The Stone Canal

The Fall Revolution #2

by Ken MacLeod

"So it's true what they say: information wants to be free!" But the information in question, in this case, is Dee Model, a sexy, butt-kicking, love-slave android who's just mysteriously become self-aware, eluded her owner, and filed for her own autonomy. And the person making the remark (ironic given that it's a centuries-old reference) is Ax Terminal, a "freelance professional eunuch and part-time catamite," a resident of New Mars, the wormhole-away-from-Jupiter free-market anarchy set up thanks to the fast-folk, an uploaded race of überhumans experiencing reality and evolving at ultrahigh speeds. Android Dee, as it turns out, may have been nudged toward freedom by Jon Wilde, her cloned body's former husband (they met at Glasgow University back in the '70s), who just recently came back from the dead (revived by himself, in robot form) to join in the struggle between robot abolitionists and the malicious boss man of New Mars, David Reid (Wilde's former rival and owner of the sex slave that happens to be a cloned copy of Wilde's former wife). Now this is what great science fiction is all about.

Action-packed, inventive, and satisfyingly weird, Ken MacLeod's Stone Canal (the retroactively U.S.-released prequel to The Cassini Division) lets loose with a steady stream of challenging ideas and novel technology, taking on questions of free will, identity, and the nature of consciousness, all the while telling a bang-up story. Reminiscent of K.W. Jeter's best work, The Stone Canal certainly deserves a look. --Paul Hughes

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Politics, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Ken MacLeod is an award-winning Scottish science fiction writer.

His novels have won the Prometheus Award and the BSFA award, and been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He lives near Edinburgh, Scotland.

MacLeod graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics.

His novels often explore socialist, communist and anarchist political ideas, most particularly the variants of Trotskyism and anarcho-capitalism or extreme economic libertarianism.

Technical themes encompass singularities, divergent human cultural evolution and post-human cyborg-resurrection.

Reviews

[Pearce Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros: Original, quality writing, with an eye for detail and a driving story arc
Cons: None whatsoever

"The Stone Canal" takes place in the same future universe Mr.MacLeod's previous novels have described: a post-Singularity Solar System infested with uploaded 'Fast Folk,' anarcho-capitalist escaped slaves in their extra-solar breakaway republic, Marxist mercenaries and orbital armies protecting the nano-technological 'climax community' utopia that Earth has become . . .

I won't give away the plot. As with all his books to date, the story line is delightfully unpredictable (even though the broader details have become as familiar to his readers as the inevitability of a Greek tragedy). As with his other titles, 'The Stone Canal' is an almost punnish reference to one of Mr. McLeod;s scientific and/or political in-jokes; in this case, a reference to the quasi-organic structure of ShipCity on New Mars, where the novel takes place.

Reviewers have noted that Mr. McLeod is well read, but they haven't gone far enough. There are so many off-handed references to so many sources in his work, that you would have to go back to Joyce or Robert Anton Wilson to find another writer that is as densely layered and detailed, or so rewards the reader's devoted attention..

This is cyberpunk, or even post-cyberpunk. It is unique, original, and literary in the quality of writing. The story is fast-paced enough to satisfy the need for a quick, easy read. Yet, if you let it, you could easily be sucked in to this kaleidoscope of ideas for many pleasant hours.

* * *

Pearce Hansen is the author of STREET RAISED, now available for the Kindle

[Tomislav · Rating 5 out of 5]

31 December 2008 – *****. This is the second novel in the Fall Revolution series, although it is not strictly a sequential series. The books are:
#1 The Star Fraction (1995) - Prometheus Award winner 1996.
#2 The Stone Canal (1996) - Prometheus Award winner 1998.
#3 The Cassini Division (1998) – Nebula Award nominee 1999.
#4 The Sky Road (1999) – British SF Award winner 1999.

