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The Restoration Game
There is no such place as Krassnia. Lucy Stone should know—she was born there. In that tiny, troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organizers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company in Edinburgh, has a project that almost seems made for the job: a game inspired by The Krassniad, an epic folk tale concocted by Lucy’s mother, Amanda, who studied there in the 1980s. Lucy knows Amanda is a spook. She knows her great-grandmother Eugenie also visited the country in the ’30s, and met the man who originally collected Krassnian folklore and who perished in Stalin’s terror. As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace to slot into the game, she finds the open secrets of her family’s past, the darker secrets of Krassnia’s past—and hints about the crucial role she is destined to play in The Restoration Game...
Combining international intrigue with cutting-edge philosophical speculation, romance with adventure, and online gaming with real-life consequence, The Restoration Game delivers as science fiction and as a sharp take on our present world from the viewpoint of a complex, engaging heroine who has to fight her way through a maze of political and family manipulation to take control of her own life.
Combining international intrigue with cutting-edge philosophical speculation, romance with adventure, and online gaming with real-life consequence, The Restoration Game delivers as science fiction and as a sharp take on our present world from the viewpoint of a complex, engaging heroine who has to fight her way through a maze of political and family manipulation to take control of her own life.
259 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
15 people are currently reading
766 people want to read
About the author
Ken MacLeod
113 books764 followersKen 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
November 15, 2011
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I'm not sure The Restoration Game is science fiction. Sure, it's technically based on a speculative what-if, but does that make something a science fiction novel? Science fiction, I believe, is all about a discussion on humanity's relationship to technology. I feel a lot more comfortable thinking of it as a Dickian (Philip K.) novel that grapples with issues of human perception more than one looking at our relationship to technology. Or maybe it's just a thriller.
Other than a prologue and an epilogue, the events in Ken MacLeod's most recent novel take place in 2008, leading up to the South Ossetia War (or at least a fictional simulacrum there of). The narrative is recounted by Lucy Stone, an Edinburgh expat from the former Soviet controlled Krassnia. In that troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organizers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company, has a project that almost seems made for the job: its original inspiration came from Krassnian folklore. As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace, she finds her interest has not gone unnoticed.
The main narrative is endemic to spy fiction. Lucy's mother, and great grandmother both have some connection to the CIA and their machinations have compromised their progeny. Mystery's abound. Who is Lucy's father? What are the motivations for the revolution? Who stands to gain? This thriller mentality works well as MacLeod revists the how and the why of the fall of the Soviet Union. Through Lucy the reader is exposed to documents detailing KGB investigations, and commentary on Stalin's purges. Ultimately these commentaries become a demonstration of the prevailing power of capitalism and the inherent expression of it in the human spirit.
Early on, Restoration Game seems to be more about how the story gets told than the story itself. MacLeod layers Lucy's narration, starting near the end and backtracking. She reveals things about her life in her own time, often referencing things like 'The Worst Day of My Life' without describing the day until several chapters later. While this technique can be occasionally frustrating, MacLeod is mostly successful in using it to maintain a constant tension.
Additionally, the main plot is bracketed by an prologue and epilogue that set up and conclude the twist that makes the novel "speculative" and not simply an alternate look at Russian foreign policy. Much like the M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, once the twist becomes clear, the entire narrative changes - was I reading what I thought I was reading? Unfortunately, this is also one of the novel's weaker points as the 'twist' is fairly obvious from the prologue... wait maybe it is an M. Night Shyamalan movie! The problem isn't so much that MacLeod does a poor job of concealing it, rather it's a twist I've seen used a hundred times. I recognized it early on and kept hoping there would be more to it. Alas.
Telling a story in this manner takes an extremely capable writer. The jumps through time, and back again, into source documents, and then back into Lucy's head, are all done with a deft hand, highlighting MacLeod's command of his story and the language. But, I would be remiss if I didn't say that my opinion of Restoration Game would be loftier with the extraneous bits cut out, which, in this case, means all the science fiction stuff. Most of it comes off as tangential to the larger plot of Lucy and her family's history, making me wonder if the idea for the science came after the idea for the fiction.
Despite a frustratingly transparent and common twist, Ken MacLeod has written a wonderful story about Lucy Stone against the Russians. While it blends history and current events in compelling fashion, the science fiction framing doesn't wash. It's a thriller, that would stand out in the spy fiction market, dressed up as science fiction. All of that makes The Restoration Game a novel worth reading, although not necessarily one that demands to be read.
I'm not sure The Restoration Game is science fiction. Sure, it's technically based on a speculative what-if, but does that make something a science fiction novel? Science fiction, I believe, is all about a discussion on humanity's relationship to technology. I feel a lot more comfortable thinking of it as a Dickian (Philip K.) novel that grapples with issues of human perception more than one looking at our relationship to technology. Or maybe it's just a thriller.
Other than a prologue and an epilogue, the events in Ken MacLeod's most recent novel take place in 2008, leading up to the South Ossetia War (or at least a fictional simulacrum there of). The narrative is recounted by Lucy Stone, an Edinburgh expat from the former Soviet controlled Krassnia. In that troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organizers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company, has a project that almost seems made for the job: its original inspiration came from Krassnian folklore. As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace, she finds her interest has not gone unnoticed.
The main narrative is endemic to spy fiction. Lucy's mother, and great grandmother both have some connection to the CIA and their machinations have compromised their progeny. Mystery's abound. Who is Lucy's father? What are the motivations for the revolution? Who stands to gain? This thriller mentality works well as MacLeod revists the how and the why of the fall of the Soviet Union. Through Lucy the reader is exposed to documents detailing KGB investigations, and commentary on Stalin's purges. Ultimately these commentaries become a demonstration of the prevailing power of capitalism and the inherent expression of it in the human spirit.
Early on, Restoration Game seems to be more about how the story gets told than the story itself. MacLeod layers Lucy's narration, starting near the end and backtracking. She reveals things about her life in her own time, often referencing things like 'The Worst Day of My Life' without describing the day until several chapters later. While this technique can be occasionally frustrating, MacLeod is mostly successful in using it to maintain a constant tension.
