Max Gladstone's writing is brilliant. It is brilliant in the literal sense, of being luminescent. It is brilliant in the sense that it is very smart. It is brilliant in the English colloquial sense of being really cool. All of this has been evident in his previous work, and may be even more evident in this. Empress of Forever is a perfect encapsulation of modern day space opera. It is wild, but it is smart. It has oodles of action, but also wonderful characters. There are bits of it that one cannot fully make sense of, but that's okay, because it's future super tech, and there's no way we could. Space opera science is different than super hero comics science. In that it's closer to actual science. But it takes the extrapolation of science fiction and then takes a wild leap. This novel is like an ogre. Or like an onion. It's got layers, is what I'm saying here. Layers of plot and character. Most of its characters aren't human in any way we'd recognize, but they're PEOPLE. And as a reader, I cared about them. You're gonna hear a lot about Zanj from fans of this book, and rightly so. Both because she's super cool and badass and complex, and because you know she's a major character from the second she steps on the page. Some of the other characters, also wonderful, are spoilers. To my fellow readers of the book, I'll say this: How great was that one kid? And how awesome was that other woman? And who knew that... well, yes. Sorry. Spoilers. Just... go read it, would you?

:/ I tried so hard to like this, y’all. It’s certainly action-packed, so if that’s your thing, then go for it. But that nonstop action comes at the cost of zero character development. Why am I supposed to root for/care about Viv? Because I don’t. I know basically nothing about her except she’s rich and smart. The only member of the central crew that I had even a little soft spot for was Gray, because I thought he was cute and funny. Everyone else, I just did not care about. Also, the writing just...isn’t great? The transitions from scene to scene, chapter to chapter, are jarring and messy. I often had to reread sections because I was just entirely lost. The world that Gladstone was building seemed really cool and interesting. I wish I could have understood even half of it. I was here for the queer rep. But all-around, disappointing.

This is a fast paced, HIGH sci-fi, space opera. It was fun, but won't be everyone's cuppa! I struggled a little to get through the sci-fi slog, but that is all on me! It was full of big time space battles, and seemed to have every sci-fi aspect you could think of all jammed in there. Overall a fun read, only recommend if you love high sci-fi!

2.5 stars. I wanted to love this more than I did, but it was just too darn long. I'll stick to the Craft Sequence series for now.

Batiburrillo aburrido y decepcionante con algunas ideas buenas.

Billed as a feminist Guardians of the Galaxy, Empress of Forever ticks many of the checkboxes of my favorite things: found family, female takes on predominantly male tropes, a ragtag team of misfits working together toward a common goal, last stands and Hail Marys, warriors, WOC protagonists, etc. But as I was reading this, the overall work didn't weave together as well as I had anticipated. Gladstone's worldbuilding feels shaky at best; at once, Viv is catapulted through space and time as I, the reader, have barely struggled to understand the setting as is or even get to know who Viv is. Much of my reading this novel required me to scroll back and gain my bearings as to what was going on; the worldbuilding was too abstract for me to get a keen sense of what Gladstone was trying to convey, and when the plot is deliberately moving at a breakneck speed, there's a lot to process. As a result, I was pretty take-it-or-leave-it for Viv. But, but, we need to talk about Zanj, pirate queen of my heart. I LOVE ZANJ. I could have devoured this novel if it had been through Zanj's perspective. Hell, I could have read an entire novel of Zanj's backstory. I love me a good ol' embittered protagonist with a Past who has seen some shit, and Zanj, with her inscrutable loyalties and fury, is no exception. Gray is a fantastic gooey demigod who gives me strong Calcifer (from Howl's Moving Castle) vibes, down to their shady ties and amorphous, nebulous physical states. Anyway, it's not a bad read, but don't try to zip through it, even in the face of its breakneck pacing. Overall, this is an example of a book that needed to be more than the sum of its parts, even if the parts are all well and good.