Satisfying as a novel, anxiety-inducing as a comment on our society.
Older wraps up her trilogy of near-future thrillers (Null States, 2017, etc.) that focus on the influence of news on politics.
Five years after the last election, micro-democracy—a global system in which every centenal, or area of 100,000 people, votes on a policy-based, not location-based, governing party—is once again under threat as a new election looms. Micro-democracy is operated by Information, an organization which both manages the communication infrastructure and disseminates all data, gathered through constant surveillance and analysis. Attacks on Information data transfer stations, the disappearance of many Information employees (probably to null states outside of the micro-democratic system), a newly discovered underground tunnel of unknown purpose, strangely targeted election ads, and a rising tide of locally sourced data suggest that one or more factions are plotting to overthrow or at least compete with the monolithic Information. Various characters affiliated with Information—Maryam, a “techie”; Mishima, an assassin and spy–turned–reluctant politician; Mishima’s inexperienced but game new assistant, Amran; and the heavily pregnant analyst Roz—seek the source of these incidents. In the process, they wonder: Can Information be saved? And more importantly, should Information be saved? As in the previous two entries, Older here grapples directly and clearly with contemporary issues while tying up the loose ends in a believable way. The novel asks the questions we need to ask today—how do we know a source of information (small-i) is telling us the truth? Is it safer to believe a larger, more established, but possibly hidebound and biased organization or a smaller, more nimble group that might be more sensitive to local context and concerns but almost certainly also has its own agenda?—but doesn’t pretend to answer them. At least Older’s world shows one significant advance: Many of the major players are women and are a fairly diverse group overall.
Satisfying as a novel, anxiety-inducing as a comment on our society.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7653-9947-2
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga.
Brown completes his science-fiction trilogy with another intricately plotted and densely populated tome, this one continuing the focus on a rebellion against the imperious Golds.
This last volume is incomprehensible without reference to the first two. Briefly, Darrow of Lykos, aka Reaper, has been “carved” from his status as a Red (the lowest class) into a Gold. This allows him to infiltrate the Gold political infrastructure…but a game’s afoot, and at the beginning of the third volume, Darrow finds himself isolated and imprisoned for his insurgent activities. He longs both for rescue and for revenge, and eventually he gets both. Brown is an expert at creating violent set pieces whose cartoonish aspects (“ ‘Waste ’em,’ Sevro says with a sneer” ) are undermined by the graphic intensity of the savagery, with razors being a favored instrument of combat. Brown creates an alternative universe that is multilayered and seething with characters who exist in a shadow world between history and myth, much as in Frank Herbert’s Dune. This world is vaguely Teutonic/Scandinavian (with characters such as Magnus, Ragnar, and the Valkyrie) and vaguely Roman (Octavia, Romulus, Cassius) but ultimately wholly eclectic. At the center are Darrow, his lover, Mustang, and the political and military action of the Uprising. Loyalties are conflicted, confusing, and malleable. Along the way we see Darrow become more heroic and daring and Mustang, more charismatic and unswerving, both agents of good in a battle against forces of corruption and domination. Among Darrow’s insights as he works his way to a position of ascendancy is that “as we pretend to be brave, we become so.”
An ambitious and satisfying conclusion to a monumental saga.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-345-53984-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
For those who like their science fiction dense, monumental, and a bit overwrought.
Brown is back with Book 4 of his Red Rising series (Morning Star, 2016, etc.) and explores familiar themes of rebellion, revenge, and political instability.
This novel examines the ramifications and pitfalls of trying to build a new world out of the ashes of the old. The events here take place 10 years after the conclusion of Morning Star, which ended on a seemingly positive note. Darrow, aka Reaper, and his lover, Virginia au Augustus, aka Mustang, had vanquished the Golds, the elite ruling class, so hope was held out that a new order would arise. But in the new book it becomes clear that the concept of political order is tenuous at best, for Darrow’s first thoughts are on the forces of violence and chaos he has unleashed: “famines and genocide...piracy...terrorism, radiation sickness and disease...and the one hundred million lives lost in my [nuclear] war.” Readers familiar with the previous trilogy—and you'll have to be if you want to understand the current novel—will welcome a familiar cast of characters, including Mustang, Sevro (Darrow’s friend and fellow warrior), and Lysander (grandson of the Sovereign). Readers will also find familiarity in Brown’s idiosyncratic naming system (Cassius au Bellona, Octavia au Lune) and even in his vocabulary for cursing (“Goryhell,” “Bloodydamn,” “Slag that”). Brown introduces a number of new characters, including 18-year-old Lyria, a survivor of the initial Rising who gives a fresh perspective on the violence of the new war—and violence is indeed never far away from the world Brown creates. (He includes one particularly gruesome gladiatorial combat between Cassius and a host of enemies.) Brown imparts an epic quality to the events in part by his use of names. It’s impossible to ignore the weighty connotations of characters when they sport names like Bellerephon, Diomedes, Dido, and Apollonius.
For those who like their science fiction dense, monumental, and a bit overwrought.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-425-28591-6
Page Count: 624
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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