There I was, minding my own business and going to work like an adult, not thinking about NetGalley at all. But one day, they said that I could read an excerpt Empress of Forever, the new Max Gladstone novel right now, so of course I downloaded it immediately.

And let me tell you, that was very nice of them because this book was fun.

Gladstone drops you into the mix right away: from intrigue to fancy parties to government conspiracies, this opening had it all. Vivian Liao escapes her own party, using her considerable control over and understanding of digital systems to leave no trace of her passage. She sails to the Carolina coast, scuttling her boat and venturing inland and upwards, finally reaching Boston. Here, she will make her stand. Here, she will thwart the plans of her business rivals. Here, she will change the future.

Then, the future begins.

Viv must learn and adapt quickly to rescue a long-imprisoned warrior and escape from a herd of Kentaurs with a rogue monk for company. Making a healthy mix of friends and enemies, she tackles each new challenge with the delightful blend of suspended disbelief and her own personal rationale. Through it all, she always remains distinctly, exceptionally Viv: soulless yet not without heart, even if it is only made of meat.

Gladstone’s writing is of course smartly funny. Each character has a vibrant voice and the world building is done quickly and lightly in the interstitial spaces between the action. You experience the world as Viv sees it, learning as she learns, piecing together everything she can about this brave new world and sorting through its new logic. Gladstone never bothers with a pause to explain, pedantically, what’s happened or happening–keep up, his writing says, keep up and pay attention to what’s going on around you or you’ll miss it.

You really don’t want to miss it; this is the stuff of the future.

Empress of Forever will be published in full on June 18th 2019 by Tor Books and I can’t wait to read the rest of it!

I am a huge fan of the author's work and so was excited for this excerpt. After reading it, I have to admit that I am ambivalent about this story. I really enjoy the three main characters. But the plot is confusing me. Multi-worlds. Weird empress. Dead worlds. A cloud that seems to control this world. I am not adverse to finishing this book to see what the payout might be. But I can't say that I be excited to do so either. I will be interested in seeing what the reviews of the full book will be. Arrrr!

Viv is brilliant, and is probably going to be hunted down by the government because of what she knows regarding security algorhythms. While trying to break it apart, a strange creature captured her, whisking her across time and space. Now she has to team up with a kiler o flegend, a religious fighter and an untested pilot to track down the Empress and find her way home again.

Viv is brilliantly written, and I really appreciated that she's an Asian woman allowed to be herself. She can be scared and angry and conflicted, and have her lust for other women. She's still clever and handles the situation she is in with as much grace as she can muster.

I forgot this was a preview, so I screeched when it ended on a cliffhanger. This is a fantastic start, and I definitely will be looking for the full book!

Vivian Liao is a genius billionaire that just wants to save the planet. Unfortunately The Empress has other plans for her. Viv finds herself in what seems like another dimension, another time, far into a future she doesn't recognize. With the help of a monk, an angry space pirate and a woman born to fly, she just might find her way home.

This story is full of action, making it a fantastic page-turner. Every character is cleverly built with depth and secrets I was dying to learn. The world-building, or universe building I should say, brought me to places full of wonder and curiosities. Empress of Forever is definitely the kind of book I'll be recommending to fans of science fiction.

I had a chance to preview Empress of Forever, out this June, and it is the wildest of rides through space, time, and reality. It’s the kind of book that slowly pulls you in, showing you an interesting character who seems pretty normal. She makes a big life decision, adding a bit of intrigue to the plot and then WHAM, the story becomes something else entirely. I can’t remember a time I’ve been more surprised by the direction of a book. What starts as a kind of techno-thriller because a time traveling space opera, complete with killer robots, extremely futuristic settings, and a fascinating set of supporting characters.

This is a book you want to read with as little prior knowledge as possible. There are so many moments when I stopped and laughed, trying to imagine how an author could come up with such a clever turn. I’ll definitely be lining up to read this one once it comes out in a couple of weeks. After all, there’s nothing better than a brilliantly written space opera filled with danger, intrigue, and a badass central character who sets out to change the universe.