Ken Macleod's books are densely packed, intelligent, and political. His are among the few books for which I keep a dictionary handy while reading. The Stone Canal expands the universe of his previous The Star Fraction both before and later in time. The book begins with the Jonathan Wilde's unexpected awakening after being killed on Earth, on the unexpected planet of New Mars. Events are then told in two parallel story lines. The first begins in 1970s Scotland, where Jon is a political activist, meeting the woman who will become his wife and the friend who will become his rival. That storyline moves up through the Fall Revolution itself (in which The Star Fraction is set) and eventually out into Jovian space and then on to New Mars over the subsequent century. The second story line follows the re-awakened Jon as he discovers the libertarian machine/human culture of New Mars, and the events which have occurred in the Solar System and on New Mars during his absence. The fun is in connecting the people and events of the two story lines across their personal transformations and a transformation of humanity and artificial intelligences through space and time. Science fiction newbies may find the concepts excessively challenging, but I think this novel is well worth a little extra effort.

[Kelsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had some trouble finishing the first book in the series but still had high hopes for this one, and it more than exceeded my expectations. It feels like the author really fixed a lot of issues with pacing and character development that made the first book harder to read. This is still an incredibly dense book full of tons of ideas, but it's done very well and the characters are so much more sympathetic that I felt very invested in their journey and finding out what happens to them. There's also a really interesting stylistic choice where there are a few chapters in first person perspective. I generally dislike first person perspective, but I even thought that these chapters were well done and added a lot of depth to the main story.

Overall, this was just a really fantastic read and gave a lot of context for events that happen in the first book. I can imagine that re-reading the first book might be a better experience after having finished the series, so we'll see if I decide to do that later. :3

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt this was a much stronger book than the first one in this series, The Star Fraction in that the characters were more interesting and the opposition between them was more tangible. There are some great post-Singularity ideas here and the ideas and tech were well-done as well. I have high hopes for the last two books of this series, The Cassini Division and The Sky Road.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to remember that this was written in 1996, when we were admiring Netscape 1.0; indeed it was probably written in 1995. I liked some of McLeod's later works more, which is to be expected.

There are some interesting ideas here about humanity, robots, soul, etc. but for me they were lost in a sludgy plot.

So ... is Reid totally evil, or a decent guy who's a tad paranoid, or evil-but-later-not, or what?

I prepared to lose my suspension of disbelief when the book droned on about radical anarcho-marxist libertarian publishing cadres and OH SHUT UP AND GET ON WITH IT.

I first wrote "it appears that it shouldn't make a lot of difference that I haven't read volume 1," but on checking I see that I did read most of it, but bailed out after an overdose of the political stuff that is repeated here.

I did lose the suspension of disbelief when it became apparent that Wilde's political postings somehow slid him with a hop, a skip, a jump and a lot of handwaving into the leader of a sudden blossoming of a nearly-buried space program into a megaforce that's building wormholes and using nanobots. It felt a bit like Og the chiseler of stone newsmagazines suddenly being responsible for interstate freeways and hybrid self-driving cars.

Anyway, we move on, and we have copies of minds here, and body templates there, and at some point did we have four copies of Wilde, or was it five? And, as do so many books that use cloning and mind-transfer, this one got lost in the swamp. I found I didn't much care who was who anymore.

The whole courtroom scene was going well, then became baffling, with Reid alternating between sane and crazy, and all sorts of stuff happening at once, and then all mostly going pfffft in the end.

We keep meeting Reid again, and each time we wonder if he's going to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld, or a madman, or just Jon's old buddy who's still OK but not quite to be trusted - or will he be something else this time?

There's an ending, sort of, and one of the Wildes seems to have sorted things out. Annette was obviously very important, for about 200 pages, and then she wasn't. The rest of the Wilde copies? I dunno. Dee and Ax? Dunno, they made a cameo at the end of pffft.

Lots of good ideas in a not-so-great frame.

[Zéro Janvier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Star Fraction, le premier tome du cycle "Fall Revolution", m'avait séduit par son univers et notamment son approche de modèles politiques et sociaux alternatifs. Par contre, le récit ne m'avait pas totalement emballé, j'avais eu l'impression de lire un récit qui n'était pas totalement à la hauteur du décor dans lequel il se déroulait. Avec ce deuxième volume, Ken MacLeod a totalement résolu cette difficulté.

L'auteur étend son univers et les problématiques qu'il aborde, ici l'intelligence artificielle, le clonage et la vie après la mort. Il le fait à travers une intrigue captivante du début à la fin et des personnages que l'on prend plaisir à suivre. J'ai particulièrement aimé l'alternance entre des chapitres se déroulant dans un futur lointain et ceux qui sont des flashbacks se déroulant, pour nous lecteurs contemporains, dans le passé ou un futur relativement proche, entre les années 1970 et le courant du XXIe siècle.

