The Consuming Fire

The Flow, the web of interstellar currents that links every human world, is failing. Emperox Grayland II, who rules the empire and heads the Church of the Interdependency, tells her people to get ready for the end of travel between the stars.

Her warning stirs religious unrest. It also hands the rival noble houses a fresh opening to scheme for power while the empire is at its weakest.

Far from the throne, scientists Marce Claremont and Hatide Roynold study how the region might last over the long term. Their expedition runs into danger. Back home, Kiva Lagos deals with the fallout from the House of Nohamapetan's plots.

This is the second book in John Scalzi's Interdependency trilogy, following The Collapsing Empire and leading into The Last Emperox. It is space opera with a witty tone and a quick pace, built on political maneuvering, and it moves toward a showdown with the conspirators while a civilization counts down to its deadline.