Additionally, the main plot is bracketed by an prologue and epilogue that set up and conclude the twist that makes the novel "speculative" and not simply an alternate look at Russian foreign policy. Much like the M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, once the twist becomes clear, the entire narrative changes - was I reading what I thought I was reading? Unfortunately, this is also one of the novel's weaker points as the 'twist' is fairly obvious from the prologue... wait maybe it is an M. Night Shyamalan movie! The problem isn't so much that MacLeod does a poor job of concealing it, rather it's a twist I've seen used a hundred times. I recognized it early on and kept hoping there would be more to it. Alas.
Telling a story in this manner takes an extremely capable writer. The jumps through time, and back again, into source documents, and then back into Lucy's head, are all done with a deft hand, highlighting MacLeod's command of his story and the language. But, I would be remiss if I didn't say that my opinion of Restoration Game would be loftier with the extraneous bits cut out, which, in this case, means all the science fiction stuff. Most of it comes off as tangential to the larger plot of Lucy and her family's history, making me wonder if the idea for the science came after the idea for the fiction.
Despite a frustratingly transparent and common twist, Ken MacLeod has written a wonderful story about Lucy Stone against the Russians. While it blends history and current events in compelling fashion, the science fiction framing doesn't wash. It's a thriller, that would stand out in the spy fiction market, dressed up as science fiction. All of that makes The Restoration Game a novel worth reading, although not necessarily one that demands to be read.
January 18, 2012
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
This book has been getting a lot of play recently from some unusual sources for being put out by a mainstream science-fiction publisher, and the reason becomes obvious once you read it; because although containing some fantastical elements, this is mostly a very astute political thriller that deals with a lot of issues from our own times all the way back to the Nazi era, and even way back into antiquity. The story of a young Scottish female computer programmer originally from "Krassnia," a fictional former Soviet republic that sounds like it's supposed to be located right around where the Victorian Age's Crimean War was fought, the tale is a complicated one involving the ancient half-myth history of the region, a secret about the area that the Russians have been hiding from everyone else since World War Two, a modern "Arab Spring" style uprising that may or may not be taking place there soon, and whether or not the CIA may or may not be helping this revolt along by commissioning the creation of a local-language "World of Warcraft" style MMORPG, that actually exists as a safe gathering place for protestors to make their plans, and which may or may not accidentally actually reveal the location of this giant secret that everyone is trying to get their hands on, because of the videogame's terrain being based on an old out-of-print hippie guidebook to the area's folklore penned by our hero's mother in the countercultural '60s, to cash in on the "Lord of the Rings" craze going on at the time. Whew!
It's a lot to take in, but Ken MacLeod does it with a lot of aplomb and humor, making this much more Graham Greene than Ben Bova; and kudos to Lou Anders and Pyr for taking on this hip, ripped-from-the-headlines title to begin with, and expanding their scope beyond the steampunk, urban fantasy, and other traditional fan favorites that they're mostly known for. A hard-to-classify book that will generate a lot of passion from its fans, this is one of the rare genre tales here at CCLaP to get a score in the 9s, and it comes happily recommended to a wide general audience.
Out of 10: 9.2
This book has been getting a lot of play recently from some unusual sources for being put out by a mainstream science-fiction publisher, and the reason becomes obvious once you read it; because although containing some fantastical elements, this is mostly a very astute political thriller that deals with a lot of issues from our own times all the way back to the Nazi era, and even way back into antiquity. The story of a young Scottish female computer programmer originally from "Krassnia," a fictional former Soviet republic that sounds like it's supposed to be located right around where the Victorian Age's Crimean War was fought, the tale is a complicated one involving the ancient half-myth history of the region, a secret about the area that the Russians have been hiding from everyone else since World War Two, a modern "Arab Spring" style uprising that may or may not be taking place there soon, and whether or not the CIA may or may not be helping this revolt along by commissioning the creation of a local-language "World of Warcraft" style MMORPG, that actually exists as a safe gathering place for protestors to make their plans, and which may or may not accidentally actually reveal the location of this giant secret that everyone is trying to get their hands on, because of the videogame's terrain being based on an old out-of-print hippie guidebook to the area's folklore penned by our hero's mother in the countercultural '60s, to cash in on the "Lord of the Rings" craze going on at the time. Whew!
It's a lot to take in, but Ken MacLeod does it with a lot of aplomb and humor, making this much more Graham Greene than Ben Bova; and kudos to Lou Anders and Pyr for taking on this hip, ripped-from-the-headlines title to begin with, and expanding their scope beyond the steampunk, urban fantasy, and other traditional fan favorites that they're mostly known for. A hard-to-classify book that will generate a lot of passion from its fans, this is one of the rare genre tales here at CCLaP to get a score in the 9s, and it comes happily recommended to a wide general audience.
Out of 10: 9.2
August 1, 2011
I can't get away from the fact I thought this a flawed book. The science fiction prologue/epilogue felt like it had been awkwardly tacked on - perhaps to satisfy a publisher who wondered whether they could sell a Macleod novel that was at heart a spy thriller and not a sci-fi novel at all. More frustratingly, the Maguffin on the mountain that drove much of the plot felt poorly thought out and like it had been added because Macleod had to have *something* to hang the plot on.
And yet... I enjoyed it. Star ratings are a blunt instrument when it comes to expressing an opinion of a book. The 3 stars are a compromise between my lingering dissatisfaction with the plot and the fact that I couldn't put the damned thing down.
There's an interesting, multilayered espionage story lurking within this book with a knowing, somewhat cynical take on the various 'colour' revolutions in the former Soviet republics and a heroine who is a refreshingly well drawn central female character - not always a strength of this genre.
Perhaps part of what I enjoyed was that the book was very much set in my world. Lucy Stone lived above the Brauhaus, a mere stone's throw from my flat. She drinks in the Auld Hoose - and when she meets a ponytailed scifi geek mouthing off about how, had the Spartans won and abolished slavery in ancient Rome, the industrial revolution might have kicked off 2000 years earlier half had me wondering which of the various regulars I know he might have been based on.