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman, qui accomplit le potentiel que je devinais dans le premier tome malgré ses défauts. Ken MacLeod propose ici de la grande science-fiction, inventive et intelligente.

[Chris Starr]

I want the time I spent reading this back

Just not worth the time it took to read it. I kept on hoping for redemption of the plot, but the end feels like it was just hurriedly put together to wrap things up and is totally lacking of any satisfaction.

[Anatoly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stuff happened. More stuff happened. Somewhat more interesting stuff happened near the end. But what was the book about? I found it hard to figure that out.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Wilde and David Reid are toiling amid the anarcho-syndicalist politics of the Scottish working class. Both have similar ideologies but different motivations and when Jon is killed during a strange revolution he is astonished to wake up by the banks of a stone canal on New Mars, orbiting a star far from Earth. Told in alternating chapters from their political roots in the 20th century to their rivalry in the 25th, Ken Macleod has given us a political SF novel in a genre whose only other occupant seems to be Iain M. Banks! The interplay between the fast folk (strong AI and self-aware macros) and the slow folk (enhanced humans) on New Mars and back through the wormhole around Jupiter, is a story of power and civil rights, and the fear that the Singularity might bring to flesh and blood intelligences. The action really heats up (as do the explanations) in the last quarter of the book and it is a fascinating read.

[prcardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storyline: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 5/5

What a tremendous improvement over the first in the series, The Star Fraction.

Unlike the founding book of the Fall Revolution tetralogy, MacLeod had answers for my mental objections and criticisms. Stop throwing out proper noun "isms" and show us what Libertarianism means in your world. -"Okay." MacLeod gets right to that by plotting out such examples as private sector nuclear deterrence. Please, please give us some chronology and orientation so we can situate ourselves.. -"Alright," says our author, as he synchronizes the two or three timelines; "I'll do that." You've got a lot of explaining to do if this world is going to make sense. -"Yes I do," our author admits. "I'm just getting to explaining why all those details and clues are significant."

This one gives that needed information to make the first one coherent, and The Star Fraction is better now for this second installation. I probably was not the target audience for the book. I've read Marx and Stirner, but as a mainstream American living in the 21st century, my motivation was historical rather than for any ideological ownership. After Lenin, I entirely skipped over the Soviet schisms and leaders - haven't read a word of Trotsky - and am more aware of the ideational trajectory through the likes of laymen such as Heinlein or Rand. I think MacLeod was writing for political radicals who lived and breathed this stuff - aware of every discussion, debate, and refinement. That said, MacLeod gives enough for we mere dabblers to grab onto and follow. I particularly valued that this was speculative fiction rather than a disguised manifesto. Although MacLeod is definitely advocating his political preferences, the future in which they are present is hardly a utopia. In fact, much of this is very dystopian, and there are some excellent portrayals of the crises of compromising one's principles for pragmatism, of the pitfalls of the pursuits of ideals. It was also superb science fiction. Great technology and the concomitant possibilities. If it hadn't been for the worldbuilding as mystery-revelation, the gratuitous S&M, anthropomorphic virtual sex and other grimy transhuman baggage, I just might have loved this. So I'm left having simply enjoyed it immensely and enthusiastically looking forward to the remaining two in the series.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in December 2000.

The two interlocking narratives which make up The Stone Canal concern libertarian anarchist Jonathan Wilde. The earlier chronologically starts when he is a student at Glasgow University in the 1970s, and basically deals with his gradual development into a political guru as Western capitalism begins to fall apart in the twenty first century. The other narrative is set in the far future, when a clone of Jonathan Wilde is given his memories, copied from a computer copy of his brain. This provides one of the best first lines of any science fiction novel: "He woke, and remembered dying".

For most of the novel, the two stories of Jonathan Wilde are basically independent, and while this is the case they are both top class pieces of science fiction. The story of his early days is believable, with the trends producing the changes he witnesses in the way the world works easy to see. His character is very well done indeed. The far future story is atmospheric, the rather bewildered revived Jonathan being recognisably the same person rather more sketchily drawn (as characterisation makes way for background). He makes occasionally anachronistic jokes, meaningless to the people that he meets but drawing in the reader who shares his late twentieth century background.

