What its about - the adventures of Tom Dreyfus, field prefect for the Panopoly. A sort of combined police, military, communications monopoly, traffic control and voting rights organization for the Glitter Band of Yellowstone. What the Panopoly does is safeguard the right of the Demarchist (democratic anarchist) citizens to vote in polls of the system. The penalties for tampering with the vote are harsh - entire space habitats are isolated physically and through the networks for years for tampering with voters' rights.
The novel opens with Dreyfus and his team of deputy field prefects doing just that at the habitat of House Perigal. From there, a glitch in the polling system is uncovered and an entirely separate habtitat has been destroyed with no survivors. Then the book really takes off.
The stakes for the novel are high - millions of lives are at stake. And the ideological consequences are high as well, with the possible destruction of the Demarchy and the betrayal of it by one of its guardians.
OK, this is revisit to Yellowstone from Chasm City and Revelation Space, Diamond Dogs and Turquoise as well as from short stories in Galactic North. Still, its an awful lot of fun. As readers we get to see the Glitter Band before it became the Rust Belt after the melding plague. Reynolds also throws around concepts that are a blast. Ubiquitous virtual reality (the inscape), how the demarchy works, the nonvelope and whip hounds (semi autonomous weapon systems that are a cross between a flexibody vehicle, a sharpened whip and a vibroblade). He also revisits the hyperpigs with Sparver Bancal, one of Dreyfus' deputies.
So, how is it? Pretty good. Its a fast read of the SF action genre with elements of conspiracy and police procedural thrown in. Dreyfus is a bit of an impossible to me - too idealistic, but what do I know? I honestly liked Sparver the hyperpig more and would have enjoyed seeing more from his viewpoint. I also would have liked to see more of the traitor, especially his being convinced to do what he does. Reynolds glosses that over, and rightly so since it took place years in the past. Still...
Anyway, fun book. Go read it. Enjoy it.
The novel opens with Dreyfus and his team of deputy field prefects doing just that at the habitat of House Perigal. From there, a glitch in the polling system is uncovered and an entirely separate habtitat has been destroyed with no survivors. Then the book really takes off.
The stakes for the novel are high - millions of lives are at stake. And the ideological consequences are high as well, with the possible destruction of the Demarchy and the betrayal of it by one of its guardians.
OK, this is revisit to Yellowstone from Chasm City and Revelation Space, Diamond Dogs and Turquoise as well as from short stories in Galactic North. Still, its an awful lot of fun. As readers we get to see the Glitter Band before it became the Rust Belt after the melding plague. Reynolds also throws around concepts that are a blast. Ubiquitous virtual reality (the inscape), how the demarchy works, the nonvelope and whip hounds (semi autonomous weapon systems that are a cross between a flexibody vehicle, a sharpened whip and a vibroblade). He also revisits the hyperpigs with Sparver Bancal, one of Dreyfus' deputies.
So, how is it? Pretty good. Its a fast read of the SF action genre with elements of conspiracy and police procedural thrown in. Dreyfus is a bit of an impossible to me - too idealistic, but what do I know? I honestly liked Sparver the hyperpig more and would have enjoyed seeing more from his viewpoint. I also would have liked to see more of the traitor, especially his being convinced to do what he does. Reynolds glosses that over, and rightly so since it took place years in the past. Still...
Anyway, fun book. Go read it. Enjoy it.
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