Ken Mcleod - The Cassini Division

[Tabitha]

Picked this one up from the library a few weeks ago. I found it to be fairly entertaining, and very interesting from a social and political aspect - the future is apparently a confirmed communist state, although some capitalists survive outside of society in pockets of "non-co's". Added to this this social dimension there was some very confusing mathematical ideas about wormholes (never my strongest point), and an interesting line in "future history" - i.e. long discussions of what had happened since the twentieth century, and why.

The superlative comments from authors such as Iain M Banks were not followed through. The heroes were very ambiguous, and not particularly sympathetic. The story was quite interesting, but it took a while to get ahold of it, there was little to really drag one in. Anyone else read it? Or any other Mcleod work?

The pretty artwork on his covers might seduce me into picking up another one, but I can't really think of another good reason to be honest...

Amazon.co.uk Review
With his third novel, Ken MacLeod elaborates further on the future timeline of his first two, The Star Fraction (1995) and The Stone Canal (1996). Most relevant is book two, which established a colony on the remote world New Mars via a spatial wormhole created by superhumans--transcendent machine-hosted intelligences called the "fast-folk". The original fast-folk crashed from too much contemplation of their metaphorical navels, but their descendants on Jupiter still harass Earth with virus transmissions that have killed off computers and the Internet. Enter black heroine Ellen May Ngwethu of the Cassini Division, an elite space-going force created to defend against the fast- folk. Her wild doings in the 24th century's anarcho-socialist utopia make for fun reading-- everyone will covet her smart-matter clothing that can become a spacesuit, combat outfit, evening gown or satellite dish at will. But Ellen's and the Division's political philosophy is brutally tough, with alarming plans to use a planet-wrecking doomsday weapon against "enemies" who may not in fact be hostile. In a climax of slam-bang space battle, MacLeod crashes the ongoing ethical debate into a brick wall and leaves you gasping. Witty, skilful, provocative, and just a trifle too glibly resolved. --David Langford

IAIN M. BANKS
'This man's going to be a major writer.'

 

[rde]

I think you're being a little unfair; I've only read McLeod's first three books, and of those three this is my favourite. The ambiguity of the protagonists was, IMO, one of its strong points; one of the reasons I gave up reading fantasy is that it was all Gandalf vs. Sauron; absoute good vs. absolute evil (if I may digress on that point: read what David Brin has to say about Sauron at http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/12/17/tolkien_brin/index.html . Very enlightening).

If you didn't like McLeod, what did you Think of Iain Banks?

 

[Tabitha]

Ok, I just re-read my short opinion on the book above, and the thing is, i did like McLeod's writing quite a lot, and the ambiguity of the characters was largely a good thing - I am not that much of a fan of purely good or evil stereotypes. My problem was that he didn't give us enough backstory. The characters were ambiguous because you couldn't quite figure out their motivations - would it be possible to have us figure out what makes a character tick without losing all the ambiguity? I don't know, but I just felt there was something lacking.
I also really liked the social and political background - it felt quite real, but again there just wasn't enough detail, all mention of the past was glossed over quite quickly and seemed different in each mention. Maybe it is my background as a historian that caused my frustration on the point.

Over the holiday period I did pick up another McLeod book, The Sky Road, and I enjoyed it a lot more than Cassini. Perhaps once I had some familiarity with McLeod's universe under my belt I was able to relax and enjoy the narrative without being distracted by trying to figure out what was happening in the background.

As for Iain M Banks - I love his work, both his science fiction and non-sf. Easily my favourite sf writer after Dick and perhaps Heinlein.
I haven't read much Banks for a while, but I do plan to re-read some of my old favourites (esp. Use of Weapons) when I get the chance.