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The Infinite State
Not yet published
Expected 20 Aug 26WHO GIVES YOU LIFE?
PATER AETERNUS.
Katherine Fuller’s husband is dead. As an esteemed member of Pater Aeternus—governing party of the fascist, galaxy-spanning Decurion Empire—he has left behind an estate of immeasurable wealth. And Katherine is going to inherit it.
WHO GIVES YOU PURPOSE?
PATER AETERNUS.
Life under the Eternal Father is rigidly stratified, surveilled, and controlled—each new day to be endured, not lived. But with Katherine’s newfound fortune, she is presented with a rare and dangerous opportunity: purchase a virgin world, and create a better, fairer society.
WHO GIVES YOU JOY?
PATER AETERNUS.
But the Empire cannot allow its wayward daughter to succeed. And as Katherine works in secret, recruiting allies she's not even sure she can trust, she will discover exactly how far Pater Aeternus is willing to go to stop her. Because Katherine is going to create something nobody has seen for many years.
A democracy.
PATER AETERNUS.
Katherine Fuller’s husband is dead. As an esteemed member of Pater Aeternus—governing party of the fascist, galaxy-spanning Decurion Empire—he has left behind an estate of immeasurable wealth. And Katherine is going to inherit it.
WHO GIVES YOU PURPOSE?
PATER AETERNUS.
Life under the Eternal Father is rigidly stratified, surveilled, and controlled—each new day to be endured, not lived. But with Katherine’s newfound fortune, she is presented with a rare and dangerous opportunity: purchase a virgin world, and create a better, fairer society.
WHO GIVES YOU JOY?
PATER AETERNUS.
But the Empire cannot allow its wayward daughter to succeed. And as Katherine works in secret, recruiting allies she's not even sure she can trust, she will discover exactly how far Pater Aeternus is willing to go to stop her. Because Katherine is going to create something nobody has seen for many years.
A democracy.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication August 4, 2026
822 people want to read
About the author
Richard Swan
18 books1,654 followersRichard Swan is a critically acclaimed British genre writer. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Empire of the Wolf and Great Silence trilogies, as well as fiction for Black Library and Grimdark Magazine. His work has been translated into nine languages.
Richard is a qualified lawyer, and before writing full time spent ten years litigating multimillion pound commercial disputes in London. He currently lives in Sydney with his wife and three young sons.
For updates follow him at stonetemplelibrary.com.
Richard is a qualified lawyer, and before writing full time spent ten years litigating multimillion pound commercial disputes in London. He currently lives in Sydney with his wife and three young sons.
For updates follow him at stonetemplelibrary.com.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 2, 2025
Giving this 5 stars to counteract the clearly malicious 1 star reviews on a book that hasn’t even been announced yet. The people doing that are clowns
Want to read
August 27, 2025honestly, im always here for a wayward daughter plot!
October 24, 2025
I read Justice of Kings as a netgalley arc back in the day, excited by the buzz and premise, and of course adored it. And pressured my friends to read it. It is once again my privilege to read one of his ARCs, because I loved the premise and knew that Richard would handle the topic of founding democracy with intelligenct and nuance.
It is not controversial to say that we live in turbulent times. The far-right is on the rise, and most people--apart from the far right themselves--seem able to recognise that. Like ancient evil in a fantasy book, authoritarianism never dies, only slumbers for awhile. Currently, it is waking up all over the world.
What, then, does this mean for authors--folks whose livelihood is the creation of fiction?
Personally, I think we have a duty to write stories which not only dissect and critique the world around us, but which offer a vision for how we can build better futures. Everything we create, from art to philosophy to politics to science and beyond, starts with an idea or a vision. A sense of how something could be, might exist, may emerge. This, then, is what fiction can offer us, and why I truly believe science fiction is the genre of human potential: within it, we have the capacity to imagine the futures we wish to see, as well as the future we fear to see, and how to achieve one while avoiding the other.
INFINITE STATE is such a book. Swan shows us a world that is darker than our own, but not unimaginably so. We are familiar wtih these kinds of empires from dystopia and classic SF, after all, as well as actual authoritarian states IRL.
But where INFINITE STATE shines, and where it sets itself apart, is *how* it constructs a different for an alternate future. There is no glorious revolution with a chosen one and special powers, or a grand uprising of youthful voices. (That's not a criticism of those books, by any means--I enjoy them too! But I'm clarifying how this book differs from other fight-the-fascist novels). Instead, INFINITE STATE focuses on a handful of humans who are terribly flawed in different ways, yet still trying to create something new and bold within the awful strictures which press down on them.
