The Last Emperox

by John Scalzi

Overview

The Last Emperox is the thrilling conclusion to the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling Interdependency series, an epic space opera adventure from Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi.

The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems—and billions of people—are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. This collapse was foretold through scientific prediction . . . and yet, even as the evidence is obvious and insurmountable, many still try to rationalize, delay and profit from, these final days of one of the greatest empires humanity has ever known.

Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of this collapse. But “control” is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people form impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough.

Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization . . . or the last emperox to wear the crown?

The Interdependency Series
1. The Collapsing Empire
2. The Consuming Fire
3. The Last Emperox


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765389176
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Series:	Interdependency Series , #3
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	42,067
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular science fiction authors of the 2000s. His multiple New York Times bestsellers include Redshirts, which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Lock In and The Last Emperox. His debut novel Old Man's War won him the Astounding Award for Best New Writer; his other awards include the Locus, Seiun and Audie. Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com), his online site, has been published continuously since 1998, and has earned him two other Hugo awards. His television work includes Stargate Universe and Love, Death&Robots. Scalzi lives in Ohio, where he takes pictures of cats and sunsets.

JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular SF authors of his generation. His debut, Old Man's War, won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel), The Last Emperox, and 2022's The Kaiju Preservation Society. Material from his blog, Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com), has earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.

Twitter: @scalzi
Website: whatever.scalzi.com
Facebook: facebook.com/scalzi
Instagram: @jscalzi

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/03/2020

Hugo Award–winner Scalzi knocks it out of the park with the tightly plotted, deeply satisfying conclusion to his Interdependency Sequence space opera trilogy (after The Consuming Fire). The Flow streams, trade routes that connect the planets governed under the Interdependency, face an imminent collapse that will leave every world but the small planet End isolated and cause countless deaths. Emperox Grayland II works to thwart coup attempts long enough for her lover, physicist Marce Claremont, to work out how to save the population from this impending disaster. Meanwhile, Grayland’s enemy Nadashe Nohamapetan consolidates her control of End while promising disgruntled, powerful noble families exclusive access to the planet in exchange for their political support. Scalzi allows the flaws, foibles, and core personalities of the returning characters—careful Grayson, ruthless Nadashe, and especially foul-mouthed mercenary Kiva Lagos—to steer the story, and his careful, long-game planning allows for pitch-perfect pacing that will keep readers energized from start to finish. Balancing existing character dynamics and surprising—but well-earned—reveals with interstellar politics and pressing ethical questions of sustainability and power, Scalzi sends his series out with a bang. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Consuming Fire

"Another fast-paced romp through Scalzi's imagination, bearing hallmarks of his humorous slant on sf tropes." —Library Journal

Praise for The Collapsing Empire

"Provocative and unexpected." —The Wall Street Journal

"Scalzi has constructed a thrilling novel so in tune with the flow of politics that it would feel relevant at almost any time." —Entertainment Weekly, Grade B+

"Scalzi builds a fascinating new interstellar civilization in order to destroy it....[The Collapsing Empire is] amusing escapism full of guts and brains." —Ars Technica

"Scalzi mixes science, history, and politics with sharp action and intriguing characters. Readers will be thrilled to take another wild ride across the universe with the author of the “Old Man’s War” series." —Library Journal, starred review

"Fans of Game of Thrones and Dune will enjoy this bawdy, brutal, and brilliant political adventure" —Booklist

"Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for John Scalzi

“As much as Scalzi has the scientific creativity of Michael Crichton, he also has the procedural chops of a Stephen J. Cannell to craft a whodunit with buddy-cop charm and suspects aplenty–most of them in someone else’s body.”­­ —USA Today on Lock In

"If anyone stands at the core of the American science fiction tradition at the moment, it is Scalzi." —The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition

“Plenty of action, great character development, vivid and believable world-building, and a thought-provoking examination of disability culture and politics. . . . Yet more evidence that Scalzi is a master at creating appealing commercial fiction.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Lock In

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2020

The Flow, an interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, is collapsing, no matter what deniers may say. As entire systems, with all of their people, are cut off from one another, others look to surviving in the moment. Emperox Grayland II continues to stave off the enemies that try to unseat her. Grayland's lover, Marce Claremont, attempts to find a way to stop the Flow's collapse, while many others search for ways to profit off the end of civilization. As conspiracies and coups arise and life as everyone knows it begins to fall, the Emperox must decide how to ensure the survival of her people—even though it guarantees that not everyone will survive. The central voices of Grayland, antagonist Nadashe Nohamapetan, and the brash Kiva Lagos play off each other throughout the story lines, weaving the core points of view into a multidirectional scan of this incredible spacescape setting. VERDICT Scalzi's trilogy conclusion (after The Collapsing Empire and The Consuming Fire) is filled with irreverent, humorous, and intelligent prose, providing a more-than-satisfying end to this trilogy.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Library Journal

★ 2020-03-02
The desperate logistics of planning for the apocalypse reach their climax in the conclusion to a space opera trilogy that began with The Collapsing Empire (2017) and The Consuming Fire (2018).

Time is running out for Cardenia Wu-Patrick, aka Grayland II, emperox of the planet-spanning Interdependency. As she struggles to come up with a plan to save the billions who will suffer and starve in the wake of the collapse of the Flow, the extradimensional network connecting the planets of her far-flung empire, her nemesis, Lady Nadashe Nohamapetan, continues to scheme against her. With the support of many of the noble houses—who plan to abandon their subjects while preserving themselves and their wealth in a flight to End, the only self-sufficient planet in the Interdependency—Nadashe now seeks the throne for herself. Meanwhile, Cardenia’s lover, the Flow physicist Lord Marce Claremont, attempts to devise a scientific solution to the Flow collapse, unaware that Cardenia is hiding vital data from him. And the clever but hot-tempered Lady Kiva Lagos attempts to spy on Nadashe in hopes of defusing the coup, but she may have gotten herself in too deep this time. Scalzi treads a delicate line here: He set out to chart an apocalypse, and a deus ex machina would be cheating. The book also serves as an acknowledgment that intelligence and good intentions are not an impregnable armor against venality and the pitiless laws of physics. (In addition to slowing down Scalzi's writing—something he acknowledges in an afterword—the current sociopolitical situation in the U.S. has clearly flavored the story.) Given those parameters, Scalzi plays fair while still offering his readers some hope. And even when depicting the direst situations, Scalzi’s work retains its snarky cheer.

Punchy, plausible, and bittersweet; studded with zingers until the very last line.

Kirkus Reviews