Revenant Gun (Machineries of Empire #3)

by Yoon Ha Lee

“‘Democratic’?” Jedao said. “What’s that?” “They vote on everything from their leaders to their laws,” Kujen said. Jedao mulled that over. “It sounds dreadfully impractical,” he said, “but all right.

“Physics is for the weak,” Kujen said.

Pretty much sums up the author's approach to the science in this series, and explains why it upsets some of the hard-sci-fi geeks!