INFINITE STATE is concerend with the nitty gritty of what setting up democracy entails. This is not a book about making grand speeches and invoking vast uprest, though perhaps that will come later in the series. It's about honest discussions of human society: what is fair? What is free? How do we choose laws which respects boundaries but keep people safe? And most importantly of all, how far will you go to fight for a better future? Because the characters must fight; they must make terrible choices, ones that directly go against all of their ideals and goals, in the pursuit of something better.
There is no pat solution or easy answers in INFINITE STATE. Only continued discussion, continued striving, the sticky struggle of imperfect people trying to improve a terrible world, and finding endless obstacles and heartbreak in their path.
This is science fiction at its finest, doing what scifi does best: showing us how to build a better tomorrow. We need stories like this to remind us of what is possible and what is good.
READ THIS FOR: nuanced discussions on the nature of government, society, and freedom; adult characters (incld a middle aged female MC) with baggage and complicated lives; morally grey decisions and difficult choices
It is not controversial to say that we live in turbulent times. The far-right is on the rise, and most people--apart from the far right themselves--seem able to recognise that. Like ancient evil in a fantasy book, authoritarianism never dies, only slumbers for awhile. Currently, it is waking up all over the world.
What, then, does this mean for authors--folks whose livelihood is the creation of fiction?
Personally, I think we have a duty to write stories which not only dissect and critique the world around us, but which offer a vision for how we can build better futures. Everything we create, from art to philosophy to politics to science and beyond, starts with an idea or a vision. A sense of how something could be, might exist, may emerge. This, then, is what fiction can offer us, and why I truly believe science fiction is the genre of human potential: within it, we have the capacity to imagine the futures we wish to see, as well as the future we fear to see, and how to achieve one while avoiding the other.
INFINITE STATE is such a book. Swan shows us a world that is darker than our own, but not unimaginably so. We are familiar wtih these kinds of empires from dystopia and classic SF, after all, as well as actual authoritarian states IRL.
But where INFINITE STATE shines, and where it sets itself apart, is *how* it constructs a different for an alternate future. There is no glorious revolution with a chosen one and special powers, or a grand uprising of youthful voices. (That's not a criticism of those books, by any means--I enjoy them too! But I'm clarifying how this book differs from other fight-the-fascist novels). Instead, INFINITE STATE focuses on a handful of humans who are terribly flawed in different ways, yet still trying to create something new and bold within the awful strictures which press down on them.
INFINITE STATE is concerend with the nitty gritty of what setting up democracy entails. This is not a book about making grand speeches and invoking vast uprest, though perhaps that will come later in the series. It's about honest discussions of human society: what is fair? What is free? How do we choose laws which respects boundaries but keep people safe? And most importantly of all, how far will you go to fight for a better future? Because the characters must fight; they must make terrible choices, ones that directly go against all of their ideals and goals, in the pursuit of something better.
There is no pat solution or easy answers in INFINITE STATE. Only continued discussion, continued striving, the sticky struggle of imperfect people trying to improve a terrible world, and finding endless obstacles and heartbreak in their path.
This is science fiction at its finest, doing what scifi does best: showing us how to build a better tomorrow. We need stories like this to remind us of what is possible and what is good.
READ THIS FOR: nuanced discussions on the nature of government, society, and freedom; adult characters (incld a middle aged female MC) with baggage and complicated lives; morally grey decisions and difficult choices
November 14, 2025
Star Wars meets 1928 meets The Expanse meets Brave New World.
This is a terrific dystopian sci-fi novel because the people and government are believably evil. There are reasons behind their that make sense for an authoritarian galactic empire, but also for the nation-states of today. It’s not evil for evils sake, it is cool and calculated evil.
The hero’s are not paragons of justice or holiness either, they are flawed, and again, believable. A fantastic read, I am already looking forward to more books in the series!
This is a terrific dystopian sci-fi novel because the people and government are believably evil. There are reasons behind their that make sense for an authoritarian galactic empire, but also for the nation-states of today. It’s not evil for evils sake, it is cool and calculated evil.
The hero’s are not paragons of justice or holiness either, they are flawed, and again, believable. A fantastic read, I am already looking forward to more books in the series!
Want to read
October 29, 2025Richard Swan writing dystopian novel with Roman/Kier Eagan vibes? And I hear there are killer gorillas?
Want.
Want.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews