Divisions [Paperback]

Ken MacLeod accomplishes something extraordinary with "The Fall Revolution" ("Divisions" comprises the final two novels of the four-part series, "The Cassini Division " and "The Sky Road." The first two novels are collected as "Fractions."). MacLeod delights in smashing worlds and leaping through wormholes, but never loses his connection to a finely wrought collection of compelling characters who make appearances in some or all of these novels. Whether MacLeod is following a headstrong, super competent star ship commander (one of MacLeod's many strong female characters), or the diabolical but affable strongman of New Mars, MacLeod really cares about his characters, and the reader is compelled to think seriously about each person's (or robot's) point of view.

In "The Cassini Division," we follow the adventures of Ellen May, as she dickers with super-evolved, post-human Jovian intelligences, and follows her destiny through the Malley Mile (a wormhole that delivers her to the New Mars that we first encountered in "The Stone Canal"). MacLeod gets to play with space opera cliches while guiding the reader through some serious investigations into the nature of artificial intelligence, human consciousness, and the allure (and dangers) of the Singularity.

In "The Sky Road," MacLeod manages through some sleight of hand to take us to an alternate reality, a post-nuclear future where the "outsiders" are not who you think they are. Britain has suffered through spasms of ideological struggle and the effects of nuclear conflict (as well as the onslaught of computer viruses that seem to spell the end of civilization). Out of the rubble, the citizens of a small Scottish town are building a starship using some of the same skills that launched iron steamships like the Titanic (but presumably with better materials). The hero, a student of history moonlighting as an apprentice welder, takes up with a glamorous "tinker," but he finds himself in hot water as his dalliance with the tinkers threatens to make him an outcast not only among his fellow workers but at the university as well. MacLeod switches back and forth between a late 21st century saga of nuclear deterrence and a new Mongol horde, and a far future where echoes of orbital nukes and fiendish artificial intelligences still reverberate. Amazingly, MacLeod is able to wrap up a lot of loose ends from the three preceding novels in a satisfying way, while exploring human relationships, love, rivalry, and nuclear power politics.

Each of these novels can stand on its own, but for the greatest effect, read "Fractions" and "Divisions" together. Ken MacLeod will not disappoint.

Casini Division. By the twenty-fourth century technology has changed many humans into almost Gods. However, a dispute between the humans and the post-humans devastate the planet. The post-humans move off planet but hostilities remain high as a cold war continues though most of the open hostiles have somewhat abated. In that climate, the Casini Division that protects earth plans an assault to eradicate the Post-humans who pose a threat from space. Spaceship Commander Ellen May Ngewthu of the Casini Division seeks an alliance with the interstellar colony New Mars before the post-humans can do so.

Sky Road. In the twentieth century former Communist American expatriate Myra Godwin-Davidova leads her tiny high-tech socialist paradise while others want to conquer it. Her only hope to protect her people lies in obsolete nuclear weapons hidden years ago in the planet's Earth orbit. Several centuries later Clovis colha Gree lives in a utopian world in which violence is non existent; the rustic community fears electronic devices as they remember what happened during the Fall that some insist it was the Deliverance. Now the scientific tinkers are constructing a controversial spaceship; the first since Maya had to decide nuclear war or not.

This is a reprint of the "The Second Half of The Fall Revolution" published in the mid 1990s. Each entry is fast-paced, but focuses on a dismal future for mankind that is cleverly tied back to the politics of the late twentieth century although some might detest the clearly Anti-American stance. The tales are well written with the military battles in space incredibly vivid and the key cast members coming across as fully developed. Although it pays to at least read THE STONE CANAL before this pair of novels, fans will appreciate the dark science fiction thrillers CASINI DIVISION and SKY ROAD.

Harriet Klausner

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars