Skip to content
Tropely
Theme
The Collapsing Empire cover

Book guide

The Collapsing Empire

by John Scalzi

As an interstellar empire faces isolation and collapse, a scientist, a starship captain, and its ruler race to save what remains.

Genre and trope pairingsSci-FiMorally greySci-FiPolitical intrigueSci-FiSpace colonizationSpace OperaMorally greySpace OperaPolitical intrigueSpace OperaGalactic empireSpace OperaFTL travel
Buy or view on Amazon UK

We may earn a commission if you buy through Amazon.

About The Collapsing Empire

Faster than light travel is impossible--until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars. Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war--and, for the empire's rulers, a system of control. But when it's discovered that the entire Flow is moving, possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever, a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency must race to find out what can be salvaged from an empire on the brink of collapse.

Reading signals

Spice
Medium
Darkness
Balanced
Pacing
Fast

Series

The Interdependency · Book 1 of 3

Content warnings
  • death
  • violence
  • murder
  • sexual content
  • torture
  • strong language
  • sexual harassment

Keep your next read close.

Save books, track your reading, and find more stories shaped around your taste.