Yet, actually, Edinburgh is very cursorily described. I know that the bit of Lauriston Place where Lucy finds herself being followed is poorly lit and not somewhere you'd want to find yourself being tailed late at night and that the Gyle industrial estate is a curiously otherworldly place, but I'm not sure I'd have picked it up from the book if I didn't know the place.
The idea of simulations and of ghosts in the machine pulling levers behind the scenes has been done elsewhere, and perhaps done rather better. That said, I couldn't help but think that in a way, Macleod was really describing the world of novels: Simulations of reality in which the authorial hand uses what appear to be chance events to drive a story to its conclusion.
Worth a look.
And yet... I enjoyed it. Star ratings are a blunt instrument when it comes to expressing an opinion of a book. The 3 stars are a compromise between my lingering dissatisfaction with the plot and the fact that I couldn't put the damned thing down.
There's an interesting, multilayered espionage story lurking within this book with a knowing, somewhat cynical take on the various 'colour' revolutions in the former Soviet republics and a heroine who is a refreshingly well drawn central female character - not always a strength of this genre.
Perhaps part of what I enjoyed was that the book was very much set in my world. Lucy Stone lived above the Brauhaus, a mere stone's throw from my flat. She drinks in the Auld Hoose - and when she meets a ponytailed scifi geek mouthing off about how, had the Spartans won and abolished slavery in ancient Rome, the industrial revolution might have kicked off 2000 years earlier half had me wondering which of the various regulars I know he might have been based on.
Yet, actually, Edinburgh is very cursorily described. I know that the bit of Lauriston Place where Lucy finds herself being followed is poorly lit and not somewhere you'd want to find yourself being tailed late at night and that the Gyle industrial estate is a curiously otherworldly place, but I'm not sure I'd have picked it up from the book if I didn't know the place.
The idea of simulations and of ghosts in the machine pulling levers behind the scenes has been done elsewhere, and perhaps done rather better. That said, I couldn't help but think that in a way, Macleod was really describing the world of novels: Simulations of reality in which the authorial hand uses what appear to be chance events to drive a story to its conclusion.
Worth a look.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2011
There is something fantastic that happens when you read a Ken MacLeod novel. It starts with wonderment; the first quarter of the novel is a series of ever more enchanting, ever more increasing display of imagination. The comes bewilderment; by the half way mark you are no longer sure just what is happening any longer, but something is definitely happening and you can 't wait to find out what. At the three quarters comes complete and utter confusion; what you thought was happening is not what is really going on and you are less sure of what it is that you were before. By the end comes revelation; it all makes sense. The wonderment and bewilderment and utter confusion meet, twine and explode out in a dazzle of understanding.
Every Ken MacLeod novel I have read follows this pattern. I like it. I make no secret of my adoration and veneration of Mr. MacLeod. His books are challenging, thought provoking and exhausting. It can be a grueling journey, this succession of inner states, this cognitive obstacle course, that MacLeod devises for you, but one that is rewarded with elation. Every Ken MacLeod novel I have read follows this pattern except this one.
Oh, sure there is wonderment. There is bewilderment. There is utter confusion and revelation in The Revelation Game. There is even elation. 'What is the problem?' you say. 'Sounds like the same pattern to me.' But it isn't. It isn't nearly. Bewilderment overtook wonderment by about page 75, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the utter confusion hadn't overtaken bewilderment by page 150. Even this would be fine if revelation hadn't happened during dinner just after finishing page 200. There are only 320 pages in this novel. The remainder felt perfunctory, even dull.
And it shouldn't have. Those last hundred or so pages contain the big explosion, a revolution, a flight from the counter-revolution, a reunion, lover-in-peril death threat and counter threat, and an ending that promises countless possibilities for the heroine. There's lots there, packed together in MacLeod trademark form, each not just impinging on the other, but a consequence of the action before. The action scenes are tense, the drama edge-of-your-seat, the peril authentic. So what happened?
Simply put, MacLeod screwed up. This is hard for me to admit, and all the more disappointing for it.
The Restoration Game follows the trials and tribulations of Lucy Stone, a young science fiction geek and gamer-girl, who works for a start-up computer game company. One day her company is approached by a larger corporation and asked to port their new first-person-slasher (still under development) to a version for the country of Krassnia, a (fictional) former Caucasian Soviet Republic and the place where Lucy just happened to be born. Coincidence? Definitely not, since the mysterious company's representative sent to Lucy's place of work is none other than Lucy's own mother, an anthropologist and CIA spook.
Then it gets really weird. We follow Lucy as she tries to unravel what her mother, her great-grandmother, her two possible fathers and she herself has to do with Krassnia, the Soviet Revolution, Medieval legends and a mysterious secret kept for a thousand years. Oh, and along the way she manages to come to terms with her past and fall in love. All of this is told with MacLeod's consummate skill, wit and sarcasm. His cleverness as a writer and world-builder comes through on every page and the wonder, bewilderment and utter confusion come fast upon each other in a delightful twisty plot. Its got every thing you want from a Ken MacLeod novel, action, political theory, solidly researched history, compelling characters. He even has a Tim Powers-like secret history stitched interstitially into the real one. The Restoration Game is MacLeod in fine form.
Where he screws up is right at the start of the novel. The main story is bracketed by a second-person pro- and epilogue, each only a few pages long and providing a tidy and relevant frame. The big reveal, the most important secret of the whole novel, the key to the puzzle lock is four pages into the prologue. A clever reader will know it for a important clue, to be used later like all good mystery novels. An astute reader, one steeped in the lore and legend of the genre of science-fiction, won't even have to read the rest of the novel to know what happens. I must admit, I should have seen it there myself and not realized it at page 200, but once I did make the connection, it was glaringly obvious. And it will be glaringly obvious to anyone at all familiar with recent S/F tropes.