The ending, where the two strands of Jonathan Wilde's life are drawn together, is the most disappointing part of The Stone Canal. It feels rather on the abrupt side and perhaps would have benefited from being extended. It answers the questions raised by the rest of the novel, but not really in an interesting way. It feels as though MacLeod has been attempting to convince the reader that he has something to say, but that when it comes down to it, he hasn't. Potentially interesting issues are raised - the nature of the relationship between a person and a machine-held copy of their mind, for example - without being explored.

The excellence of the main part of the novel encourages me to read more Ken MacLeod, and the disappointment of the ending is not enough to put me off doing so.

[Dokusha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zu Beginn hat mich der Stil dieses Buches etwas verwirrt, aber nach einer Weile hatte ich mich hineingelesen, und danach gefiel es mir deutlich besser.
Eines der vorherrschenden Themen der Geschichte ist die Auseinandersetzung mit künstlichen Intelligenzen, und inwiefern diese als echte Individuen angesehen werden müssen oder können.
Daneben geht es um die Entwicklung auf der Erde in technischer und politischer Hinsicht (das Buch hat hier eine Erzählperspektive von Jahrhunderten) sowie um die Geschehnisse auf dem "Neuen Mars", einer Kolonie der Menschen (und Maschinen, siehe vorherigen Absatz) auf einem fernen Planeten, der über ein selbstgebautes Wurmloch erreicht wurde.
Die Geschichte wird alternierend erzählt: Kapitel, die in der Gegenwart auf dem neuen Mars spielen, wechseln ab mit einer Retrospektive, die Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts einsetzt und allmählich schildert, wie die aktuelle Situation entstanden ist. Das Ganze auf eine durchaus ansprechende Art und Weise (jedenfalls nach den ersten Seiten, die man zur Eingewöhnung braucht). Die Story ist lesenswert und hat auch einige Ansätze zum weiteren Nachdenken - die moralischen Zeigefinger werden aber nicht gehoben, jedenfalls nicht aufdringlich, und die Geschichte ist auch als solche gut zu lesen.
Erst nach der Lektüre stellte ich fest, daß dies eigentlich eine Art Fortsetzung des Buches "Sternenprogramm" ist, das einen Teil der Vergangenheit dieser Geschichte näher erläutert. Wer beide hat, sollte vielleicht "Sternenprogramm" zuerst lesen - nötig ist es nicht, die "Mars-Stadt" ist auch als Sololektüre geeignet.

[Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before reviewing Stone Canal, I have to confess that I really disliked Star Faction, its prequel. The nuances of political ideologies and their almost ridiculous preeminence in his character portraits deeply distract me from the fabulous concepts he can bring to his stories. In Stone Canal, I found the beginning almost unbearable - an exploration of early friendship and political ideologies (socialism, libertarianism, etc.) of the main characters. As the novel progresses, however, these shallow conversations drop away and let the narrative take over. I can't say I like any of his characters, in this novel or the last, but he crafts a fascinating future of human/artificial-intelligence civilization. The second half of the book picks up the plot pace and resolves very satisfyingly. Along the way, he explores a complex relationship between artificial beings and humans that he reveals like peeling layers of an onion. I am reminded of Ian M. Banks's Company novels, but instead of a post-scarcity, galactic civilization where artificial intelligences (minds) benignly guide lesser beings, McLeod's near future is a chaotic, messy balance of interdependence and self-preservation. I hope that his later books (Stone Canal and Star Faction are the first two, I believe) go more in this direction.

[EmBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weiter unten steht meine Rezension, die ich schrieb, als der Roman frisch auf dem Buchmarkt war. Ich war inspiriert von diesem sehr interessanten Roman, der von gesellschaftliche Veränderungen erzählt, die hochaktuell sind:
„Er erwachte mit Erinnerungen an seinen Tod.“ Der hier zu Beginn des Romans erwacht, ist Jonathan Wilde oder genauer eine Kopie von ihm, hergestellt von einer „Lebensäquivalenzmaschine“ namens Jay Dub. Beide machen sich auf den Weg zu Sky-City, der größten Stadt auf diesem marsähnlichen von Menschen besiedelten Planeten (Der Titel meint wohl sie, aber er ist schlicht irreführend). Dort ist auf der Flucht ein Androide in weiblicher Gestalt und genannt Dee Model. Dee ist dem mächtigen Mann in dieser Stadt Dave Reid entkommen, und Wilde wird ungewollt zum Gegenspieler dieses Mannes, den er schon sehr lange kennt.
Eine andere Handlungsebene ist Schottland, und später die gesamte Erde, ab den Siebziger Jahren. Zwei linke Studenten, Reid, Kommunist, der andere, Wilde, im marxistischem Milieu sozialisiert, aber nach eigenen Angaben „Liberalist“, schließen Freundschaft. Diese Freundschaft ist aber immer auch geprägt von Konkurrenz bei den Frauen. Die beiden erleben aktiv die Friedensdemonstrationen der Achtziger und später den Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus. Bei Reid erodiert langsam das soziale Engagement und er geht seiner Überzeugungen verlustig. Gleichzeitig macht er Karriere als Informatiker bei einem Versicherungskonzern. Jon Wilde heiratet die Ex-Freundin Reids, arbeitet in der Erwachsenenbildung und schreibt nebenher krude, politisch unkorrekte Artikel. Beide erleben gemeinsam den Zusammenbruch der Staaten und das Versinken der Welt in Krieg und Chaos. Das einzige, was noch funktioniert ist die kapitalistische Wirtschaft. Wilde hat inzwischen mit Gleichgesinnten eine Anarchokapitalistische Freihandelszone im Norden Londons gegründet und profitiert von der desolaten Situation, aber auch Reid ist obenauf: Er ist eine große Nummer im Sicherheitsgeschäft geworden, das auch das Vermieten von Privatarmeen einschließt.
Der Fortschritt in Wissenschaft und Technik lässt sich jedoch nicht aufhalten. Man hat herausgefunden, wie man ein Bewusstsein in einem Computer speichern kann, die Nanotechnik wird entwickelt und beides kombiniert, was die „Schnelldenker“ ergibt, superintelligente künstliche Wesenheiten, die sich rasant weiterentwickeln. Und auch in Sachen Künstliche Intelligenz und Genetik werden die neuen Erkenntnisse gleich umgesetzt. Wozu das alles gut ist, das zeigt sich, als sich die „Weltraumgesellschaft“, die Jon Wilde mitgegründet hat, und Reids Versicherungsmulti zusammentun um die Erde in ihrem katastrophalen Zustand hinter sich zu lassen.
Wilde wird von der Entwicklung überrollt. Er wird erschossen und wacht auf als virtuelle Existenz, die einen Roboter steuert, der am Bau eines Wurmloches beteiligt ist. Durch das Wurmloch fliegen die „auserwählten“ Menschen in eine neue Welt, weg von der daniederliegenden Erde.

Auf dem Neuen Mars wird dieser Konflikt zwischen Wilde und Reid weitergeführt. Dort hat sich eine anarchokapitalistische Gesellschaft etabliert. Reid ist der starke Mann, und Wilde, seine verschiedenen Versionen, wehren sich gegen seine Dominanz. Es geht um die Wiederweckung der Toten, die als Datensatz und Genprobe gespeichert sind. Dazu muss man Kontakt mit den Schnelldenkern, in Rechner auf Nanobasis eingespeicherte Bewusstseinsinhaltkonglomerate, Kontakt aufnehmen. Es geht aber auch um Dee Model, deren Genmaterial von Wildes Frau stammt und von Reid widerrechtlich benutzt wurde.

MacLeod lässt in einer Handlungsebene Jon Wilde, der viele Zustände seiner selbst und Unglaubliches erlebt, erzählen. Die andere spielt nur in der Zukunft, und ist in wechselnden Perspektiven geschrieben. Erst am Schluss schließt sich die Lücke zwischen beiden Handlungsebenen. Durch diese Struktur erzeugt McLeod eine Spannung, sonst ist die Erzählweise episch, ein atemberaubendes Finale darf man nicht erwarten.

