Reviews

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

odin45mp's review against another edition

5.0

This is solid, accessible, fun science fiction - which is what Scalzi does so well. I laughed out loud more than once. If you're looking for a light, fast summer read, this certainly fits the bill. Provided you can handle a few pages of foul language, because that's what you start saying when pirates are attacking your ship, or when your empire is collapsing (yes, I can hear you groan and roll your eyes from here).

sade's review against another edition

3.0

"I'm continually confronted with the human tendency to ignore or deny facts until the last possible instant. And then for several days after that too."

The collapsing empire is one of those rare sci-fi novels that you can read without having to know all about science. It's engaging without too much of that morality issue or scientific jargon that you can enjoy the story. Despite this the book still fell a little short for me. There were suitable holy shit moments but for the most part, i feel like the tensions were easily subdued by the protagonists'. Maybe it's just first book introduction but overall while the plot was engaging enough, it just seemed too easy.

3.5 Stars

jyb's review against another edition

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 against another edition

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 against another edition

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 against another edition

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