🚀🔥 The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
Not a Book Report
I enjoy reflecting on the movies, TV, books and other media that I consume. I’m notoriously sentimental. This series documents the books that I read. These aren’t reviews or recommendations. Just a list. For me. Mostly so that I can page through what I read, where I was, and when.
Why did I read it?
After a couple of years of effort, I finally caught up to the current state of Jack Ryan novels. I had previously read Scalzi books that I enjoyed quite a bit, so I decided to check out the rest of his catalog in the interest of picking more SciFi back up.
Like the Ryan novels, the real goal here is to have something fun to read for 20 minutes before I fall asleep. And this met that goal.
I finished the first book in this series and loved it. I immediately dove into this one.
What is it?
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | The Consuming Fire |
| Author | John Scalzi |
| Year Published | 2018 |
| Format | Kindle |
| Pages | 304 |
| ASIN | B078X255Y1 |
Publisher Summary
The Consuming Fire—the New York Times and USA Today bestselling sequel to the 2018 Hugo Award Best Novel finalist and 2018 Locus Award-winning The Collapsing Empire—an epic space-opera novel in the bestselling Interdependency series, from the Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi
The Interdependency—humanity’s interstellar empire—is on the verge of collapse. The extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible is disappearing, leaving entire systems and human civilizations stranded.
Emperox Grayland II of the Interdependency is ready to take desperate measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth—or at the very least an opportunity to an ascension to power.
While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are prepare 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 between spaceships and battlefields.
The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, as are her enemies. Nothing about this will be easy… and all of humanity will be caught in its consuming fire.
How did I read it?
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Date Started | February 10, 2025 |
| Date Finished | February 22, 2025 |
| Places Read | Lisbon, Sintra, Comporta |
Notes - No Spoilers
- The characters stayed great! Authentic, reasonable, entertaiing.
- As soon as we signed up for an away mission to a star system that was thought “dead” I could not put it down. I know we need the rest of the political intrigue, but I tried to move as quickly through those intermingled chapters to get back to the exploration. And boy was it worth it.
- This is the kind of novel that would be a perfect miniseries. I’m not sure if it will get made (though Apple TV seems pretty committed to making great, deep cut, SciFi) but you can imagine a world where an AI screen adaptation at least makes it real…