Publishers Weekly Review of The Collapsing Empire
Posted on January 27, 2017 Posted by John Scalzi 11 Comments
It’s out and it’s good, and that always makes me happy. Here’s what I imagine the pull quote will be:
“Scalzi (the Old Man’s War series) delivers a strong opener for his fast-paced new space opera series… Expect several future works set in this sprawling universe.”
Well, and in fact I am contracted for at least one more (although I suspect it might be two — we’ll see once I start writing the second book).
This is a pretty good way to end the week, I think.
But but but, you’re a terrible SJW with no talent how can you possibly be having good things happen in your career!??! HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY?!?!?
Am I right in thinking these haven’t been ‘starred’ reviews? I’m not entirely sure what they mean but I know authors get excited by them. Do they get stingier with the stars when an author is well-known?
‘Emperox’ is still a suck word, but I’ll buy the HC anyway ;-)
First, congrats. Second, from a reader’s perspective, that’s a weird, only marginally useful review and most if it isn’t actually a review but an outline of the players and setup. It doesn’t do two things that I usually like in a review – 1) tell me about any flaws or strong points (‘great plotting, stock characters’ etc) and 2) tell me if it’s a buy or not (or a ‘buy if you like X …”).
I’m in in any event…
Merus:
The Kirkus and PW reviews were not starred this time, no. Starred reviews are very nice to get, but when the reviews have been as positive as these two have been, they’re icing on the cake. These will do the job of convincing booksellers and libraries to order to book just fine.
Dana, I have to agree with you – Emperox?
Over the decades I’ve read more than enough books where the author invents things – in one series the author invented his own names for distances that looked suspiciously like the same lengths as metres and kilometres. I feel it detracts from a book because you spend half your reading time translating to what you know.
So much easier for the author to just stick a standard paragraph in the intro saying “Hey, at the point in the future this book fits the weights and measures will almost definitely be different from todays. But for your reading pleasure I’m using the current ones”.
And names; – why are they sometimes ten syllables long? I know, it would be racist (or whatever) for everyone to be Smith, Jones, Green, etc. Those long names just annoy me because I sort of speak them in my mind as I read it. So, Nohamapetans. Is it pronounced No-HAM-apetans, or Noha-MAP-etans, or …?
No worries though JS – I’ve pre-ordered.
Sounds good. And I love flying aircraft carriers, if that’s what it is (space carrier?). Even though I don’t expect SF covers to necessarily closely relate to anything in the actual text.
KiwiSteve, in my WIP the good guys use feet and inches and smoke, and the bad guys use meters and don’t smoke. Just like WW2. The Devil made me do it.
Now off to your “golden mansion high on a landscaped hill in the middle of a private island waited on hand and foot by an army of nubile olive-pitters.” to enjoy some rest. you’ve earned it.
Congratulations Sir, can’t wait until March!
And we still can’t get our hands on one of there, can we? When will it hit the shelves/be actually ordered and ship?
‘Cause I can’t get enough fiction right now. Puppies and Kitties and SPACE OPERA fiction to counter-balance the current events awfulness going on.
Charlie Stross was not the best choice author to order 5 books by. While the Laundry series usually has a satisfactory ending, else the world would have been eaten, the continuing slide toward a Lovecraftian resolution to the whole series is depressing. And the Merchant Princes series is way too close to reality politics. Although I did get to read an obit for President Cheney, who suffered through 3 major MI attacks before finally succumbing to his chronic heart disease, that was sweet.
I’m reading the new book that was just the subject of a Big Idea essay now, after completing the Merchant Prince series. Thanks to Powell’s Books shipment of 9 pounds of books by Stross !