This is not to say that the concept isn't interesting, or that the central mystery isn't wicked cool, or that the novel isn't worth reading. It is, and it is probably MacLeod's most accessible novel to date. It is just that he should have made it a little harder to figure out. Should have made the wonderment, bewilderment and utter confusion last a little longer. Should have made the revelation a little more awesome. He could have done this easily by cutting either the single part of the prologue where the clue (and what is in retrospect the giant neon arrows pointing to it) thus kick-starting the confusion, or the entire prologue itself.
Still, there is much to recommend here. The Restoration Game is clever, interesting and timely. It makes cutting observations on our post-Soviet era without seeming trite and it draws attention to a part of the world that is more or less forgotten by modern history and media. All of MacLeod's accustomed wit and intelligence is very much in evidence and he still manages a few unexpected twists despite the somewhat transparent plot.
If you a Ken MacLeod fan, it is a no-brainer. If you are not familiar with MacLeod and aren't the kind of person who is severely disappointed by figuring out "who the killer is" by halfway through, you will enjoy this novel. If you are a novice science-fiction reader, most of what I said above may not apply and you could do worse. As I said, it is one of MacLeod's more accessible novels, reading more like a post-cold war thriller than hard-core S/F. The Restoration Game is a great introduction to both MacLeod and the wider field of modern near-future science-fiction.
A note to North American readers:
Ken MacLeod is a British writer and as such can be difficult to find his work in the USA. Normally, we Canadians have much better access to British books, but for some reason, MacLeod's last three novels have remained unavailable, hell, unprinted in both the Great White North and the United States. This is not really all that surprising. His previous novel, The Night Sessions was a pretty acidic condemnation of fundamentalist Christianity and the one before that, The Execution Channel, pretty much called out the intelligence services of, well, everyone, as corrupt, venal, underhanded and sordid. (And this is one of the reasons I really like Ken MacLeod, he doesn't give a damn if someone's delicate sensibilities are offended.) In any case, all of his work is worth the time, effort and cost to seek out. MacLeod is one of the best writers of S/F right now, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Every Ken MacLeod novel I have read follows this pattern. I like it. I make no secret of my adoration and veneration of Mr. MacLeod. His books are challenging, thought provoking and exhausting. It can be a grueling journey, this succession of inner states, this cognitive obstacle course, that MacLeod devises for you, but one that is rewarded with elation. Every Ken MacLeod novel I have read follows this pattern except this one.
Oh, sure there is wonderment. There is bewilderment. There is utter confusion and revelation in The Revelation Game. There is even elation. 'What is the problem?' you say. 'Sounds like the same pattern to me.' But it isn't. It isn't nearly. Bewilderment overtook wonderment by about page 75, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the utter confusion hadn't overtaken bewilderment by page 150. Even this would be fine if revelation hadn't happened during dinner just after finishing page 200. There are only 320 pages in this novel. The remainder felt perfunctory, even dull.
And it shouldn't have. Those last hundred or so pages contain the big explosion, a revolution, a flight from the counter-revolution, a reunion, lover-in-peril death threat and counter threat, and an ending that promises countless possibilities for the heroine. There's lots there, packed together in MacLeod trademark form, each not just impinging on the other, but a consequence of the action before. The action scenes are tense, the drama edge-of-your-seat, the peril authentic. So what happened?
Simply put, MacLeod screwed up. This is hard for me to admit, and all the more disappointing for it.
The Restoration Game follows the trials and tribulations of Lucy Stone, a young science fiction geek and gamer-girl, who works for a start-up computer game company. One day her company is approached by a larger corporation and asked to port their new first-person-slasher (still under development) to a version for the country of Krassnia, a (fictional) former Caucasian Soviet Republic and the place where Lucy just happened to be born. Coincidence? Definitely not, since the mysterious company's representative sent to Lucy's place of work is none other than Lucy's own mother, an anthropologist and CIA spook.
Then it gets really weird. We follow Lucy as she tries to unravel what her mother, her great-grandmother, her two possible fathers and she herself has to do with Krassnia, the Soviet Revolution, Medieval legends and a mysterious secret kept for a thousand years. Oh, and along the way she manages to come to terms with her past and fall in love. All of this is told with MacLeod's consummate skill, wit and sarcasm. His cleverness as a writer and world-builder comes through on every page and the wonder, bewilderment and utter confusion come fast upon each other in a delightful twisty plot. Its got every thing you want from a Ken MacLeod novel, action, political theory, solidly researched history, compelling characters. He even has a Tim Powers-like secret history stitched interstitially into the real one. The Restoration Game is MacLeod in fine form.
Where he screws up is right at the start of the novel. The main story is bracketed by a second-person pro- and epilogue, each only a few pages long and providing a tidy and relevant frame. The big reveal, the most important secret of the whole novel, the key to the puzzle lock is four pages into the prologue. A clever reader will know it for a important clue, to be used later like all good mystery novels. An astute reader, one steeped in the lore and legend of the genre of science-fiction, won't even have to read the rest of the novel to know what happens. I must admit, I should have seen it there myself and not realized it at page 200, but once I did make the connection, it was glaringly obvious. And it will be glaringly obvious to anyone at all familiar with recent S/F tropes.
This is not to say that the concept isn't interesting, or that the central mystery isn't wicked cool, or that the novel isn't worth reading. It is, and it is probably MacLeod's most accessible novel to date. It is just that he should have made it a little harder to figure out. Should have made the wonderment, bewilderment and utter confusion last a little longer. Should have made the revelation a little more awesome. He could have done this easily by cutting either the single part of the prologue where the clue (and what is in retrospect the giant neon arrows pointing to it) thus kick-starting the confusion, or the entire prologue itself.
Still, there is much to recommend here. The Restoration Game is clever, interesting and timely. It makes cutting observations on our post-Soviet era without seeming trite and it draws attention to a part of the world that is more or less forgotten by modern history and media. All of MacLeod's accustomed wit and intelligence is very much in evidence and he still manages a few unexpected twists despite the somewhat transparent plot.
