Max Gladstone is one of the smartest writers I’ve ever read, his Craft Sequence of novels have a depth few novels can approach. The surface of those books is familiar, but what’s underneath is ingenious. Those are fantasy novels, so with Empress of Forever, Gladstone turns his considerable intellect and impressive storytelling along another branch of the Speculative Fiction tree – Space Opera. I can say I haven’t read anything quite like Empress of Forever.
A wildly successful innovator to rival Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action. On the eve of her greatest achievement, she tries to outrun people who are trying to steal her success.
In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine.
The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider—until Vivian Liao arrives. Trapped between the Pride—a ravening horde of sentient machines—and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.
Vivian Lao – Viv – is one of the smartest, richest and most powerful people on the strange new planet – the various technological advances she spearheaded have brought her global notoriety. For unclear reasons, or maybe because of how I just described her, she’s got a big target on her back and many enemies. When she attempts to do something that will bring her even more power, she is transported from the server farm where she was attempting this revolutionary heist to a world which is countless galaxies away and in a future that is beyond imagination. Viv emerges on a battlefield, where she very quickly determines a quick course of action. She didn’t rise to become the most powerful person on Earth on willpower alone.
One of the first people whom Viv encounters is the warrior-priest, Hong. He is a priest in worship to the Empress of the book’s title, who happens to be the green glowing figure who transported Viv from the server farm to this far out galaxy and future. Viv’s main goal is to return home, as she strives towards that goal, she gains a “rag tag” band of people; Xiara, the daughter of a chief who finds herself attracted to Viv (and vice versa); an entity known as Gray; and perhaps most bombastically, Zanj, a powerful warrior who has been imprisoned and tortured by the Empress for centuries – long enough that Zanj has gained a reputation as a mythical figure whose name is used to inspire fear in people. They all have very mixed emotions about the Emperor herself; some revere her, some see her as the ultimate enemy, and Viv just sees her as an ultimate means to an end.
Strangers coming together against a common enemy in the far reaches of space? Yeah, Max knows what he’s doing, the familiar notes of the genre he is playing in this over-the-top novel of awesome. It is a familiar framework for the story – a trope, if you will – but that familiarity only serves to have some of our expectations upended. Same sex relationships, the most powerful characters in the story are women, only a token male character in the “rag tag motley crew,” among other things, signal these changes. On their own, these are capable, believable characters whose power is not just in their intellect and warring abilities, but complexity in how Gladstone makes them fascinating. These characters are utterly magnetic, it seems that Max went the route of “each character is the protagonist of their own story” with this cast and it works marvelously. The plot moves at a ripping pace that makes the pages flip through the fingers very quickly.
I enjoyed this novel a great deal, it is one of the great contemporary science fiction novels that perfectly balances what makes classic space-based science fiction so much fun with fantastically modern sensibilities. If I can level any criticism it is that a couple of key elements in the story were predictable. On the other hand, there were plenty of plot elements that took me by surprise. With an ending that begs for more stories to be told about Viv and her crew, Gladstone also brings some closure.
Empress of Forever is a perfect example of classic science fiction with a forward-thinking mindset.
Highly recommended
© 2019 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback | 480 Pages
June 2019 | Tor Books
Excerpt: https://www.torforgeblog.com/2019/03/29/excerpt-empress-of-forever-by-max-gladstone/ | https://www.maxgladstone.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher Tor Books
