Publisher: Gollancz (Audiobook – 28 July 2026)

Series: The Decurion Saga – Book One

Length: 15 hours and 19 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s most prominent science fiction and fantasy authors, Richard Swan, starts a bold new series with the powerful and deeply compelling novel The Infinite State, an outstanding science fiction read with some relevant messaging.

Few fantasy authors have been as successful in recent years as Australian Richard Swan.  A talented author with some unique stories under his belt, Swan has gained a lot of attention in recent years thanks to his Empire of the Wolf series, which started in 2022 with The Justice of Kings.  A complex series that examined law and order in a crumbling fantasy empire, the Empire of the Wolf books proved to be very popular, enough so that Swan is currently following up the original trilogy with his The Great Silence sequel series, which examines a whole new era for his established world.

While I am more familiar with his fantasy fiction work, Swan also has a bit of experience with science fiction, which includes his latest release The Infinite State. The first book in Swan’s new Decurion Saga, The Infinite State follows several protagonists as they attempt to escape a fascist space government.  I have been looking forward to reading The Infinite State since I first heard about it, and made sure to listen to it on audiobook as soon as I could.

Plot Synopsis:

WHO GIVES YOU LIFE?
PATER AETERNUS.

A democracy.

Wow, now that was a truly impressive read.  Richard Swan was firing on all cylinders with The Infinite State, producing a powerful and highly addictive character-driven book that I had an amazing time getting through.  Captivating, insightful and perfectly introducing an exciting and dark futuristic universe, The Infinite State was so damn good, and I have to give it a full five-star read, especially in its audiobook format.

Swan produces a highly impressive narrative for The Infinite State that follows three compelling protagonists as they attempt to overcome and escape the evils of the Decurion Empire.  This includes Katherine Fuller, the widow of a high-ranking party official, who finds herself inheriting a vast fortune upon her husband’s death.  Already disillusioned with the Empire, Katherine embarks on the radical plan of buying her own planet and setting it up as a democracy.  The book also follows Julian Yashego, a famous hypersled pilot born on an independent planet outside the Decurion Empire.  Having been recruited to race for the premier team in the Decurion hypersled circuit, Julian is forced to contend with the unforgiving politics and propaganda machine of the empire as an outsider, especially when his personal secrets are discovered.  The third storyline follows Cyprian Reis, a weary inspector charged with investigating murders in the empire’s capital, Kada Gamar.  However, his latest case, a mutilated body fished out of the river, sees him caught between two competing factions of the Pater Aeternus party, while also trying to reign in his ambitious and unhinged young partner.

There is a great mixture of elements in this first part of the book, as Swan successfully develops three complex character-focused storylines that initially exist independent of each other.  This includes a moving personal journey to independence in Katherine’s POV with a lot of key universe-building, a look at the true dark side of the regime in Julian’s storyline that also has a compelling science fiction sports element to it, and an exciting noir crime story in Cyprian’s chapters, all told in the shadow of Pater Aeternus influence.  This was honestly one of those rare multi-POV novels where I enjoyed each of the storylines equally, and I deeply enjoyed the separate narrative threads.  While these storylines are kept separate for most of The Infinite State, they produce an impressive overarching narrative, with some overlapping ideas and supporting characters.  You also become highly invested in each protagonist’s specific journeys, as well as their attempts to survive the party’s attention.  Swan eventually brings the three storylines together in the final third of The Infinite State, which has an interesting change of setting to Katherine’s newly established world.  The author does a good job of bringing these characters together naturally, and none of the storylines are negatively impacted by the suddenly joined narrative.  All of this results in an exciting and captivating conclusion that brings some excellent action to the book and introduces some great reveals.  Swan wraps everything up quite nicely with some big climatic moments that allow each of the protagonists to shine in their own unique ways.  At the same, Swan leaves several storylines open for the sequel, ensuring that readers will need to come back and check out the rest of the books in the series.

I was really impressed with how The Infinite State turned out, as Swan produced a gripping science fiction story centred around some great characters intent on escaping an overbearing fascist government.  As I mentioned above, Swan does an excellent job showcasing the story through three separate perspectives, and you really get a fantastic mixture of storylines as a result.  The resulting blend of elements that emerged throughout The Infinite State, including political discourse, espionage, mystery, space colonisation, proxy propaganda battles and more, was so damn good, and Swan did an outstanding job bringing all this together.  I was particularly impressed with the cool background setting surrounding this narrative, as Swan envisions and portrays a chaotic universe dominated by the Decurion Empire and the controlling Pater Aeternus party.  The idea of a vast fascist empire is familiar in the modern context, but Swan makes it his own, showcasing how such an empire could spread throughout the stars, and how other planets would react to it.  The evils and weaknesses of such an empire is on full display, and I appreciated how well Swan showcased the machinations and rivalries of the party’s power players, and how they manipulate the inherent fear, despair and anger of the normal inhabitants.  All this was quite inventive, if worryingly familiar, and the dose of reality in amongst the science fiction added to the emotional impact of the overall story.