If you a Ken MacLeod fan, it is a no-brainer. If you are not familiar with MacLeod and aren't the kind of person who is severely disappointed by figuring out "who the killer is" by halfway through, you will enjoy this novel. If you are a novice science-fiction reader, most of what I said above may not apply and you could do worse. As I said, it is one of MacLeod's more accessible novels, reading more like a post-cold war thriller than hard-core S/F. The Restoration Game is a great introduction to both MacLeod and the wider field of modern near-future science-fiction.
A note to North American readers:
Ken MacLeod is a British writer and as such can be difficult to find his work in the USA. Normally, we Canadians have much better access to British books, but for some reason, MacLeod's last three novels have remained unavailable, hell, unprinted in both the Great White North and the United States. This is not really all that surprising. His previous novel, The Night Sessions was a pretty acidic condemnation of fundamentalist Christianity and the one before that, The Execution Channel, pretty much called out the intelligence services of, well, everyone, as corrupt, venal, underhanded and sordid. (And this is one of the reasons I really like Ken MacLeod, he doesn't give a damn if someone's delicate sensibilities are offended.) In any case, all of his work is worth the time, effort and cost to seek out. MacLeod is one of the best writers of S/F right now, on both sides of the Atlantic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2012
The simulation hypothesis is perhaps the ultimate conspiracy theory, the one conspiracy theory to rule them all. It’s common enough that more than one blockbuster film has been based on the premise. Like many philosophical concepts that encourage exploration through science fiction, the simulation hypothesis can be imagined in a plethora of ways. I admit I find it compelling, but only to a certain point, since there’s really no way to know….
The Restoration Game is ostensibly about Lucy Stone’s involvement in her mother’s plot to trigger a revolution in Krassnia, a former Soviet country so unremarkable that most people don’t know it exists. Lucy is was born in Krassnia, though her mother is American, and now she works at a game development studio. As she gets pulled deeper into the complex intrigue surrounding Krassnia, we learn more about her childhood, how her mother came to be involved in the spy life, and Lucy’s family’s long-held interests in the region.
Ken MacLeod surrounds all this with a frame story. Set on Mars in perhaps the eleventh or twelfth century, it reveals that Lucy Stone’s world (our world) is a simulation created by an amoral artificial intelligence. In the “real” world, Rome succumbed to slave uprisings and developed spaceflight in less than a millennium. We learn all of this in the prologue, so I wouldn’t really call it a spoiler, even if the back of the book doesn’t mention it. I’ve gone ahead and marked this review for spoilers anyway—plus, I want to talk about the ending and how it let me down.
I have to admit that all of this is pretty cool. MacLeod narrates the prologue in the second person, and the main character talks about “points” as a type of currency in a way that makes her world sound very gamified. I would have liked to learn more about this world, but we spend extremely little time in it. Instead we’re treated to chapter after chapter of exposition about Krassnia and Soviet history … and it’s kind of boring.
MacLeod gives away that we’re in a simulation in the first few pages of the book. Throughout the story, Lucy learns about “the Krassnian truth”, and it becomes apparent that her mother’s plot involves finding out this truth. We already know the truth has to be that their world is a simulation. Consequently, the climax of The Restoration Game lacks any sort of big reveal. Lucy learns the truth … but so what?
And that’s the real problem with this book. It would have been OK for MacLeod to give everything away in the prologue if he were going somewhere with it … but he doesn’t. There are no consequences to Lucy’s discovery! We learn that her world will likely discover its simulated nature in the near future but don’t get to actually see it happen—that would have been a cool story. Instead, Lucy gets a visit from someone from the real world, who asks her never to speak of this to anyone else … and that’s it.
So what?
It’s been a while since I read a book with such a cool premise that inspired such ennui. Moreover, the plot seems fairly contrived and slapdash. Consider the explanation for the wall of code moving down a rockface that Lucy discovers on Mount Krasny. This phenomenon is the ultimate proof we are in a simulated reality. Lucy’s visitor from the real world explains that it’s “placeholder code” designed to let them monitor the simulation, and they put it in an “obscure location”. Firstly, MacLeod’s explanation for why the code manifests like it does is rather limp. It’s a “patch”, which I suppose means it doesn’t quite fit into the physics of our world. But you think people who build artificial intelligences could do better than that.
I’m more concerned with the fact that Mount Krasny was considered “an obscure location”. You know what’s a fucking obscure location? Try the Challenger Deep , not some mountain in Eastern Europe! (Maybe that’s what’s behind the door James Cameron found.) Really, when you stick something that reveals reality is simulated at a location someone can reach without needing oxygen, you are doing it wrong.
But of course, if the code were at the bottom of the Challenger Deep and not on Mount Krasny, there would be no reason for Lucy to go to Krassnia. There would be no reason to subject us to interminable narration, dialogue, and epistolary chapters about Krassnia’s transitions from independence to Soviet control to independence again. Really, the simulated reality story is a minor detail compared to the bulk of The Restoration Game, which is an intense discussion of the politics of this fictional European country. At times I found it fascinating, but mostly I just kept waiting for Lucy to do something other than talk about what she is wearing.
I haven’t read anything else by MacLeod, but in this book his idea of writing from a woman’s perspective seems to involve describing clothes a lot. And, fair enough, maybe Lucy’s the type of girl who just loves describing her clothes. But this seems to be related more to MacLeod’s writing style than his portrayal of women characters: I often encountered sentences that felt like they were sinking beneath the weight of the information he wants them to convey. For example:
You have got to be kidding me. Pick one or two things and tell me about them! Do I really need to know it was tikka chicken? Or that your fingernails match your clutch? Or that the pastry flakes were sausage-roll? Maybe MacLeod is trying to be efficient in packing his prose with as much information as possible, but the effect comes across as more annoying than anything—none of this information is essential. I try very hard not to nitpick about this sort of thing in my reviews, but it’s just so egregious here that I had to mention it. (Also, there just isn’t much else to talk about.)
The phrase “not a bad book” can mean so many things depending on the context. In this case, The Restoration Game is not a bad book, because it has a (fairly) coherent plot, an interesting main character, and tickles my fanciful ideas about simulated realities. Being a double negative, however, “not a bad book” is really just a more diplomatic way of saying it’s not all that good. I didn’t intend for this review to be so acerbic or negative, but I’m trying hard to think of more praise for this book and coming up short. There are things to like about this book, but overall it felt quite wanting.