Preview review to be published on 5/16: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/05/16/previewing-empress-of-forever

The Empress of Forever - Preview Excerpt by Max Gladstone is well written and funny, with a little bit of clever sarcasm so it stays far from sappy. I love the character Viv but want to know so much more about her. Show me what she is thinking and feeling, lets go deeper into her backstory. I hope the novel continues in the same writing and tone as the preview because its great!!! Toss around a few classic sci fi novels with Gladstone's action packed dynamic characters and what do you wind up with? Success and a book you can't dream of putting down.! I will definitely be reading this novel

We start off with Viv who is off on a secret mission and has the experience and resources to go off grid. I do not know exactly what she is planning but she and a friend break into a big old computer plant and start hacking the servers inserting special code into the internet. This will wind up overthrowing the government or something even better (insert crazier here)....but just before the countdown is finished, Viv is accosted by something weird that she has never seen before. Something foreign.. something alien.... then she wakes up and the pace picks up really fast introducing new characters and new danger. So now the excerpt leaves me with too many questions and the release date is June 18,2 019 and why haven't I read Max Gladstone before this?

(4 stars until I can finish reading the excerpt, but I have a feeling it will be 5 once more things make sense to me!!!)

In EMPRESS OF FOREVER - Preview Excerpt, Gladstone offers clever, fast-paced writing, characters you'll want to invite to your next party, and plotting, that while occasionally surprises, mostly just feels right. The Preview Excerpt sets the stage for an epic, and Vivian Liao emerges, if not exactly as a hero, as the best administrator of resources ever. Gladstone is the master of the intense "don't look away for a moment" style of writing -- crisp, compelling, but still playful. I never laughed out loud at Gladstone's authorial banter, but I snorted frequently. Even his drop-facting was only slightly annoying as I dropped out of the book--again--to see what-the-heck is Vantablack (or any of a host of other obscure references throughout the excerpt. While the writing and plotting is skillful, by the time the Preview Excerpt ended, I was wondering if the book will have more soul than its hero. It is a massive lead-in and I will be interested to see if there is something of weight underneath the shell game being played on the surface. Four well-deserved stars from this reviewer.

I'm a big fan of Max Gladstone, especially his Craft Sequence, which is a blend of corporatist realism and urban fantasy the likes of which I have never experienced before. So I was very interested to read this extended excerpt from this new book.

The writing was extremely Gladstone -- descriptive writing, humorous quips and anecdotes, and a whole lot of barely contained snark. The book description calls this a "feminist Guardians of the Galaxy" and based on this excerpt I can understand why -- the main characters are a loosely affiliated group of diverse and strong personalities, all with unique skillsets and who are able to play off each other even while harboring obvious differences with their methods.

My concerns from this excerpt is that it appears to be a madcap dash through a series of events, with barely any time to reflect on what happens throughout. Vivian Liao is an interesting character, but thus far things simply seem to HAPPEN to her -- there's barely any time for reflection or to figure out the WHY or HOW -- she goes from a Boston server farm to a far-flung galactic future without any real understanding of how she ends up there. There's also a touch, if you'll pardon me, of Mary Sue in Vivian that from this reading was just a little hard to ignore.

It's difficult to fully review a book based on an excerpt, and so perhaps some of my concerns will be resolved by reading the full text when it is released. There's a lot to like here, and I trust Gladstone implicitly, but there's a lot of work left to be done for me to fully enjoy this excerpt. I plan to purchase the book when it is released and continue to enjoy Gladstone's writing.

Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE this book. It's described as "Star Wars meets Guardians of the Galaxy". But I find shades of Firefly, Killjoys, and honestly this is some of the best SF I've read in years. It has galactic spanning adventure, humor, vivid storytelling, unforgettable characters, and deep and imaginative world building. The prose is right up there with Willam Gibson or Frank Herbert. Intellectual, lyrical, huge in scope and somehow deeply emotional. This is my first book by Max Gladstone, but it won't be my last. I see why he was nominated for a Hugo. I am so glad Netgalley gave me to the opportunity to review this book, because I might not have given it a chance as a new-to-me-author at full price, but I'm telling you right now: it's worth every penny. Right now, Empress of Forever is my favorite book of 2019, and it has propelled its author onto my "must-buy" list.

There is SO much I want to say, but I can't because I refuse to spoil it for anyone. Do yourself a favor: if you're a SF fan, buy it. Read it.

I'm wondering why I never read anything by this author before.
This was an amazing start for a book and it made me crave for more.
I look forward to reading the book as this preview was really interesting.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

A great start to a new space opera series! This is clearly just the beginning, but the story has enough potential for a great pay-off several books down the way. Will be eagerly anticipating what happens next!

An incredible start; I can't wait to read more!

*I received a preview excerpt courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Had never read anything by Gladstone but this fun literate sci if thriller preview makes me want to read more

I heard so much of this book and though I've never read anything by Max Gladstone before, I'm definitely gonna do it now. This preview hooked me from the start. It's fast paceed adventure, a little "guardian-of-the-galaxy-like", but written in totally unique way with great cast of characters. Can't wait when the whole novel'll come out!