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The Consuming Fire
- The Interdependency, Book 2
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Series: The Interdependency, Book 2
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
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Publisher's Summary
"Wil Wheaton narrates this space opera full of political intrigue and charismatic characters. The young Emperox Grayland II does not have an easy task ahead. The Interdependency is in jeopardy due to the collapse of various planets in the empire. Powerful families are looking out for their own interests, even if that means killing their enemies and threatening the empire. Wheaton delivers an expressive narration using a humorous tone when needed and employing his acting talent to bring the characters to life. This audiobook is a treat not only for Wheaton's fans but also for anyone who is into well-written science fiction." (AudioFile magazine)
The Consuming Fire - the sequel to the 2018 Hugo Award Best Novel finalist and 2018 Locus Award-winning The Collapsing Empire - an epic space-opera novel in the best-selling Interdependency series, from the Hugo Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author John Scalzi.
The Interdependency, humanity’s interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible, is disappearing, leaving entire star systems stranded. When it goes, human civilization may go with it - unless desperate measures can be taken.
Emperox Grayland II, the leader of the Interdependency, is ready to take those measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But nothing is ever that easy. Arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth - or at the very least, an opportunity that can allow them to ascend to power.
While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are preparing for a civil war, a war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will take place between spaceships and battlefields. The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, but then so are her enemies. Nothing about this power struggle will be simple or easy...and all of humanity will be caught in its widening gyre.
The Interdependency series:
- The Collapsing Empire
- The Consuming Fire
More from the same
What listeners say about The Consuming Fire
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Emile
- 27-11-2018
story was boring.
narrator was the best thing about this book. story was boring, and predictable, it reminded me of the star wars episode where it was all about politics and hardly any action.
3 people found this helpful
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- Peter N.
- 11-07-2021
What will happen
Enthralling read. Twists galore. Certainly enjoying the humour and narrative. Well worth recommending this series so far
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- Chin Scratcher
- 11-05-2020
Sharp political commentary
You could almost change "flow" for "climate change" and this would be non-fiction. Except of course that this is a far more fun way to explore this.
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- Scott May
- 27-08-2019
Loved the secret meta jokes snuck in there
Again a great book and a great performance of it. Also listen for the meta jokes, I'm sure I missed a few but those I noticed I loved.
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- Anonymous User
- 25-03-2019
Excellent book
An amazing follow up from the first book. interesting all the way through and you know shit is going to hit the fan and you just can't wait.
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- Len Krois
- 02-02-2019
Great entertainment
Loved the story. Hanging out for ep 3 to be recorded. Hurry up Will Wheaton!
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-01-2019
Good but not as good as the first one
Will Wheaton delivers another stellar performance as narrator but the book did not grip me as much as the collapsing empire. High standard was set with the first book in series by the author so i guess thats forgivable (the two towers) i look forward to the conclusion.
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- takanzwa
- 10-12-2018
Awesome read
Really enjoyed the predecessor and this one absolutely lives up to it. I always love the political and economic side of sci-fi universes and this one had done that very well. Also the idea that rather than developing an FTL drive humanity could only expand through the Flow and there was still a time delay was I felt a much more realistic interpretation of space travel so all that narrated by Will Wheaton I mean what's not to love.
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- JGB
- 11-10-2019
Too many F-bombs
It just got difficult to listen to. I’m returning this one. (But I love Will Wheaton - always!)
11 people found this helpful
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- David M. Polakiewicz
- 15-11-2018
Coulda done without the whole Kiva storyline
I would have given the book all 5's if it wasn't for the whole Kiva storyline. If that part was taken out I would rate this book a 5+. Loved the rest of the storyline. Scalzi does an excellent job of creating a futuristic universe with collapsing wormholes, and different cultures, and species and futuristic technology. There's action and suspense and then adds just enough at the end of every book to make you want to read the next. Unfortunately, there's also Kiva - a woman who drops the F bomb more than any normal person would, spewing sarcasm and drama in every conversation she has with anyone - that's when she's not screwing someone. I actually fast forwarded the recording a few times when she was the focal point of the story - and I still got a lot out of the book and didn't feel I missed anything. Didn't particularly enjoy her in the first book, and she seemed to drop the F bomb a lot more in the second. I don't think it really added to the storyline. And Wil Wheaton - work on your British accent - you were awesome other than that.
