Where Big Concept SF Is Funnier Than You'd Expect

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like every John Scalzi book I've ever picked up, this book is fun to read. Nobody does clever, funny, biting dialogue like him, and nobody keeps a story rolling like him. This one clicks along at a good pace and gets better as it goes, leaving me wanting the third book right now.

It's in the mail, so I'm good. :)

I saw a very negative review of this book when I was starting it, and I thought about it as I was reading. It was strange that I could sort of see the reader's point; yes, the plot often feels condensed; yes, looked at a certain way, it can feel like summary that has not been fleshed out. No, you don't get the elaborate, gritty world-building you get in some other SFF brick-like tomes. It's true. If it doesn't pertain to the plot, it's mostly not there. (The world-building we get is more than adequate, IMO, but leave that aside.) Instead of a fully-realized-down-to-the-dirt type of setting, what you get is fast-paced, witty, engaging, keep-reading-to-see-what-happens action with brilliant, laugh-out-loud dialogue. Like damn near every one of his books.

No. All of them. Seriously.

It's a good tradeoff. Kinda makes me think of Asimov, now that I'm reflecting. But Asimov was seldom this funny. And I am horribly underselling the incredible intellectual work that makes up the setting and history and background of this story and series. It's very cool and super thought-provoking. We just don't see what kind of fluorescent lights are in the grimy homes of the working class schmoes in this series; we don't see what kind of street-food regular people enjoy when they're not engaged in back-breaking labor; it flies over all that in ships like resort hotels.

I think maybe I'd like to see a big fat science fiction novel from John Scalzi, a Wheel of Time sort of creation filled with the minute details of intense world-building, because I'm sure he could pull it off. But there's almost nothing better than his 300 page books. If you're a reader stuck in a reading slump or a regular person just wanting to find a fun read, you just can't go wrong here.

IMO. As always.

This is the second in the series. Highly recommended, especially read in order... :)

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