Eco - political , frantic , and undeniably epical , Paul McAuley ’s latest novel The Quiet War was nominated for a Clarke this year . It ’s time to check out this heavy skill tale of gene wizards and posthuman separatists .
What is forthwith and consistently engaging about The Quiet War is McAuley ’s ability to turn the hard science of bioengineering and synthetic ecosystem into the hooey of storytelling awesomeness . loath zep Macy is a scrappy filth engineer who has been given a dream assignment on Jupiter ’s moon Callisto . Brilliant at putting together the perfect compounding of bacteria and chemical to make topsoils , she ’s been recruited by a offer squad of eco - engineers who are build a unexampled domed habitat there .
As we plunge into her geeky employment with carbon copy captures and cistron expression , we learn quickly that the novel is set in a hereafter where Earth has suffered a catastrophic environmental crash . As a outcome , its governments have become arch conservatives devoted entirely to ecosystem stability . One of the most powerful governments is that of Greater Brazil , where Macy grow up into a political macrocosm that resembles a Mafia family more than a democracy . The citizens are harness by great families who own the the great unwashed who mold for them and offer special privilege to those who are “ consanguinous , ” or tie to the menage by blood .
While Earth ’s cultivation curdles , its colony bloom . young development in synthetic biology have allowed millions of the great unwashed to relocate offworld , move outward to the moons of Saturn and Jupiter ( Mars has been destroyed in a state of war ) . lead by cultivation hero and “ gene wizard ” Avernus , the Outers have produce perfect biosystems within their noggin , cover vacuum crops that can leech necessary ingredient from the moons ’ soil and sea and chalk . They live in Enceladus ’ underground oceans , set their crop on the shoulders of asteroid impacts , and grow gardens deep in the clouds of Saturn .
When McAuley is describing the astonishing environments where the Outers live , staring with exotic flora , he ’s at his hang glide best . He ’s created a worldly concern that find scientifically plausible , and infuses it with a sense of actual marvel . In heart , he ’s built the perfect mount for a quest narrative which rambles across staggering lands that lead to something unimaginable . Unfortunately , however , McAuley is n’t interested in quests . This novel is about warfare and espionage .
Do n’t get me incorrect – I love warfare and espionage . And I think the political backdrop for The Quiet War makes right kindling for a organisation - wide-cut blowup when an authoritarian Earth grows wary of the libertarian Outers . But despite intriguing characters like Macy , and a tragic bio - mastermind terrorist named Dave , McAuley just is n’t able to win over us that his war make good sense .
To be fair , this is partly because his message is that war is absurd . When Greater Brazil bug out air combat ship into sphere around central moons of Jupiter and Saturn as a sort of warning to the Outers , the out groups go nuts ( specially a city name Paris – fable much ? ) . They become paranoid and go forth threats . But then Brazil , which seems to need war really badly for reason that are never genuinely explained beyond “ those Outers just seem plumb dissimilar from us , ” respond with assassination and more warships . At the bottom of the anti - Outer hate is nothing more than ideology : the great unwashed from Earth adoration nature , and execrate the estimate that the Outers are mutating nature and their own organic structure in rules of order to adapt to their raw environments . Again , I think McAuley ’s spot is well - take : Many war are begun over ideologic difference even more daft than these .
When key personnel department on her Callisto bonce project are killed , Macy becomes a defendant amid growing tensions and has to flee from one weird lunar month metropolis to another . Here , again , McAuley shows off his metier : He offers pitch - perfect vignettes of small , quarantined communities devoted to unearthly , combust Man - style ideals like new age therapy or YouTube art . Everywhere Macy pass , she ’s startled by people who are immortalise her every move on video and posting it to the crazy , omnipresent net the Outers adore ( back on Earth , where the governments are more tyrannic , there is no social media – only top - down propaganda ) . She meets separatist who trust they are carrying out parliamentary law from their succeeding ego , and a precious venturer with a pink spaceship call Elephant .
No matter where she winds up , however , Macy manages to find oneself employment as a soil engineer , help to work up fresh habitats on the Moon where humanity is acquire into something new – and yet something very familiar . Dogged by a petty Brazilian bureaucrat , and aided by the mysterious Avernus , Macy carry off to live the bad of the conflict .
It sounds odd to say this about such a foresighted novel , but The Quiet War leaves you wishing for more . Not more story as in “ give me twenty sequels , ” but just more of Macy ’s human side to the story in this war that has swept her up against her will . Intead , McAuley tries to give us the gravid position , bringing in politicians and spy and counter - spies as well as an evil foil to the gene wizard Avernus – a woman called Sri whose cruelty and motivation are never satisfactorily explained .
Though flawed , The Quiet War makes you want more on the nose because there ’s so much hope in its primary fictional character and setting . McAuley makes science unbelievably exciting , and you ’ll have his weird images and ideas in your head for day after you put the book down . War may not have been the good plot of ground equipment to get this story in movement , but the vacuum organisms and communes on Uranus make this a novel well worth your metre .
If you ’re in the States and want to get your mitts on this book , do n’t fret . Pyr is impart out a US edition after this twelvemonth .
The Quiet Warvia Amazon
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