The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

You can check out my review of the first book, The Collapsing Empire, here.

The story picks up pretty much where The Collapsing Empire leaves off. The three viewpoint characters, Cardenia, Marce, and Kiva return in this new volume.

Cardenia is becoming more comfortable in her role of Emperox and spiritual figurehead. She has decided to move forward with preparing the Interdependency for the Flow's collapse. There is doubt against her from her government, from the Wu clan, and from the church she leads.

Marce has found some new changes in the Flow's collapse. He teams up with another scientist who had been studying the Flow for House Nohamapetan. They determine there could be new, temporary Flow shoals that can pop up. One of these leads to a previously lost member of the interdependency. They convince Cardenia to let them launch an expedition.

Kiva Lagos has taken to the task of dealing with the Nohamapetan's dealings around Hub. Her efforts have turned up some rather elaborate skimming schemes. The Nohamapetan house is less than thrilled with her management of their functions. She also finds love!

There's a lot to enjoy with The Consuming Fire. Just like it's predecessor, it's an easy read that's fun to get into. Scalzi's story-telling is breezy and enjoyable. He keeps the chapters short enough to keep pulling the reader through the story. I found myself toting the book around to different appointments so I could read it in my free time. I loved the exploration aspect in this story. The idea that there's a lot more beyond the Interdependency is both exciting and intriguing.

A big theme of the story is the use of religion as a tool by the government. It definitely follows what Scalzi established previously. The use of religion as a political tool is historically undeniable. From the deification of the pharaohs to the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, history has shown time and again that religion and power go hand-in-hand.

But the way religion is handled is hard to swallow.

Personally, I think religion when properly handled can be a positive force in the world. It can give people a sense of belonging. It can also provide a strong mythology for people to use as a cornerstone for their identity. The brain is a story-making machine, and faith can provide a context for the personal story.

Let me point out: not everyone feels religious faith is necessary, and that's perfectly fine. I think Scalzi was trying to make points about the use of religion by government, not about faith as a whole.

But he doesn't present it in a concrete, understandable way. I don't know the tenants of the Interdependancy's religion after reading this book. I know it's a bit sanitary in practice; i.e., it doesn't normally trend towards the mystical. It promotes being a decent person. But I don't know how the faith actually provides believers with a higher understanding of their place in the cosmos.

The way Cardenia uses the church in her official capacity is an interesting move. She knows why the church was created, and seems to have some qualms about the morality of her role in it. But she doesn't hesitate to use it to prepare people for the imminent disaster. I liked that development; but I wish we could have seen some more personal wrestling with this idea. She makes up her mind to use a religious approach between books, and so we're only really seeing the aftermath.

I also had issues with the way the science was glossed over in the story. In several points, Marce was asked about particular details in the science. And he always said to the layperson that they wouldn't understand the math involved.

I don't typically like hard SF. Space opera and science fantasy are my jam. But I do want some more technobabble in my science fiction. I understand that pacing is a concern, but it doesn't have to be a lot. Just a bit. It's the paprika on the deviled egg.

The characters didn't have a lot of internal drama, either. It's a rather plot-based story. There are some romantic elements. It was easy to see from the last book that Marce and Cardenia would become an item. Box checked. But, for the most part, the characters remained static people. There wasn't a lot of personal growth. Just preparation for the upcoming Flow collapse.

Finally, it doesn't feel like this is a middle book of a trilogy. It feels like book two out of at least a six book story. The overall story moves a bit, but not significantly. I still feel like there's a lot more to learn about this world. That's not a bad feeling; I'm being entertained. I just want more.

The overall length of the book was just over 300 pages. It could have at least 150 more pages. I would have loved to see more world-building, more character development, and also more advancement of the plot. What we got was good, but The Consuming Fire could have been even better.

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Collapsing Empire is the opening volume of Scalzi's latest space opera series. In this world, it is the far future. Humanity has spread to the stars in a vast empire which has existed for a millennium. There has been only one dynasty: that of the Wu family.

Faster than light travel isn't available in the most familiar sense. No hyperspace or warp speed. Instead, starships sail on a space/time current called the Flow. It doesn't take hours or even days to travel; rather, weeks or even months. There are specific points where ships can enter and exit the Flow, called shoals. 

At the beginning of the book, the Empire is in trouble. The Flow is beginning to change. It's no longer becoming accessible to humanity. Some people believe that it's reversing course. Others think something more dire is occurring.

 

According to an interview with NPR, some wondered if the title was a thinly veiled reference to the perceived fragility of the United States. Scalzi pointed out that he was reaching further back. 

In fact I did think very generally about the "golden age" of European exploration, roughly corresponding to the 15th through 17th centuries, in the sense that the empires that rose out of that era were wholly dependent on natural forces (wind, ocean currents, rivers) to move their ships and shape their destinies with regard to trade and exploration. We're so used to having at least some mechanical control of our travel that it's hard to put oneself back into a mindset where travel took months, not hours, and was not always a safe and predictable thing.  

So there was no one particular empire in our past I was borrowing from, but rather, a whole historical gestalt, and then only loosely. Please, historians, don't tell me all the things I'm getting wrong about the European age of exploration! I know. I KNOW.

I loved this approach! I've always found this time frame to be rather fascinating. And the tropes of the Age of Discovery were rather apt for a space opera. For example, trade monopolies. From a historic perspective, the East India Trade Company exerted tremendous power in Great Britain. 5% of all imports came from India, and passed through the Company's control at some point. 

Something similar occurs in this story.  The imperial Wu family is the dominant powerhouse. But they've allowed other nobility members to have their own franchise monopolies. For example, the Lagos family has control of all citrus fruits in the Interdependency.  

Scalzi's trademark snark seasons the story. He's never going to be one of my favorite stylistic writers. In general, I've always found his descriptions generic at best. But his biting sense of humor is a solid compensation. It makes the story easy to read, and I found myself moving through it at a quick clip. 

One area that the humor shines through is in the name of the ships. Scalzi has acknowledged that Iain M. Banks's Culture series were an inspiration. And sometimes a well-crafted homage fits into the tone of a book. Every time I heard about the Yes, Sir, That's My Baby and No, Sir, I don't Mean Maybe it made me smile. 

A word of warning to those who dislike profanity in their stories: this book is heavily layered with them. One character, Kiva Lagos, works in profanity like a proficienct master orator bent towards the obscene. While I found her funny, I can understand why others would easily tire of Kiva's... creative license.

All in all, I'd recommend The Collapsing Empire. It's funny, its easy to read, and it's creative by looking backwards to extrapolate forward. The second book in the series, The Consuming Fire, was a recent release. So expect my thoughts on that soon.