The Collapsing Empire

Well this was fantastic! It's a super fun space opera, well-written (Scalzi's storytelling craft has really matured, I gotta say, and every sentence in this book flies home like a finely-balanced arrow, unlike, just for example, this one, which I am writing at bedtime after a very long day), action-packed, emotionally adept and just casually, nbd as if it ain't no thang chock-full of female characters and same-sex marriages and love affairs (which like, I know Scalzi did this on purpose because he happened to mention it at a panel and I swear to god I hate that such a small thing means so much and I don't want to give allies cookies for doing what should be the bare minimum but like. It means so much).

Oh plus there's a what I'm 99% sure is a shout-out to N.K. Jemisin (just a character with that name which like.. that can't be coincidence right?)

The premise and world-building are solid, the dialogue just ~flows~, the characters are vividly imagined, and you kind of can't help but enjoy the ride.