Still an enjoyable, if lightweight, series, and there's little feel of a middle book in a trilogy. Though I have to roll my eyes at anyone being willing to trust Nadashe as a co-conspirator after her track record of murdering the ones who came before. ( )

Really liked this. It's political SF, but not boring politics, more the kind with explosions and kidnappings. It had some great protagonists; I especially enjoyed the foul-mouthed Lady Kiva Lagos, who may be doing mostly the right thing, but will make sure she profits from it somehow as well. Extra points for having so many good female roles, and so many inconsequential ones as well. ( )

This starts slow, then channels Iain M. Banks' Culture novels a bit, and ends in the middle of the story, but worth it overall. ( )

The Consuming Fire is the middle book within The Interdependency series. The book is in many ways quintessential Scalzi - there's political commentary, social commentary, space renegades, underhanded maneuvering, and, um, something a character refers to as "banging." Booklist compared this series to Game of Thrones and Dune. It's a fairly apt comparison. Scalzi is always good for an escapist read, his tight prose and humor assure this but I appreciate that he also fills his fun sci-fi novels with some guts and brains as well.

The previous book, The Collapsing Empire left us on a bit of a cliffhanger, with the future of the Interdependency uncertain, the Flow shoals slowly disappearing, and the only planet available to sustain a massive human population assumed to be blockaded and protected by the remaining Nohamapetan sibling, Ghreni.

The first book made everything seem, if not simple, than at least a fairly straight-forward space opera. The second book immediately complicates everything for our characters while also deepening the universe. It makes for a fairly intriguing read.

What I liked: The tight prose, the economical world-building, the nods to Golden and Silver age SF (without all the racist, homophobic, sexist crap), and the societal and political commentary (which is for the most part well done and mirrors common recurring trends—personal wealth and power over the good of the whole).

However, like others, I wonder if Scalzi's underlining message is a little thin or maybe too heavy handed. The message of the book is obvious. Scalzi's underlying message about climate change deniers in terms of a collapsing wormhole network works fairly well in terms of a plot device soap box thing but I don't think he is convincing anyone new about the dangers of global warming because his readership seems to be fairly enlightened folks. Which makes me wonder: is a message rendered non useful if the audience receiving the message is fairly educated in such matters to begin with?

I sadly doubt Scalzi will convert anyone to the truth with The Interdependency series. Most folks I know that read Scalzi would agree with today's scientists. There are only a few hacks that would pick up this novel (unaware of Scalzi's social and political persuasions), get pissed off by his politics and scientific truth, and walk away still denying current events....

Then again, I'm being a bit negative. Books (sci-fi books in particular) possess the power to challenge the status quo. So if this book could help convince some right-wing nut who happens to be a climate change denier that climate change is in fact real, let it be so!

This is another entertaining novel from Scalzi. It might not be one of my top favorites from him but the mixture of science, history, politics, and action is well worth your time. ( )

Slow to start (which could be excused by it being the second novel in a trilogy) and the world-building isn't terribly mind-blowing, but the characters make for a terribly entertaining romp and Scalzi knows how to tell a tight story. ( )