The Last Emperox (Interdependency #3)

[Ryan]

Some of us were planning to read the last book of this series together. What did you think? Were you satisfied with the conclusion? I will add some thoughts later.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

I'm yet to read it - I have two monthly reads to get over with and one of them - Perdido Street Station I guess will take a week. And I planned one Vorkosigan book too

[Allan]

I just started re-listening to The Consuming Fire and have the audio of The Last Emperox queued up right after. I’m hoping I can get through it next week on vacation.

[Ryan]

Comments and questions, spoilers galore.

(view spoiler)[Grayland was made into an AI. In the book there are only two others besides her we are made aware of: Rachela and Cheynert. Scalzi glossed over how this was done. I guess we are to assume the machine that does so is in the Memory Room? Or that it's not much more complicated than a software upgrade to the implants already in Grayland's head?

Did Grayland actually need to die to accomplish her goals? Being made a martyr surely expedites the process, but I'm not convinced it was necessary. She could have done all the data dumping with Rachela's help, and surely there was enough dirt on Nadashe to persuade everyone she shouldn't be emperox.

I was a little disappointed by the lack of exploration of the pre-Interdependency data Marce received from Grayland. It was stated that this data was poorly used by their ancestors but with little details as to how, aside from the general Rupture/exodus from Earth.

In Chapter 13, Cardenia says to Rachela: "Once they [scientists] start working with the [pre-Interdependency Flow] data, they'll see the implications of it. Nothing stays a secret." What does she mean? The ability to manipulate Flows, which could cause a Rupture-like crisis?

In Chapter 24, the last chapter, Rachela asks Cardenia: "If I do decide to leave you one day, will you think of me?" How could she leave? And what precipitates this question?

What was the point of reuniting the Nohamapetan family? There doesn't seem to be any reason to put them all together. I guess they didn't want to just kill them and this was sort of a prison? It also felt like an awkward note to end on.

I wish the conclusion had been fleshed out more: I would have liked to have seen it furthered in an epilogue, in which Flow mechanics had been figured out to move habitats through. There's actually room for a whole 'nother book here. (hide spoiler)]

[Allan]

I finished The Consuming Fire audio to remind me of the story and started in on The Last Emperox day before yesterday. I put it on while I was out painting on site (oils), and discovered it was a great way to keep from thinking too much about what I was doing. I probably won't finish till mid-week though.

[Allan]

Just finished this today on audio read by Wil Wheaton. The ending was satisfying, with a couple of weird, ironic twists, but not fantastic. I found the story Heinlein-esque, but weirdly, the dialogue was almost the complete opposite of Heinlein. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but I think it could have been a lot better.

[Ryan]

I haven't read much Heinlein - why do you say the book was Heinlein-esque?

I agree it could have been better: as per my questions above, there were several things that don't make sense.

[Allan]

It's really weird, I'm not sure I know how to answer that. The only thing I can really pinpoint is that as I was about 2/3 through, as I listened to it, this feeling came over me that the plot felt very familiar. My next thought was, oh that was Heinlein. I think it was just before the twists that led to the end. Must be the sequence of events, the way the plot was evolving, because the dialogue doesn't fit that model at all!