My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Tor Books
As middle installments go, this was better than many I've read.
My complaint? It was too short and just when something huge happens and my anticipation was ratcheted up, it was over. As before, Kiva Lagos shone bright and while she is one of my favourites, I wanted more of Cardenia/Grayland (because she's my top favourite). The politics and palace intrigues were once again well done and came together seamlessly. I was hoping there'd be at least one look in at End but as that was not to be, I have to chalk that one up to one of my few disappointments. I feel like there's still so much to cover, that I can hardly imagine how it'll all fit into a shortish final book. I commend Scalzi on his humour and streamlined storytelling.
I look very much forward to the final book in 2020.
Summary: The Interdependency, humanity’s interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible, is disappearing, leaving entire star systems stranded. When it goes, human civilization may go with it—unless desperate measures can be taken.
Emperox Grayland II, the leader of the Interdependency, is ready to take those measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But nothing is ever that easy. Arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth—or at the very least, an opportunity that can allow them to ascend to power.
While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are preparing for a civil war, a war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will take place between spaceships and battlefields. The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, but then so are her enemies. Nothing about this power struggle will be simple or easy... and all of humanity will be caught in its widening gyre.
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