The Last Emperox Gets a Starred Review in Publishers Weekly
Posted on January 16, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 14 Comments
Publishers Weekly has dropped their review of The Last Emperox, and, well:
Hugo Award–winner Scalzi knocks it out of the park with the tightly plotted, deeply satisfying conclusion to his Interdependency Sequence space opera trilogy… 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.
So, yeah. Reviews don’t get much nicer than that. The full review is here and has no real spoilers (so long as you’ve read the first two books in the series), and obviously I’m pretty happy with it. It’s always nice when one of the big trade magazines for the industry comes out with a rave for one’s work. Between this and being announced as the Literary Guest of Honor for Dragon Con, it’s been a pretty nifty week for me, I have to say.
(This is where I drop a little plug for you pre-ordering The Last Emperox via Subterranean Press, because I’ll be signing and (if you like) personalizing those copies. Get ’em!)
I re-read The Collapsing Empire, then read The Consuming Fire, over the last week or so.
Rather good timing that, I’d say.
Please have Wil read this one too!
Two questions:
1). Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to get reminded that we, less privileged, people still have to wait 3 MONTHS to read this??
2). How do I get a job at Publisher’s Weekly?
Good reminder to pre-order. Done.
I haven’t gotten a starred review from PW, but I got one from Booklist for my debut and it felt so good I was smiling for days, which is not like me. So I want to ask: Does it ever get to a point where you don’t feel like that, or is it always that good?
Michael R. Johnston:
I’ll put it this way — I don’t worry too much if the trades don’t like a book (both PW and Kirkus hated Redshirts, and it was a bestseller and won a bunch of awards), but it’s always a good feeling when they do. And in particular getting a starred review from one of the trades (PW, LJ, Booklist, Kirkus) is nice because even if everyone else pans it (or worse, ignores it), your publicists have something to work with. So, no. It never gets old.
Just finished “The Consuming Fire” a few weeks ago. I’m ready for “The Last Emperox”! Thanks for being so timely, John. I know you did it just for me… ]’-)
What’s a good way to get a “Previously on…” for the first two books in the series so I can hit the ground running when the third one drops?
Matt
You could reread them. That’s my plan for March.
While certainly the most enjoyable way to catch up, it’s not the most time effective.
[Deleted because it’s off topic. Look in the archives for the answer you seek — JS]
Yay! (though I expected no less…)
I do have the first two volumes but I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t started this series yet – as a relative SF newbie, my reading list is sooooo crowded! But I’m looking forward to tucking in and of course will get Last Emperox when it finally comes out.
C ongratulations! Two things authors never tire of are great reviews and collecting pens.
I guess you won’t mind if it’s the regular book preordered and not the Subterranean press one (though they do sound awesome!)… It’s my particular very light OCD that I want the books on my shelf to match in style, at least within one series. If I remember correctly, preorders are kind of a big thing in the publishing industry as they are used to gauge success and going onto a bestselling list would also be pretty nifty, right?
So… going to preorder now!