Es ist nicht einfach, herauszufinden, was oder wovon MacLeod erzählen will. Dass er erzählen kann, und versierter Romanschreiber ist, das merkt man immer wieder, denn trotz des Fehlens eines Leitmotivs, bleibt man bei der Stange, nicht zuletzt, weil es immer wieder Neues oder Überraschendes gibt. Allerdings kommen bei dem Tempo der Handlung die Charakterisierung der Figuren zu kurz.

McLeods Phantasie ist kühn, er jongliert mit Versatzstücken der neueren Science Fiction wie Schwarze Löcher, Nanotechnik, Künstliche Intelligenzen, gespeicherte Bewusstseinsinhalte und ordnet sie neu an. Das macht den Roman lesenswert. Das „innovative“ Element ist, dass MacLeod diesen Zukunftsentwurf aus der Gegenwart heraus entwickelt, eben in dem er die Lebensläufen der beiden Freunde folgt. Menschen der Gegenwart erleben eine atemberaubende Zukunft am eigenen Leibe.

Der Roman zeigt, wie sehr die Zukunft ein Spiegel der Gegenwart ist. Er erzählt vom Verlust von Idealen und Utopien, die in eine Gesellschaft ohne Staat, in der nur die wirtschaftliche Imteressen und Beziehungen der Menschen das Bindeglied sind, münden. Alle und Alles sind frei und können zur Ware werden. Jeder muss seine Haut zu Markte tragen. Moral ist ein Randerscheinung. Da alle bewaffnet sind, ist diese Gesellschaft unsicher und geprägt von Gewalt. Der wissenschaftlich technische Fortschritt führt nicht hin zu einer besseren Gesellschaft. Allenfalls die (auch in der Science Fiction aktiven) Libertarians mögen darin einen idealen Zustand, in dem die Kräfte des Menschen zur vollen Entfaltung gelangen, sehen.
Das sind jetzt die Gedanken des Rezensenten. MacLeod selbst enthält sich aller Wertungen, verschanzt sich hinter Wilde. Der ist keinesfalls eine positive Gestalt, sondern ein wirklich sehr gemischter Charakter, egoistisch und wenig skrupulös, aber auch ein erfrischender Querdenker und guter Familienvater.
Letztendlich macht „Die Mars-Stadt“ nachdenklich, vielleicht weil Autor und Figuren keine Überlegungen anstellen, wohin ihr Weg letztendlich führt und ob das alles wünschenswert ist, beschert der Roman doch tiefere Einsichten, wenngleich man sie nicht benennen kann.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3 Stars)

A resurrected man learns what happened after his death on future-Earth until his resurrection on a distant planet, and undergoes a trial in an anarchist society.

Similarly to The Star Fraction, this book mostly confused me. The trial and its outcome is irrelevant and lacks punch. The ending of the book is cute, but didn't seem to make sense with everything that had led up to it. If the book would have explored the anarchist society where everyone lives forever, that could have been somewhat interesting. If it would have focused on the trial, where the delineation between machine and man would have been somewhat interesting (at least, to someone who had never watched TNG). If it would have been the story of someone learning they are in a simulation and making the determination whether or not to go back in it, that could have been great.

Instead, we get kind of a mishmash of these, with unnecessary side trips like action hero, prostitute avenging herself on client, and of course long explanations of how the US-led UN took over the world and then anarcho-capitalism broke it down again. A lot of that. Including the protagonist deliberately selling out his ideals and friends in the name of pragmatism, which, if is inherent politics weren't themselves enough of a turn-off, really kind of put aside the idea of relating to him. If I wanted to read about an idealist making concessions to benefit himself over his cause, I'd write an autobiography.

I still have hopes for Mr. MacLeod's work to get more in line with what I like (in no small part because of China Mieville's fandom), but the first two novels I read did not do it for me.

[Nik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of a book of two halves, with the narration split in consecutive chapters between the futuristic extended lives of the 'New Mars' colony and the protagonists younger years in 1970s Earth. The first half of the book was a real slog due to the drudgery of way too much banal meanderings on political belief systems, to the point where by the middle of the book I was contemplating calling it a day. But once the past caught up with the future it took on a whole new aspect. The section describing his virtual life, between the past and present, within the confines of a robot worker's processor was a particular highlight.

