The Collapsing Empire

Executive Summary: A really fun start to a new series. Plus it introduced me to my new favorite John Scalzi character. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book.Audiobook: I've always found Wil Wheaton a great fit for John Scalzi books, and this one is no different. He reads clearly at a good volume, with good inflection, and the occasional voice for male characters. Not to mention he delivers the snark well. As usual, this book is a good option in audio.Full ReviewI have yet to read a John Scalzi book I didn't enjoy, and this one is no different. I'd put this up there among some of my favorites, though not quite as good as [b:Fuzzy Nation 9647532 Fuzzy Nation John Scalzi http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1316132345s/9647532.jpg 18280046].I love space opera, and character driven stories. We get a mostly dialogue driven story, with some decent world building, and only 1 big info dump, cleverly disguised as a children's field trip.I'm sure someone could spend time talking about the influences of president day politics have on this book, but you won't find those from me here. I read to escape, and while I couldn't help in drawing parallels in my mind as I listened, it wasn't so overwhelming as to be distracting.The characters are all great, probably some of his best yet. Kiva is easily my favorite character that Mr. Scalzi has created thus far. She swears like a sailor, and has ZERO filter on her thoughts. I'm sure we wouldn't get along at all, but she sure is a lot of fun to read about.Cardenia is a pretty interesting character as well. She's more likely to be someone I'd like to know/be friends with, and probably has the biggest obstacles to overcome.Marce too a bit to grow on me, and he's probably the weakest of the Three POV characters, but I liked him as well by the end. The main problem was I liked his sister better. I thought the book had a bit of a pacing issue. Part 1 was a bit slow, and part 3 felt a bit fast, but overall the pace seemed to balance out in the end.I knew very little about this book coming in, but it was a release day buy for me, because I really enjoy Mr. Scalzi's work. It didn't disappoint. I'm looking forward to reading the next on just as soon as it's available.