Publishers Weekly
★ 04/01/2019
The first epic space opera from fantasist Gladstone (the Craft Sequence) incorporates wonder and wit to create a feminist, humanist playground of thought exercise. Viv Liao is a titan of industry, revered and feared in equal measure, and her enemies are coming for her, enraged by her acts of social consciousness. While making a last-ditch attempt to evade pursuit and save Earth from itself, she winds up in a Boston server farm from which she is transported on an Alice in Wonderland–esque trip through space. At once familiar and alien, this strange new setting terrifies Viv, but her powerful personality reasserts itself, and she’s soon in charge of a highly skilled, eclectic band of gods, monsters, and other strange beings who are pursuing their own agendas. All their stories revolve around the unofficial ruler of this universe, the Empress. Gladstone’s writing is delicate and precise, crafting a dense novel that introduces one mind-blowing concept after another, capitalizing on the concept of personal power while candidly addressing personal failure. This feast for the imagination intelligently captures the complexities of a variety of relationships in an adrenaline-fueled series of escapades and will leave readers both exhausted and elated. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
"This feast for the imagination intelligently captures the complexities of a variety of relationships in an adrenaline-fueled series of escapades and will leave readers both exhausted and elated." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Empress of Forever [demonstrates] the strength, power, and originality at his command. A deep, cellular-level enchantment filled at every turn with curiosity and delight.” —Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author
“A classic space opera that impossibly becomes a thrilling dungeon crawl fantasy through a universe we’ve never seen before. So smart it makes me jealous.”—Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author
“A breakneck epic that explores a wildly, boldly imagined universe, filled with awe and wonder.” —John Chu, Hugo Award-winning author
"Readers will be hooked from page one. Vivan Liao is the best kind of badass. Zanj is an epic trainwreck of death and destruction. The rest of the crew is too awesome for words. The whole book is filled with the kind of snark that I love and an endless majesty of stars. It broke me to pieces and then stitched me back together with golden thread. Simply glorious.” — K.B. Wagers, author of Behind the Throne
“This is galaxy-saving space opera with cool original settings and a unique band of adventurers that change each other for the better. It was a wild ride and I really enjoyed it.”—Martha Wells, Nebula Award-winning author of The Murderbot Diaries
“Max Gladstone has recklessly folded space and time in order to project a galaxy sized adventure into this book-sized container. Take care when you open it.” —Howard Tayler, Hugo Award-winning creator of Schlock Mercenary
“Places Gladstone firmly in the lineage of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, and yet stands apart as something incredibly special.” —Fran Wilde, Andre Norton Award-winning author
“Empress of Forever is a spaceship. It blasts through a vast sparkling cosmos, powered by myth and Gladstone’s boundless imagination, crewed by characters you can’t help but love.” —Hannu Rajaniemi, author of The Quantum Thief
“A gloriously maximal space opera in the tradition of Banks and Rajaniemi—the diamond-bright adventure of five unlikely companions across a transhuman galaxy.” — Seth Dickinson, author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant
AUGUST 2019 - AudioFile
Natalie Naudus narrates a sprawling space opera with elan, moving with ease from Earth to the farthest reaches of an alternate dimension. Vivian Liao, a wildly successful tech genius on the brink of her biggest achievement, is suddenly and shockingly pulled from the world she knows into an alternate, far-future timeline. While Viv could easily come across as bossy and domineering, Naudus turns those potential flaws into advantages, suffusing her portrayal with confidence and conviction. The ragtag band of misfits Viv collects on her journey is equally well developed. There’s the cranky warrior, the idealistic pilot, the naïve youth, and the serene monk. Naudus fully inhabits the characters in this alternate world. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
