Book Review - John Scalzi's The Last Emperox
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: April 14th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Emperox
Grayland II has gotten most of the rebellions under control. Sure
Nadashe Nohamapetan is still out there somewhere, but Nadashe's mother
and all their conspirators are under lock and key and most of their
assets frozen. That is until Nadashe gets herself some new conspirators.
It really shows her single-minded ambition that despite all that she
has been through, from future Emperox consort to prisoner, that she
still has her eyes on the prize; she will be Emperox no matter what.
Though why she would want to rule a collapsing empire that is on the
verge of complete disintegration is beyond the current Emperox, Grayland
II. The current Emperox can think of one thing and one thing only, how
to save all her people with only a handful of real allies. Marce has got
the science side locked down. He even has some interesting ideas that
could in the long run prove to be hugely helpful in saving civilization,
but he needs time, something they don't have. While Kiva has got the
conspiracy side of things handled, closely watching Nadashe's plots and
wondering how she could possibly infiltrate the inner circle in order to
help the Emperox more. But one thing is certain, when you have an enemy
as tenacious as Nadashe, you can't plan for every single eventuality
and someone will pay the ultimate price. Of course does the endgame
really lead to the end or to a new beginning?
The Last Emperox
suffers from being released when it was, and I'm not talking about the
uncanny coincidence of having the same denouement as the Westworld
episode "Genre" that aired two days before it was published. I'm
talking about being released in the midst of this Covid-19 pandemic.
What was a fun series that merged the tropes of space operas with a
scattering of prescient politics just cut a little too close to the bone
for me at the moment. Instead of light reading it felt like a chore to
pick it up every night and some nights I just couldn't bring myself to
do it. I know there are those out there who probably loved this
installment for the exact reasons I object to it, and I'm sure in time I
will appreciate this book for what it is, just not at the moment. There
was one passage that brought me to tears because it encapsulated my
current frustrations when Grayland was discussing how people will
survive the end of life as they know it: "That's going to be up to
the people in the individual systems to do. I can give them all the
information I have and they need, but once the Interdependency is gone
it will be up to them to decide what to do with that information. I
don't think everyone is going to make it to End. But a lot of them
will." We have SO MUCH information on Covid-19 and yet our
individual system of the United States is run by idiots who aren't going
to let us get to the end! In reading that passage you see how Scalzi
works, completely. He's vehemently anti-Trump and his despondence at the
current political climate informs this trilogy, but that's the genius
of Scalzi, that in a far flung future you see the now. Only it was a
little too painful seeing the now now.
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