The Infinite State

Welcome to the future. Space has been colonized, but there is one overwhelming power: the Decurion Empire. "Five hundred territories, many of them entire worlds, all governed by a single, central authority". That governing entity is known as "Pater Aeternus".

Pater Aeternus is "the name for both the Emperor and the Party, and more often than not a misnomer for the Empire itself." The authoritarian regime maintains a firm grip on its citizens. The Ministry of Information is the self-proclaimed "moral centre" of the Empire, and its Political Enforcement branch are the black-coated, jackbooted members of the Party that no citizen ever wants visiting them. Where the "Inspektorate", a division of the Ministry of the Interior, are responsible for "classic crimes", Political Enforcement "investigated crimes of thought, of philosophy, of belief." Instead of sending violators to prison, they sent them to "re-education", and in many cases they just made them disappear.

Katherine Fuller is part of that central authority, or at least closely adjacent to it. She is married to Eskil Fuller, the director of Lamprey Corporation, "one of five companies which sat at arm's length from the Decurion Empire and which, collectively, were responsible for providing all of the materiel which went into the Citizens' Entitlement." While not officially part of the government, his job made Eskil firmly a member of the Party, which afforded he and Katherine the benefits of a power position in a communistic society.

But then Eskil suddenly dies, presumably in an auto accident, and Katherine is left adrift. Her entire identity had been wrapped up in Eskil's job and his position within the Party, and suddenly she has some control of her future for the first time. When a high-ranking Party member off-handedly mentions people setting up their own nation—and Katherine's likely ability to do so given the amount of money she stands to inherit from Eskil’s estate—the idea takes root and will not go away.

Katherine begins to plan out what she'd do were she to found a fledgling nation, all while walking on eggshells to avoid drawing the attention of the Party, since the nation she wishes to establish is nothing like Pater Aeternus. "It seemed as though the social elite of Leonis—of the whole Decurion Empire—were just as susceptible to violent misadventure as anybody else. Perhaps more so! So what was the point of any of it? If at every level of society, everybody was frightened and paranoid and aggressive...why did any of them endure it?"

Author Richard Swan keeps the story fresh by introducing secondary characters with supporting arcs. Julian Yashego is the greatest hypersled racer in the galaxy, an off-worlder conscripted by the Empire to represent Leonis in the intergalactic competition that closely resembles F1 or perhaps the infamous pod racing of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Cyprian Reis is a disgraced investigator with the Inspektorate whose history and current behavior have drawn the kind of unwanted attention that has him constantly looking over his shoulder. The three characters and their respective arcs will eventually collide as Swan plays out the story.

After a bit of a slow build-in to the primary plot, The Infinite State started to find its footing and increase in momentum. Each of our main characters navigate through a society where they are in constant fear of a misstep, while powerful Party members puppet much of their lives. There is the plot we see, and there is the secondary game being manipulated by those with infinite power. It makes for a complex interconnected game of politics, manipulation, and misinformation that Swan deftly weaves together. As the vice grip of the Party increases, the likelihood of our characters avoiding an untimely end seems increasingly unlikely.

The novel is interesting and entertaining, and I'm 100% invested and ready for Book 2. This is the start to a series that is scheduled to be a duology, although the vastness of the foundation established in The Infinite State could certainly allow for more than two books if Swan (and Tor) so desire. While much of the book is setup, it's also a fully contained, satisfying stand-alone work. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, and it lands right on the cusp of 4 and 5 stars for me. A strong start to a tale I look forward to continuing.