The Restoration Game is ostensibly about Lucy Stone’s involvement in her mother’s plot to trigger a revolution in Krassnia, a former Soviet country so unremarkable that most people don’t know it exists. Lucy is was born in Krassnia, though her mother is American, and now she works at a game development studio. As she gets pulled deeper into the complex intrigue surrounding Krassnia, we learn more about her childhood, how her mother came to be involved in the spy life, and Lucy’s family’s long-held interests in the region.
Ken MacLeod surrounds all this with a frame story. Set on Mars in perhaps the eleventh or twelfth century, it reveals that Lucy Stone’s world (our world) is a simulation created by an amoral artificial intelligence. In the “real” world, Rome succumbed to slave uprisings and developed spaceflight in less than a millennium. We learn all of this in the prologue, so I wouldn’t really call it a spoiler, even if the back of the book doesn’t mention it. I’ve gone ahead and marked this review for spoilers anyway—plus, I want to talk about the ending and how it let me down.
I have to admit that all of this is pretty cool. MacLeod narrates the prologue in the second person, and the main character talks about “points” as a type of currency in a way that makes her world sound very gamified. I would have liked to learn more about this world, but we spend extremely little time in it. Instead we’re treated to chapter after chapter of exposition about Krassnia and Soviet history … and it’s kind of boring.
MacLeod gives away that we’re in a simulation in the first few pages of the book. Throughout the story, Lucy learns about “the Krassnian truth”, and it becomes apparent that her mother’s plot involves finding out this truth. We already know the truth has to be that their world is a simulation. Consequently, the climax of The Restoration Game lacks any sort of big reveal. Lucy learns the truth … but so what?
And that’s the real problem with this book. It would have been OK for MacLeod to give everything away in the prologue if he were going somewhere with it … but he doesn’t. There are no consequences to Lucy’s discovery! We learn that her world will likely discover its simulated nature in the near future but don’t get to actually see it happen—that would have been a cool story. Instead, Lucy gets a visit from someone from the real world, who asks her never to speak of this to anyone else … and that’s it.
So what?
It’s been a while since I read a book with such a cool premise that inspired such ennui. Moreover, the plot seems fairly contrived and slapdash. Consider the explanation for the wall of code moving down a rockface that Lucy discovers on Mount Krasny. This phenomenon is the ultimate proof we are in a simulated reality. Lucy’s visitor from the real world explains that it’s “placeholder code” designed to let them monitor the simulation, and they put it in an “obscure location”. Firstly, MacLeod’s explanation for why the code manifests like it does is rather limp. It’s a “patch”, which I suppose means it doesn’t quite fit into the physics of our world. But you think people who build artificial intelligences could do better than that.
I’m more concerned with the fact that Mount Krasny was considered “an obscure location”. You know what’s a fucking obscure location? Try the Challenger Deep , not some mountain in Eastern Europe! (Maybe that’s what’s behind the door James Cameron found.) Really, when you stick something that reveals reality is simulated at a location someone can reach without needing oxygen, you are doing it wrong.
But of course, if the code were at the bottom of the Challenger Deep and not on Mount Krasny, there would be no reason for Lucy to go to Krassnia. There would be no reason to subject us to interminable narration, dialogue, and epistolary chapters about Krassnia’s transitions from independence to Soviet control to independence again. Really, the simulated reality story is a minor detail compared to the bulk of The Restoration Game, which is an intense discussion of the politics of this fictional European country. At times I found it fascinating, but mostly I just kept waiting for Lucy to do something other than talk about what she is wearing.
I haven’t read anything else by MacLeod, but in this book his idea of writing from a woman’s perspective seems to involve describing clothes a lot. And, fair enough, maybe Lucy’s the type of girl who just loves describing her clothes. But this seems to be related more to MacLeod’s writing style than his portrayal of women characters: I often encountered sentences that felt like they were sinking beneath the weight of the information he wants them to convey. For example:
I tucked my lilac satin clutch bag under my left elbow, wedged the stem of my champagne flute between two spare fingers of the hand already holding a side plate of cucumber-and-tuna white bread triangels and tikka chicken wings, and with the lilac-polished fingernails of the other hand raked some flakes of sausage-roll pastry out of Alec’s beard.
You have got to be kidding me. Pick one or two things and tell me about them! Do I really need to know it was tikka chicken? Or that your fingernails match your clutch? Or that the pastry flakes were sausage-roll? Maybe MacLeod is trying to be efficient in packing his prose with as much information as possible, but the effect comes across as more annoying than anything—none of this information is essential. I try very hard not to nitpick about this sort of thing in my reviews, but it’s just so egregious here that I had to mention it. (Also, there just isn’t much else to talk about.)
The phrase “not a bad book” can mean so many things depending on the context. In this case, The Restoration Game is not a bad book, because it has a (fairly) coherent plot, an interesting main character, and tickles my fanciful ideas about simulated realities. Being a double negative, however, “not a bad book” is really just a more diplomatic way of saying it’s not all that good. I didn’t intend for this review to be so acerbic or negative, but I’m trying hard to think of more praise for this book and coming up short. There are things to like about this book, but overall it felt quite wanting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2014
Superb fun to the end; while the final twist is reasonably predictable from the prologue - though there are some surprises along the way, including one I did not see though it was if not obvious, but very likely in hindsight, the novel which has some resemblances in style/subject with Yellow Blue Tibia showcases the author' irony at its best.
I found myself laughing out loud many times when reading it and the narration of Lucy Stone is just irresistible; Lucy is the daughter of academic and CIA (or maybe some other acronym) operative Amanda Stone, with several possible fathers of which current shady businessman and former left wing anticommunist activist Ross Stewart is the second main character.