I'm not big fan of non-sequential timelines as it feels like it is simply a mechanism to make you wonder what the hell is going on throughout the story, then deliver the whole plot in the last couple of chapters when things come together. This isn't how life works and we shouldn't be made to suffer this artificially created puzzle when reading a book. I would never have gotten through the first half of the book had it been sequential, but perhaps this is indicative that this section of the story is lacking. As it was I found myself having to slog through the lesser parts on the promise that it will get better. This seems to be a mechanism that has also been widely adopted by Netflix producers, which I find equally annoying.

If you like political waffle then who knows, you may love this. But I felt that part of the story could be relayed in a far snappier form.

[Mikko Saari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Stone Canal jatkaa The Star Fractionin aloittamaa Fall Revolution -sarjaa, mutta tarina ei ole suoraa jatkoa edellisestä, pikemminkin vähän toinen näkökulma. Pääosassa on The Star Fractionissa pienessä sivuroolissa esiintynyt Jonathan Wilde.

Taas mennään vuoroluvuin mennyttä ja tulevaa. Taustatarina alkaa 1970-luvulta ja etenee aina kolmanteen maailmansotaan asti. Juonessa on politiikkaa, valtapeliä, Wilden ja Dave Reidin suhteen kehitystä parhaista ystävistä lähes vihollisiksi, maailman mullistuksia ja Wilden osuutta niissä. Toisaalla taas Jonathan Wilde nousee kuolleista kaukana New Mars -planeetalla, jossa eletään anarkismissa ja kiistellään siitä, mikä on ajattelevien koneiden paikka ja osa. Wilden muistot on istutettu kloonattuun ruumiiseen, mutta miksi?

Tarina on paikoin perin tavanomainen — pubissa istuskelua ja joutavaa jutustelua — paikoin hyvin korkealentoista scifi-liitoa. Tuloksena on mielenkiintoinen kirja, joka yhdistyy hyvin The Star Fractioniin. Molemmat kirjat kertovat osin samoista tapahtumista, vain hieman erilaisista näkökulmista.

Kirjan aikajanat liittyvät toisiinsa hienosti. Wilden kuolleista nouseminen on melkoinen mysteeri, joka ratkeaa pikkuhiljaa kummankin aikajanan tapahtumien myötä. MacLeodin yhteiskunnalliset näkemykset ovat kiinnostavia ja tuovat kirjaan ulottuvuuksia, jotka eivät ole scifissä mitenkään tavanomaisia.

Tarina jatkuu The Cassini Divisionissa. (6.7.2010)

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story. It's a shame McLeod so consistently writes women so poorly.

It's also a shame his characters talk about anarchism as having any sort of common cause with so-called anarcho-capitalism, ie neofeudalism with libertarian branding. "all the great anarchist battles – Paris, Kronstadt, Ukraine, Barcelona, Seoul, Norlonto", fuck off. The Paris Commune had nothing in common with Norlonto. The Ukrainian free soviets had nothing in common with Norlonto. Revolutionary Barcelona had nothing in common with Norlonto. I don't know what real or fictional event the reference to Seoul is referring to, but in all likelihood that has nothing in common with Norlonto either. But one sentence in the final chapter made me temporarily withdraw judgement about whether this mischaracterisation of anarchism reflects on McLeod and the series or just on the characters: "[Ship City] seems to them not an anarchy, like they have here in the Solar System, but a divided – and hence multiplied – authority." I guess I'll have to wait and see in The Cassini Division what he means by "an anarchy like they have here in the Solar System".

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2and in the author's Fall Revolution series. I didn't realise this, or the earlier book, The Star Fraction, forms part of a series and I'm not clear whether there are any more books. I mentioned this on Facebook sci fi page and had a reply saying that the individual making it didn't like that as you could end up reading a volume in the middle of a saga and having to buy earlier books in the series. The thing with this is, however, that the books can be read entirely separately. None of the characters are the same. In fact, there could be an advantage to reading this first as it does deal with what happens in 1 in greater detail without, as I say, involving the same characters. This book is partly set in the near future, dealing with the life of Jon Wilde. The other part is set in the distant future on New Mars which is heavily reliant on robots, sentient and otherwise. But is all it seems to be? No spoilers, read it for yourself. If you don't like Jon Wilde's politics, well that's life. I never liked Heinlein's but still read him!

