Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War: Amazon.ca: Tony Daniel: Books

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From Publishers Weekly

Hugo Award nominee Daniel (Earthling and Warpath) projects a complex, mind-stretching future in his third SF novel, a cross between Bruce Sterling and Doc Smith that teems with vivid characters and surprising action. A thousand years from now, humans use omnipresent nano-matter, "grist," to engineer nonhuman forms for themselves and house their disembodied electronic consciousnesses. Tension has developed between two centers of power. On one side are the inner planets, knit together by massive cables and ruled by a monomaniacal dictator who is sure he knows what's best for everyone. On the other are the inhabitants of the outer planets and the massive spaceships/beings that are beginning to visit the stars. This latter group values diversity and freedom, but decentralization puts it at a disadvantage when the dictator plots to gain total control. As the preparations toward a system-wide civil war gather momentum, the vocabulary and relationships that at first seemed confusing suddenly become simply part of the onrushing action. The novel's only real drawback is that it breaks off early in the war, just as the two sides have squared off against each other. Keeping any moralizing tendencies nicely in check, Daniel seems to want to create an epic vision of humanity. If he can finish the story with the intelligence and energy he shows here, he may achieve that goal. Agent, John Ware Literary Agency. (Apr. 20)Forecast: With first serial rights sold to Asimov's Magazine, a plug from Greg Bear and credentials that include producer of the Seeing Ear Theater for scifi.com and host of a monthly radio show on New York's WBAI, Daniel should reach readers hungry for challenging, sophisticated science fiction.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In a far future, humanity has achieved a society in which biological and artificial intelligence exist in symbiosis. When war breaks out between the human colonies of the inner planets and the inhabited regions on the edge of the solar system, the future of the human race depends on a select group of individuals whose varied skills hold the key to preventing disaster. The author of Earthling launches a panoramic tale of men and women engaged in a war that spans both virtual and normal realities and that calls into question the nature of human intelligence and the price of freedom. A strong choice for most sf collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

31 Reviews

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3.8 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Good ideas, poor execution, Sep 23 2003

By

Erik Schultz (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War (Mass Market Paperback)

This was one of those rare few books I couldn't get through, gave up 2/3 of the way in. The technological ideas in the book are teriffic. But the author contantly bounces around from viewpoint to viewpoint, from character to character, time period to time period, without letting you get to know, and therefore care about, any of them. For example, the characters in the introduction don't have even the slightest bearing on anything for the next several hundred pages, and quite frankly the book may have been more tolerable if those early chapters were completely axed. For that matter, much of the technology is presented as an entire chapter of asides that interrupt any flow the story would normally have had, had it not bounced around so much.

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4.0 out of 5 stars If you enjoy science fiction ..., May 20 2003

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H. Howe (Kuwait City, Kuwait) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War (Mass Market Paperback)

If you ask a gazillion people the same question about this book you'll run the gamut of broad characterizations to whiney nit-picking from self-aggrandized literary critics. For those of you who like a good science fiction novel, and who don't mind spending a few dozen pages figuring out what is what, the book is worth reading. Indeed, I'm back here only because I was looking to see if the next one was ready.

The book was a little over 500 pages, but could have easily been 1000. The author introduced a lot of interesting "what ifs" about the future and the story line kept you hooked once you got going. I don't know if I would recommend this to a casual SciFi reader, but if you enjoy SciFi for what it is - a good story of sufficient complexity without trying to nitpick it to death, then this book is worth your time.

For those of you who use these reviews to rant and rave about "it should have been done this way, or that isn't possible ..." all I can say is - get a life. It's a fricken book. Mr. Daniel, if you happen to read this, thank you for a good story and I'm looking forward to the next one. Feel free to make it 1000 pages, I like a good story to keep going :)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Hm..., April 14 2003

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J. McCarthy (NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book last July. I've read it six times since then. Frankly, I'm fascinated with it.

After reading the other reviews here, I see a few points that are salient: First, that the novel abruptly terminates without wrapping up any loose ends. Unfortunately, it does, but this book was intended to have a companion piece--think Metaplanetary, parts I and II. And a novel on this scale naturally takes a while to write--on the order of three or four years, at least. Second, the lengthy and haphazardly-placed explanations of several fundamental aspects of this society (i.e., the origins of grist, the founding of the society of cloudships, etc.). A few people said that because of this, the novel gives one the impression of being thrown into society with vernacular that's more or less incomprehensible by modern standards. Perhaps so, but if one simply reads the reviews or blurb on the back of the book, it actually mentions the nanotechnological artificial intelligences on which the whole struggle is based. Starting the book with that context in mind may help. Third, the hard-to-follow dissemination of characters. I agree on this point--sometimes, it's difficult to tell who's speaking at what point, but when you contemplate a novel that has a conceptual framework spanning the solar system, a single character is extraordinarily limited. And fourth, the one-dimensionality of the villain. I do agree on this point, but it's only because Ames is a true psychopath--singleminded, relatively emotionless, ambitious, and goal-oriented to the exclusion of everything else. How do you show the "good" side of a villain that doesn't have one?

More or less to wrap up: read the book yourself. Whether or not you're confused or irritated, at least you're not bored.

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