Born in 1985 - and living there until 1991 when it became too dangerous - in the obscure statelet of Krassnia which now stands at the contested border between Georgia and Russia and with lots of Krassnians connections from the past too, Lucy has the typical red hair of the Vrai, former rulers of Krassnia and supposed guardians of a terrible secret that is rumored to have scared Beria and Stalin among others, though most remaining Vrai have been exterminated in the Great Terror of 1937
In her work in Krassnia, Amanda Stone "concocted" a national epic The Krassniad drawing from the local legends and the work of an ethnographer of Vrai origins who may have been her (illicit) grandfather and who was shot in 1937 and Lucy grew up with the local legends.
In the present day Lucy's startup game company is hired - by Amanda's organization with whatever acronyms, though only Lucy knows it, to develop a fantasy game based on The Krassniad to be officially marketed as a niche game, while unofficially to be used by the Krassnians "revolutionaries" aka CIA spies to plot the next color revolution...
Of course things are more complicated than that as Lucy slowly discovers...
I found myself laughing out loud many times when reading it and the narration of Lucy Stone is just irresistible; Lucy is the daughter of academic and CIA (or maybe some other acronym) operative Amanda Stone, with several possible fathers of which current shady businessman and former left wing anticommunist activist Ross Stewart is the second main character.
Born in 1985 - and living there until 1991 when it became too dangerous - in the obscure statelet of Krassnia which now stands at the contested border between Georgia and Russia and with lots of Krassnians connections from the past too, Lucy has the typical red hair of the Vrai, former rulers of Krassnia and supposed guardians of a terrible secret that is rumored to have scared Beria and Stalin among others, though most remaining Vrai have been exterminated in the Great Terror of 1937
In her work in Krassnia, Amanda Stone "concocted" a national epic The Krassniad drawing from the local legends and the work of an ethnographer of Vrai origins who may have been her (illicit) grandfather and who was shot in 1937 and Lucy grew up with the local legends.
In the present day Lucy's startup game company is hired - by Amanda's organization with whatever acronyms, though only Lucy knows it, to develop a fantasy game based on The Krassniad to be officially marketed as a niche game, while unofficially to be used by the Krassnians "revolutionaries" aka CIA spies to plot the next color revolution...
Of course things are more complicated than that as Lucy slowly discovers...
August 8, 2013
Once again brought this with the intention of saving it for a while. Couldn't resist picking it up just to read the first chapter then couldn't put it down however I tried to distract myself. Imaginatively set in Caucasia MacLeod paints a convincing picture of the region especially the sounds, sights and smells of the post-Soviet era. I wonderered where he could possibly be heading with this latest fast paced work (which none the less has plenty of time for pleasing little details) and how he was going to cap the build-up at play throughout the book. That he pulls it off, which I think he does, is tribute once again to his imaginative yet scientifically based mind. Along the way he paints a realistic picture of the world of deep politics, human greed, stupidty and dark arts of intelligence (as well as the corruption of utopianists and utopian ideology). Just going to have to re-read some of his older works now while I kick my heals waiting for the next offering.
April 2, 2011
“The Restoration Game” is a good book that offers an entertaining reading without really offering much more than that. Compared to some of MacLeod’s earlier books it does feel slightly lacking in ambition, partially because the big plot revelation that the entire book revolves around is a plot device that has been used so frequently in Science Fiction in recent years that it feels a bit underwhelming (amusingly, the heroine is also underwhelmed by the plot device for precisely this reason). The early parts of the book do manage to set up an intriguing mystery (some of the flashbacks are particularly good) and the novel’s heroine is an engaging character (even if she is irritatingly naïve at times). I did enjoy reading it, but I suspect it won’t end up being a particularly memorable book and MacLeod has done better than this in the past.
September 6, 2016
This is an entertaining book, with a lot of sneaky stuff going on behind it. The opening pages give away what easily could be the final reveal in a different novel, making the reader approach the rest of the story (of, among other things, intrigue in the former USSR) warily, watching for hints of what was previously revealed, which makes reading it feel somehow uneasy (mirroring the main character's experience). The central theme seems to be how reality and fiction are both composed of overlaying levels of reference, as in Lucy's family's long-standing relationship with the Krassnian area, and in the way that her colleagues repurpose software and mythology to create new thing. In both cases, there is bleed-through, from the past to the present and from one layer of myth, to another (and to "reality").
March 13, 2011
Essentially an espionage thriller complete with shadowy agencies, double dealings, hidden motivations and a family involvement that goes back to before the Russian revolution.
The narrative is scattered with “mini-essays” on why communism (or at least that brand of communism practiced in the USSR) eventually failed.
The story is bracketed with prologue and epilogue that provide a veneer of science fiction and an explanation of the central mystery.
The piece is saved from being rather “dry” by the wonderfully irreverent narrative voice of Lucy Stone.
Not MacLeod's best or most thought provoking work but still enjoyable.
The narrative is scattered with “mini-essays” on why communism (or at least that brand of communism practiced in the USSR) eventually failed.
The story is bracketed with prologue and epilogue that provide a veneer of science fiction and an explanation of the central mystery.
The piece is saved from being rather “dry” by the wonderfully irreverent narrative voice of Lucy Stone.
Not MacLeod's best or most thought provoking work but still enjoyable.
May 21, 2025
Ken MacLeod was probably quite pleased with himself for combining three ideas: the theory that all reality is a virtual simulation (perhaps within a simulation within a simulation…); a family history that similarly nests people in layers and layers of ancestral decisions; and the politics of the Caucasus, with its tiny republics breaking away from breakway republics.
He combines this competently, and the first half of the book is a fun matryoshka doll that plays with chronology and secrets while still being pretty easy to follow. It didn’t really pay off, though. It all builds up to a very brief spy thriller sequence, and the whole simulated reality idea gets even less page time and feels tacked-on. I liked the main character, a nerdy young woman who when not dragged into spycraft would rather get drunk, flirt at parties, and get irritated at her mother—but she is a bit too much a puppet to be a strong character, both in how so much of her life is determined by the family history and politics, and in how she conforms to the role of novel character, such as in a thin romance plotline or her participation in a denouement that ties everything up too neatly.
A fun read but not one that leaves a deep impression.