I must once again highlight the outstanding main protagonists of The Infinite State, each of whom had unique and emotionally charged personal stories.  These great character arcs worked perfectly as the centre for the main storylines of The Infinite State, and Swan took many of these characters to their extremes as part of the plot.  This includes central character Katherine Fuller, the wife of a high-level party member, who, after several personal loses, decides to finally rebel against the system that has held her down her entire life.  Much of Katherine’s storyline involves her attempting to gain a confidence that has been quashed by Pater Aeternus’s patriarchal system and embark on her own journey.  It was great seeing her start to become a leader in this book, and it will be interesting to see how she continues to develop as the series continues.  Another key protagonist is the dour Cyprian Reis, a senior police inspector who finds himself on the wrong side of a political skirmish between two of Pater Aeternus’s ministers.  Already broken and suicidal at the start of the book, Cyprian finds his long-buried desire for justice clashing with the dark realities of the monsters above him.  Swan perfectly captures the impotent anger of Cyprian as he is manipulated and threatened by everyone, and while there are periods of rage, you can see that deep down Cyprian is a good man who has been wrecked by the system.  Of all the characters, Cyprian has the best redemption arc in the novel, and it was wonderful to see him start to find himself after the dark first half of the book.

The final protagonist is Julian Yashego, who honestly has one of the most complex, if traumatising, character narratives in the entire novel.  A champion racer considered to be the best hypersled driver in the galaxy, Julian is introduced in The Infinite State as a naïve foreigner who doesn’t understand the true dangers of the Decurion Empire.  However, after some early scenes, Julian soon finds his survival tied into his success as a racer, as he gets caught up in certain political machinations.  Things get quite dark for Julian, especially when his personal secrets are uncovered, and you really get drawn into his continuous downward spiral.  Not only does Julian’s storyline have some impressive emotional depth, but I enjoyed how the character’s hypersled background referenced the political battles fought around foreign race-car drivers and the Olympics in Nazi Germany.  Swan’s portrayal of Julian’s trauma was so well written, and he ends up being the protagonist you most relate to as a result.

While most of the focus is understandably on the three perspective protagonists, I do need to mention the great supporting cast featured within The Infinite State, who add some interesting elements to each of the main storylines.  Swan does a great job of introducing these various characters through the eyes of the main protagonists, and there are some fascinating relationships that emerge as a result.  Highlights include Jaroslav Droor, the Decurion Empire’s propaganda minister, who appears to be manipulating many of the key plot points from the shadow.  A malevolent force in both Cyprian’s and Julian’s early storylines, Swan sets Droor up as a sinister Machiavellian figure with a hidden agenda, and it was so fun to see his dark machinations.  Another excellent supporting character is Cyprian’s young partner, Lang, an ambitious investigator with a romanticised view of Pater Aeternus and life in the Decurion Empire.  Thanks to his naivety and near-brainwashed personality, Lang soon becomes a problem for Cyprian, and his worse traits are only enhanced as the story continues.  These great supporting characters, and more, perfectly populate the crazy universe of The Infinite State, and it was fascinating to see their storylines unfold alongside the perspective protagonists.

As I mentioned above, I ended up checking out the audiobook version of The Infinite State, which proved to be an incredible way to enjoy this epic book, as it allowed listeners to really absorb the compelling details of the setting.  Thanks to its use of multiple narrators, The Infinite State audiobook perfectly tells Swan’s complex narrative, while also cleverly giving life to the three protagonists, as well as the compelling supporting cast.  The audiobook does a great job of splitting itself between its three narrators, with each of them taking over the chapters told from the perspective of one of the main protagonists. These narrators include Helen Keeley, who provides a powerful performance in the chapters told from the perspective of Katherine Fuller.  Not only does Keeley provide a refined voice to Fuller, capturing her grief, frustration and determination every step of the way, but she also provides some impressive voices for the various characters that Fuller interacts with, including multiple senior party members.  Another great performance was Chris Rowe, who voices the chapters from the perspective of Julian Yashego, the famous hypersled driver who experiences the dark side of the empire.  This requires Rowe to provide a lot of range, as his initial portrayals of a cocky and naïve athlete are soon tinged with despair.  Rowe does a great job of capturing the changing emotions of his main character, while also providing some terrifying and harsh voices to the dark people he encounters, especially Droor, who comes off as his most sinister here.

The final narrator I need to highlight is Nathaniel Priestley, who fans of Swan might recognise from his work with the author’s fantasy books, and who has another great performance providing the narration of the POV of Cyprian Reis.  Priestley unsurprisingly does an amazing job in The Infinite State, and I loved his take on the weary investigator and the dangerous people he encounters.  This includes a striking accent for Cyprian that fits the character perfectly and helps to enhance the rage and impatience in his voice as he is manipulated and threatened.  All three of these narrators are incredible in The Infinite State, and I enjoyed how their performances were spaced out through the audiobook.  This includes in some of the later chapters, where the quickfire change in perspectives from the three protagonists also includes changes in narrator.  It was also fun to hear the different narrators try to emulate the established character voices of their colleagues, such as when they try to match the accent Priestley gives to Cyprian with varying results.  Overall, I think these narrators brought out the best of The Infinite State and this was one of the more exceptional audiobooks of 2026, that I cannot recommend enough.

Richard Swan continues to showcase his ability to tell an incredible and addictive story, this time diving back into science fiction with The Infinite State.  A brilliant and incredible start to a compelling new series, The Infinite State had me hooked very early on, and I loved seeing the powerful journeys each of Swan’s complex characters took.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the next entry in this series, and I will be very keen to read the sequel in 2027.  In the meantime, I need to get my hands on Swan’s recently released Warhammer 40,000 novel, Voice of Command, which also sounds extremely cool.

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