The Last Emperox

Overall: I was disappointed. I know Mr Scalzi is highly regarded in SF circles and I really wanted to like this, but I couldn't get past the fact that this book was utterly predictable. That may be a plus to some, but I was left wondering why I had put in the time to finish it.

Book 2 had some really cool ideas and some surprises, so I was hoping that book 3 would be the same. This was not so. Book 3 went right back to the linear plotline from Book 1, broadcasting any plot points well in advance.

Character 1: “Hey we have X that does Y.”
Character 2: “We have a problem because we need to do Y. Woe is us!”
Character 3: “SHOCK! We could use X to do Y!”
Lagos: “F F F F F F F F ....”
Nohamapetan: “Wha hahahahaha!” (mustache twirl)

Lets have a long discussion about death and how you can become an AI. Do you think she's going to....BOOM!...Yep she's dead, what's the betting she'll be back as a Rimmer-style hologram to do some grandstanding at the crowning, just like she did at that last big gathering? Yep there she is. What a surprise.

The ending left everything open and was followed by a note from the author saying that this was a trilogy, so I guess I'll never get closure from the cool ideas he just left there.

I would much have preferred it if the Lagos and Nohamapetan chapters of this series had been left out. This would have reduced this series to one decent sized book with two interesting and likable characters and we could look forward to finding out what happens next in a sequel, perhaps those shoals that move as they decay could be enlarged, directed and used as effective warp drives? Imagine the communications reopening with the other unions of humanity, what impact would that have? What state would they be in? Would the personality-recording technology have become common or have created an immortal nobility as hinted at? Robots produced by Wu are mentioned, would one of the other unions have developed humaniform robots one could load a personality into? Would Marce and Cardenia get their happily ever after with a robo-Cardenia? If only.