per usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the one and only Kiva Lagos, whose favorite word is “fuck” (such a grand word it is, too) and does not mess around. She’s intelligent and makes certain to be one step ahead of her enemies. Most of the time, at least. Her resourcefulness seems boundless, and now she has feelings for a certain someone, so she’s got extra motivation. Which isn’t good if you’re on Kiva’s bad side. I did not expect Kiva’s end in this story, and it’s far more interesting and unexpected than what I thought might have been her end (which would have pissed me off to no end).
Grayland is just as smart and resourceful as Kiva, although I admit to being on the fence when it comes to her particular finish in this book. Part of me is angry about it while the other part is accepting and even understanding about it. For a long time I thought it to be a ruse, only to realize how very wrong I was. Frankly, I still think it could have been a ruse if Scalzi had decided to go that route, but here we are. Ah well.
It’s difficult to discuss this book without giving away a great number of things, such as what was done given the impending collapse of the Flow, as well as what ultimately happens to Nadashe, the — as Kiva might put it — fucking annoying woman who doesn’t know when to just give up and die. I can respect Nadashe’s tenacity, and readers are even given a small glimpse into her mindset, but that doesn’t excuse all the ultra-shitty things she’s done. Personally, I think her final bit in the book is the biggest and dumbest thing that could have been done with her. If I’m being honest, it’s the ending that pissed me off even more than Grayland’s. Look, I’m just going to come right out and say it — I want bad things to happen to bad people. I want justice or karma, or whatever you want to call it. But more than that, it’s absolutely asking to get fucked over later. Nadashe has proven herself cunning and able to slither out of all sorts of situations. Just saying, you don’t leave cockroaches lurking in your walls; they’re just going to come back.
I can see why a number of people were irritated with the ending, Nadashe aside (or maybe Nadashe included). There are two main things happening in these books. The first is that you’re dealing with these characters and their specific issues. The second is the trilogy’s problem as a whole — the Flow is collapsing. The expectation is that these issues will get resolved, both great and small. And…well… I’d argue that readers get maybe 90 percent of that. Characters: yes. Greater story…mostly? I think the problem is that there is just so much that needs to be done to save the Interdependency it can’t be done here. It would literally take too much time, and after a certain point would no longer become interesting since it equates to moving people from one location to another. It’s also a weird choice since what does happen sounds like a proposed solution that was shot down as impractical earlier in the book. But I guess we’re doing it anyway?
I did originally think that perhaps a new Flow shoal would open to Earth, which would have been interesting as hell, but my brain was overexcited at a prospect that never even existed and thus did not happen. It made me wonder whether maybe the characters were the central focus all along, and not so much the Flow collapse, but given that the Flow collapse is so integral to what’s happening, there can’t help but be a huge expectation that it’s going to get solved in its entirety in this final book. Because of that, the missing 10 percent of that thread made the overall ending feel kind of weird.
In Conclusion: I still hate Nadashe and think the choices regarding her were a dumb fucking decision (I’m more than happy to channel Kiva Lagos here), and the ending may leave a few things to be desired, but overall I did enjoy the book and seeing where the characters went within it. The trilogy has been great fun to read, reinforcing that Scalzi books are absolutely my style of entertaining science fiction. Not that I don’t enjoy harder stuff, but damn, I love a good space romp with colorful characters.
The funny thing (or maybe it’s not funny, who knows) is the first line of chapter 1, which made me pause given the current climate and wonder just how many already rich assholes thought it:
“Let’s be clear about what’s going on,” Deran Wu said. “It’s the end of civilization as we know it. And it’s going to be great for business.”
What a time to be alive.
No Comments