Synopsis
On Earth the Russians have conquered Europe, and man has reached the asteroids.
Somewhere else, Man is trying to decide how a squid works and what they have to do with space.
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The copy I have has the inscription 'Prose sleek and as fast as the technology it describes' attributed to the book by Peter Hamilton, which is somewhat degrading to Hamilton's work. It is not particularly fast paced.
However in a world of really dull modern Sci/Fi this has the benefit of at least being well told and interesting to read!
The story is actually two stories interlaced, but there is no link between the two until the final three chapters, which is really conusing: What the hell has a computer management specialist in the backstreets of Edinburgh got to do with a marine biologist on some primitive planet?
SPOLIERS FROM HERE ON
But there are niggles that aren't helpful. Macleod's vision of the near future Earth is a little depressing. We are all going to live in a world of virtual people, wearing virtual reality glasses. America continues on its own merry little way, making it all but incompatible with everybody else (there's new). Given that how do people know they really exist?
Later on it becomes apparent that something has a grand design for humans. What that idea is, or who they are is never explained. Merely that they have some idea of stranding a small number of humans on a backwoods planet so they can pay squids to take them planet hoping at some distant point in the future.
These same strange beings also had the brilliant wheeze of granting the original Earth crew the curse of eternal life. Again there is no apparent reason, except it gives the Marine Biologist the opportunity to ask one of the original crew how to drive between planets thousands of years later
On Earth the Russians have conquered Europe, and man has reached the asteroids.
Somewhere else, Man is trying to decide how a squid works and what they have to do with space.
------------------------------------------------------
The copy I have has the inscription 'Prose sleek and as fast as the technology it describes' attributed to the book by Peter Hamilton, which is somewhat degrading to Hamilton's work. It is not particularly fast paced.
However in a world of really dull modern Sci/Fi this has the benefit of at least being well told and interesting to read!
The story is actually two stories interlaced, but there is no link between the two until the final three chapters, which is really conusing: What the hell has a computer management specialist in the backstreets of Edinburgh got to do with a marine biologist on some primitive planet?
SPOLIERS FROM HERE ON
But there are niggles that aren't helpful. Macleod's vision of the near future Earth is a little depressing. We are all going to live in a world of virtual people, wearing virtual reality glasses. America continues on its own merry little way, making it all but incompatible with everybody else (there's new). Given that how do people know they really exist?
Later on it becomes apparent that something has a grand design for humans. What that idea is, or who they are is never explained. Merely that they have some idea of stranding a small number of humans on a backwoods planet so they can pay squids to take them planet hoping at some distant point in the future.
These same strange beings also had the brilliant wheeze of granting the original Earth crew the curse of eternal life. Again there is no apparent reason, except it gives the Marine Biologist the opportunity to ask one of the original crew how to drive between planets thousands of years later
