The Last Emperox

I really enjoyed the clever ending for this series. I think Grayland becoming an AI in the end was a masterstroke, and I loved to see her enemies shamed and outdone. I am glad that the relationship that she had with Marce did not stop the author giving her a ruthless death.

The writing can be a bit filthy in more ways than one, which I don't always enjoy, but at least there is a realism there that reminds us that Scalzi writes about humans and not just about concepts and plot points.

So, 4 stars 'cos it's Scalzi and, if you like Scalzi, you won't be disappointed (although personally I find, particularly in more recent books, the witty patter is getting to be a little tiresome; this predates that however). On the other hand, the ending of this does feel a little rushed and it does require a literal deus ex machina to provide a solution (of sorts; it does feel like Scalzi reached a point with the whole Flows Collapsing thread and just threw his hands up in the air and said 'Fuck it!'). So, good but not great.

Entertaining story but the level of incompetence required by the government for the antagonist's plans to move forward makes it difficult to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story.