12 people found this helpful
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- C. White
- 16-10-2018
Building upon a collapse, this follow-up exceeds!
Fine... I'll state it up front. I am an unabashed John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton fan boy! BUT there is a reason why, and the Consuming Fire is just another entry onto that long list of reasons. Given that this is the second book of the Interdependency series, I'm assuming that anyone who is reading this review has already made it through the Collapsing Empire, and you are wondering how this seconded entry holds up to the first. Overall, I actually enjoyed this book better. Whereas the first book focused mostly on the political maneuvering between two families and the physics of the flow. This entry dives more deeply into the Church of the Interdependency and how it is the practical glue that holds the Interdependency together. But just when you think this may turn into a plodding exploration of ecclesiastic devotion within the Interdependency, you are thrust into the politics of treason and outright betrayal across ALL the houses of the Interdependency, and stuck in the middle is Emperox Grayland II. Scalzi does a fantastic job in holding a mirror up to our own society to highlight the tendency of humans to ignore or dismiss inconvenient facts in favor lies that maintain the norm, or the lies that allow those in power to position themselves to take advantage of the chaos of the truth. Although I do not think that Scalzi intended to make a direct passion play to reflect our current debate surrounding global warming, throughout this book, I was forcibly reminded of the direct parallels. Before you get too worried that the book is a bit philosophically heavier than the typical Scalzi offering... fear not. The snarky wit and cleaver dialog that is a hallmark of Scalzi's writing is there from the very first sentence to the last. Throw in a bit of action, a few things blowing up and the unexpected discovery of the fate of Dalicia... you have a great Scalzi space opera. Finally... what John Scalzi review be complete without mention of his other half in these endevors: Wil Wheaton. Over the years, the voice of Wil Wheaton has become synonymous with John Scalzi. I have a hard time imagining listening to a Scalzi read by anyone else (sorry William Dufris, you've done a great job on the Old Man's War series, but Wil is still my goto for the voice of Scalzi).
49 people found this helpful
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- Roman A. Kobzarev
- 25-11-2018
Artificially short
The story is fluffed up to fill the pages. Enough content for half a book. Mr Scalzi could defentley do better.
11 people found this helpful
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- End-the-Fed
- 15-12-2018
I love Kiva!
Awesome story. Went through part 1&2 within a week and I'm now anxiously waiting for the third book.
Only other Scalzi that I've read was old man's war, which I loved, but this was on another level.
Wheaton did a great job differentiating the characters and didn't over play the roles.
5 stars in every aspect!
13 people found this helpful
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- Tommy
- 01-03-2021
Ruined by the reader
Will Wheaton has no ability to moderate his presentation. All characters sound like spoiled teenagers. I have enjoyed his reading when the characters were teenagers but he absolutely ruins this book. I had to stop listening after 90 minutes.
3 people found this helpful
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- Ofer
- 20-10-2018
The universe becomes much larger and very interest
The idea behind this series has always been an analogy with global climate changes. When the means by which the Interdependency is jeopardized by a natural (or possibly not so natural) shift in the Flow, humans behave as expected. People dither out of habit, wealthy interests try to dny the reality because it hurts their bottom line and politicos try to maneuver for power despite it being counterproductive or outright detrimental to survival. Yet we also see those in power try to make things better and work despite all this, and perhaps that is a hopeful sign for humanity (well that and having rulers that are able to sweep aside all of those above). But the truly fascinating part of this book is the "ancient" history that is discovered and that the universe is much larger than what was thought. It also introduces so truly interesting characters who are likely to be a treat in future novels.
7 people found this helpful
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- K. Piening
- 17-10-2018
Amazing plot! Dialogue was serviceable.
Reminiscent of Dune, the plot and machinations of characters involved have satisfying ups, downs, twists, and turns. I've never been a big fan of the author's dialogue but it's serviceable and pretty easy to overlook. If you're a Dune fan you'll most likely enjoy this one!
11 people found this helpful
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- Donald Arquilla
- 17-10-2018
Scalzi and Wheaton or the new dynamic duo?
seriously, I love scalzi's writing. his characters have great conversations and listening to will Wheaton swear in 6 different attitudes really gets you into the book.
the story also opens up in this one. the whole of the first book is establishing the plot so this book can really focus on the story.