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10
Woof!
I just finished this, and I don’t really know what to think.
I feel like I need to come back later after I’d had time to process.
There were things that I adored about this book and found super fascinating.
There were parts that bored me near to tears.
And there were parts that just made me feel stupid. (I am sure I missed way more references than those I picked up on)
I’m not sure yet that I 100% understand the connection between the fascinating parts and the boring parts (thus the need for more time to think).
I think overall I liked it.
But I also think that there were so many things to focus on, and the author chose to focus on the one that interested me the least, the politics. I would have rathered more science, but the science bits felt rushed to me. I loved the thought-provoking ideas about souls, about love, and I would have loved more of that.

And on an unrelated totally just me note, I hate even imagining people smoking, so this book was super tough for me in that sense.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is a little misleading. I like it. But suffice to say, this is a post-singularity civilization, political thriller that has all the feel of a multi-flavored political ice-cream with a truly anarchic base, with uploaded/downloaded minds, functional immortality, and an utterly nutso capitalist foundation -- that ends in yet another massive revolution, just as the first book had.

We get legal drama, world war, mystery, and of course tons of classy convoluted political theories (of ALL flavors) making a mess of reality.

But that isn't the best part. I thought all of it was pretty cool but it was only in the later portion of the novel that it took off and really shone with the post-singularity spin. That kind of hard-SF is a glory to behold. The rest really grounds us in our own mire. :)

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Fraction was a 3.5 stars I rounded up because of the political aspects, this was also a 3.5 star that I rounded down, even though it probably has better pacing and traditional narrative than Star Fraction. I liked the political cyberpunk stuff more in that book, and the fast-folk/singularity plot more in Cassini Division, which I read before this one (if I'd read this first it might be 4 stars). I really liked the two-track plot and the deeper dive into the world of New Mars, and I enjoyed the alternative view on the events of the 21st century in this book. I'm sure MacLeod's books aren't for everyone, but I've really enjoyed every one I've read so far, despite all of them being flawed.

[Victor Saville]

My policy to finish books was severely tested here.

Robots are people, people are reincarnated as robots. Mars is inhabited. Many multilayered new types of political leanings have been introduced.

Much of the text is incomprehensible.

"the ziggurat we built loomed over our rustic valley like an oversized electricity pylon"

What does this describe? I have no clue.

The book is loaded with these types of descriptions many times not connected to the actual narrative which was frustrating. Just random thoughts about nothing.

A complete and utter waste of my time

Its a zero/five stars

[Mark Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explores two main themes: the politics of anarchism, and the differences between human and machine. I was not impressed with the anarchism theme; the politics were hard to follow and did not always feel realistic. The human/machine theme, though, covers multiple perspectives, with human minds in virtual reality, human minds in robot bodies, artificial intelligences similar to humans, and artificial intelligences which evolve into a superior race. All this takes place in a creative and imaginative world with sympathetic characters.

[Alex]

I finally got around to reading Ken MacLeod and it’s suddenly apparent what late-night arguments fuelled the politics of Iain M. Banks’ Culture. This is rich stuff, given room to stretch by space opera extrapolation, but still grounded in the personal concerns of the characters and playful, frequently cheeky, in its discussion of post-capitalist anarcho-libertarianism and nuclear war. In some respects it feels like a lateral view of grander events - which it is, apparently - but it stands up well enough as its own story.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I just read?

Plot? Payoff? Coherence? All absent. Technobabble, socioeconomic and political ramblings? Everywhere.

I'm lost somewhere in high orbit above Jupiter on this one. Everyone is obsessed with smoking, sex and drink. The protagonist is rank, his rival worse.

World building in the last 60 pages was actually great - shame the other 250 or so pages were completely forgettable.

Possibly should have read book one - but I don't think I can face that after this experience.

[Dougie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following straight on from Star Fraction I found this a much more entertaining read with less of the in-depth political subplots and more SF. Liked the split timelines that really fleshed out the relationship between Wilde and Reid that allowed the later timeline to breath.

[Jon Rawlinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the writing style and jumping between timelines.

[Darren]

Reviewed in the April 1998 issue of the Socialist Standard:

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