Buy The Infinite State
FORMAT/INFO: The Infinite State will be published by Tor Books on August 4th, 2026. It is 416 pages and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Infinite State is a dystopian sci-fi that's ironically undercut by succeeding a little too well at crafting a seemingly inescapable authoritarian police state. I admit, I had to sit with The Infinite State for a bit before I wrote this review. I was caught up in trying to figure out why the bleakness of the author's previous series, Empire of the Wolf, worked for me, while the bleakness of The Infinite State left me underwhelmed. But it has finally clicked. Bear with me for a moment.
In Empire of the Wolf, you are told from page one that the empire in this saga is doomed to fall. We know everything is going to fall apart, but the drama is in HOW it falls apart. More importantly, even though the empire is doomed, the characters we follow still have agency. They are making choices and they are still the ultimate drivers of the narrative. And even in ultimate failure, there are some successes to be found along the way.
In The Infinite State, we arrive at the very worst of times. The empire is a totalitarian surveillance state, where no one is safe from political murder. There should be excitement in watching characters break out of this nightmare. The problem is that success doesn't actually seem like a viable path for our characters. The government knows all their moves before they make them. Resistance is futile. A lot of the story is things happening to them, rather than as a result of their actions. Whatever victories our heroes achieve is because they are caught up in political machinations way above their head, not because they have some cunning plan of their own.
I don't hate the characters outright. Cyprian, an Inspecktor in the state police and by far my favorite of the three POVs, is a competent but disillusioned man who has realized the futility of trying to achieve any real justice. His job is to keep his head down and to make political assassinations disappear. His junior office, starry-eyed with patriotism, can't understand how things work and suffers for it. Cyprian is out here doing his best to survive because he's been around long enough to actually know how to survive. But surviving is all he really does.
Katherine, on the other hand, is a character that stumbles into success. Now there is plenty to be said about the fact that this woman even has the idea to begin with to start a new planet and government. She's the will that keeps the progress of this whole project moving forward. But really, that's all that she contributes: a will to succeed. She's not particularly smart or politically savvy, but somehow keeps moving the ball forward.
And lastly there's Julian, whose poor unfortunate arc is to be the guy who comes from a privileged life in a neighboring regime of planets; when he comes to spend his racing career in Pater Aeternus, he doesn't imagine that life could be THAT bad here. He quickly realizes his mistake when he violates the "morality" clause of his racing contract.
Interesting characters, for sure. But watching them trapped in an authoritarian state, knowing that none of them would break free without circumstances outside their control aligning, that was a level of bleakness I found a bit suffocating. I want to know our heroes can make things happen on their own. Sure, sometimes it takes a bit of luck, but there's got to be that glimmer of hope. And this story was decidedly without hope because for the most part, our characters are just passive prisoners in a nightmare.
Despite all my critiques, I will be continuing with the series. It's still an interesting premise, even if the execution was too bleak for my taste. There's also the fact that, as the first book of the series, our characters are just getting started. They're already more proactive in the final pages; there's every chance that will only grow with time. But if you're looking for an escape from our present world society, this may not be the one for you.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Infinite State is a dystopian sci-fi that's ironically undercut by succeeding a little too well at crafting a seemingly inescapable authoritarian police state. I admit, I had to sit with The Infinite State for a bit before I wrote this review. I was caught up in trying to figure out why the bleakness of the author's previous series, Empire of the Wolf, worked for me, while the bleakness of The Infinite State left me underwhelmed. But it has finally clicked. Bear with me for a moment.
In Empire of the Wolf, you are told from page one that the empire in this saga is doomed to fall. We know everything is going to fall apart, but the drama is in HOW it falls apart. More importantly, even though the empire is doomed, the characters we follow still have agency. They are making choices and they are still the ultimate drivers of the narrative. And even in ultimate failure, there are some successes to be found along the way.
In The Infinite State, we arrive at the very worst of times. The empire is a totalitarian surveillance state, where no one is safe from political murder. There should be excitement in watching characters break out of this nightmare. The problem is that success doesn't actually seem like a viable path for our characters. The government knows all their moves before they make them. Resistance is futile. A lot of the story is things happening to them, rather than as a result of their actions. Whatever victories our heroes achieve is because they are caught up in political machinations way above their head, not because they have some cunning plan of their own.
I don't hate the characters outright. Cyprian, an Inspecktor in the state police and by far my favorite of the three POVs, is a competent but disillusioned man who has realized the futility of trying to achieve any real justice. His job is to keep his head down and to make political assassinations disappear. His junior office, starry-eyed with patriotism, can't understand how things work and suffers for it. Cyprian is out here doing his best to survive because he's been around long enough to actually know how to survive. But surviving is all he really does.
Katherine, on the other hand, is a character that stumbles into success. Now there is plenty to be said about the fact that this woman even has the idea to begin with to start a new planet and government. She's the will that keeps the progress of this whole project moving forward. But really, that's all that she contributes: a will to succeed. She's not particularly smart or politically savvy, but somehow keeps moving the ball forward.
And lastly there's Julian, whose poor unfortunate arc is to be the guy who comes from a privileged life in a neighboring regime of planets; when he comes to spend his racing career in Pater Aeternus, he doesn't imagine that life could be THAT bad here. He quickly realizes his mistake when he violates the "morality" clause of his racing contract.
Interesting characters, for sure. But watching them trapped in an authoritarian state, knowing that none of them would break free without circumstances outside their control aligning, that was a level of bleakness I found a bit suffocating. I want to know our heroes can make things happen on their own. Sure, sometimes it takes a bit of luck, but there's got to be that glimmer of hope. And this story was decidedly without hope because for the most part, our characters are just passive prisoners in a nightmare.
Despite all my critiques, I will be continuing with the series. It's still an interesting premise, even if the execution was too bleak for my taste. There's also the fact that, as the first book of the series, our characters are just getting started. They're already more proactive in the final pages; there's every chance that will only grow with time. But if you're looking for an escape from our present world society, this may not be the one for you.
3:00 AM | 
Posted by
Caitlin G. |
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