16 people found this helpful
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- Sbert1
- 31-07-2019
Bland and underwhelming.
Not his best work. I've read several books by John Scalzi and he's never penned beautiful prose or gripping dialogue, but usually his work has a hook that draws me in...not so much in this one. Bland plot that is very much the middle of series, without much new compelling info added and no big plots resolved. His universe he made is full of formal titles, churches, offices and parliment; yet every single character hates the titles, curses like a sailor which everyone thinks is shocking despite it repeatedly haplening and has copious amounts of sex the reader/listener needs to trudge through. It's like Scalzi wants to lampoon govt or leadership, but what he created is so thin and flimsy there are no actually stuffy govt parliamentarians for these critiques to land on. Won't be continuing with this series except skimming a Wikipedia plot summary to see how it finishes out in 10 years.
2 people found this helpful
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- Krok84
- 04-04-2019
Scalzi at his best, narrated so poorly. So poorly
Great story loved it. I'm really looking forward to the next book. Just wish Will Wheaton (an actor I've always really enjoyed on screen ) would please stop narrating Scalzi's books. He's dreadful.
6 people found this helpful
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- Ziggy Malone
- 10-10-2020
How to ignore good sci fi and focus on political boredom
The concept of the flows and the society and the murky history of the emperox’s (is that how it’s written?) and a fresh innocent protagonist is all ignored in favour of boring politics, unnecessary sex language and a range of unmemorable dull characters talking with anger that leaves an accomplished narrator Wil Wheaton basically just shouting half the time.
It feels like Scalzi is just churning out trash stories cashing on some core good ideas. Shame. I tolerated the collapsing empire and thought this story might reduce the overall good ideas but alas I couldn’t get kore than halfway through this.
4 people found this helpful
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- Vetrina
- 18-10-2018
are you fed up of Will Wheaton?
Sorry Will, but I'm one of the group who is fed up of hearing you read Scalzi. Perhaps you appeal to the Americans, but hearing you over *emphasize* almost *every* other word, eventually gets *irritating* and ultimately I'm not the only one who now will buy future Scalzi books to not have to listen to the *same damn* basic *over emphasizing* that comes woth *every* reading
14 people found this helpful
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- Allan
- 10-12-2020
Really unpleasant and goes nowhere
More than three hours into this book an I'm giving up. The F word is used extensively by some characters and the narration uses it too. So far its just fictional political scheming and unpleasantness. There are no characters that I can connect to or look forward to hearing what they will do next.
This is a real shame; I've liked many other books by John Scalzi, this one is just a disappointment. The collapsing "flow streams" could be a great story vehicle, but not in this book.
Wil Wheaton does a good job as usual.
2 people found this helpful
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- Demo
- 16-03-2020
fantastic
another great weaton narration love the series looking forward to hearing the rest when it comes out
2 people found this helpful
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- Haviland
- 24-10-2018
Great Stuff
Have to leave a review in order to rate it, it appears :-)
An engrossing sequel to the Collapsing Empire - politics and power seeking take priority over an event that will lead to the loss of life of millions. Wil Wheaton's narration is engaging, subtly managing to differentiate between the many characters. Difficult enough when you're reading bed time stories to your kids, never mind for a mass market audiobook.
2 people found this helpful
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- David S
- 22-10-2018
I can not wait for the next instalment!
The fascinating and addictive world created by John Scalzi is magnificently performed by Wil Wheaton
2 people found this helpful
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- Robin
- 18-10-2018
A Marvellous Read
Funny with an excellent plot, extremely well written characters with whom it is easy to empathise, this book deserves to be a classic sci-fi novel.
Almost certainly there is an even more scintillating sequel in the works which is a really exciting prospect.
2 people found this helpful
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- Hrvoje Roncevic
- 21-11-2020
Nice SciFi Political Thriller
A bit too much profanity and sex, but that might be how higher caste works.
I like how the story flows, and listening to Wil is really a joy
1 person found this helpful
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- Adam Datoo
- 24-07-2020
Full on Scalzi.
Slow build up
But left me wanting more
A great modern space opera
Thanks John
1 person found this helpful
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