He combines this competently, and the first half of the book is a fun matryoshka doll that plays with chronology and secrets while still being pretty easy to follow. It didn’t really pay off, though. It all builds up to a very brief spy thriller sequence, and the whole simulated reality idea gets even less page time and feels tacked-on. I liked the main character, a nerdy young woman who when not dragged into spycraft would rather get drunk, flirt at parties, and get irritated at her mother—but she is a bit too much a puppet to be a strong character, both in how so much of her life is determined by the family history and politics, and in how she conforms to the role of novel character, such as in a thin romance plotline or her participation in a denouement that ties everything up too neatly.
A fun read but not one that leaves a deep impression.
May 10, 2015
Eastern European politics (both Soviet and post-Soviet), color revolutions, spy games, long hidden family secrets, and a quiet sci-fi premise? Sign me up. Ken MacLeod's The Restoration Game gives all of that, plus a little bit more. Maybe that's why I liked it so much.
It's a quick read, with an engaging and easy-to-follow female protagonist who, as the story unfolds, comes to feel like the appropriate scion of all those who've come before her. I'll explain that, I swear. The book gets bonus points from me for having a female narrator; I'm writing a piece with a teenaged female narrator (as I've mentioned previously), and everything is grist for the mill. And I should note that while I quite liked Lucy's narration in The Restoration Game, I'd love to hear women's opinions of the narrator's experience and voice in this book... I don't exactly have a good frame of reference by which to judge it.
About that scion comment: our protagonist, Lucy Stone, opens the story with a cliffhanger and no context. It works well, catching you quickly and pulling you in, and then the entire book becomes an extended digression to give the context for that scene, only finally reaching resolution (appropriately enough) at the very end of the piece. At the beginning, you have no idea of what Lucy has been through, what her family history is, or what she is capable of... but by the end, things fall wonderfully into place. It's wonderfully done, and flows smoothly from start to finish.
Ok, that wasn't quite right. There's still that initial sci-fi premise, right at the very beginning of the book before Lucy ever has a chance to speak, and I bounced off it the first two times I opened the book. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I thought I'd set out to read and wasn't nearly as interesting to me at the very beginning as it was by the very end. After some reflection, I think MacLeod placed the introduction of the sci-fi premise correctly; there really isn't a better place to put it that makes more sense and doesn't disrupt the story further. Without that initial introduction, later elements of the book would make very little sense and feel insufficiently well signaled (here we are back at the perils and prerequisites of good foreshadowing). MacLeod clearly set himself a difficult project, possibly without realizing that he was doing it, but I think he managed to do a good job of it.
It looks like this post isn't even going to have a break. The Restoration Game is fast enough and internally intricate enough that I don't want to ruin anything for you by accident, so I won't bother with the usual danger of discussing potential spoiler material. Suffice to say that it's a good book, one worth picking up for quick fun, especially if you're interested in a jaunt through spy games and epistemological thought experiments.
Originally posted on Fistful of Wits.
It's a quick read, with an engaging and easy-to-follow female protagonist who, as the story unfolds, comes to feel like the appropriate scion of all those who've come before her. I'll explain that, I swear. The book gets bonus points from me for having a female narrator; I'm writing a piece with a teenaged female narrator (as I've mentioned previously), and everything is grist for the mill. And I should note that while I quite liked Lucy's narration in The Restoration Game, I'd love to hear women's opinions of the narrator's experience and voice in this book... I don't exactly have a good frame of reference by which to judge it.
About that scion comment: our protagonist, Lucy Stone, opens the story with a cliffhanger and no context. It works well, catching you quickly and pulling you in, and then the entire book becomes an extended digression to give the context for that scene, only finally reaching resolution (appropriately enough) at the very end of the piece. At the beginning, you have no idea of what Lucy has been through, what her family history is, or what she is capable of... but by the end, things fall wonderfully into place. It's wonderfully done, and flows smoothly from start to finish.
Ok, that wasn't quite right. There's still that initial sci-fi premise, right at the very beginning of the book before Lucy ever has a chance to speak, and I bounced off it the first two times I opened the book. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I thought I'd set out to read and wasn't nearly as interesting to me at the very beginning as it was by the very end. After some reflection, I think MacLeod placed the introduction of the sci-fi premise correctly; there really isn't a better place to put it that makes more sense and doesn't disrupt the story further. Without that initial introduction, later elements of the book would make very little sense and feel insufficiently well signaled (here we are back at the perils and prerequisites of good foreshadowing). MacLeod clearly set himself a difficult project, possibly without realizing that he was doing it, but I think he managed to do a good job of it.
It looks like this post isn't even going to have a break. The Restoration Game is fast enough and internally intricate enough that I don't want to ruin anything for you by accident, so I won't bother with the usual danger of discussing potential spoiler material. Suffice to say that it's a good book, one worth picking up for quick fun, especially if you're interested in a jaunt through spy games and epistemological thought experiments.
Originally posted on Fistful of Wits.
August 29, 2013
I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately—a lot, like binging. 22 books this month alone. I don’t know if I’m addicted, feeding some beast, just bored, curious about something, or avoiding something else. The point, though, is that I’m almost where I’ll read any-old-thing. Once that happens, if it does, I won’t bother with the library, as my own home has plenty of books in it to last me the rest of the year, or until this habit dies off (isn’t there a World of Warcraft patch coming out soon?).
But until I reach the critical-mass of any-old-thing, I’m trying to keep up my momentum by sampling the genres. I was in the mood for sci-fi, so I browsed the shelves at my local bookstore, and found The Restoration Game. The cover looked intriguing, the opening page looked compelling, and so I took it. Started reading it yesterday afternoon.
The Restoration Game is not sci-fi.
But then, I mean, I don’t know what else it is. A spy novel, more or less, a thriller, a political thriller maybe. There’s the first few pages, which are very sci-fi, and the last few. And a speculation on page 136, and the big “reveal” on page 211. But that hardly makes up for the fact that 97 percent of this book is not sci-fi.
I mean, it’s a fine story, I guess. Gets really bogged down in the history and politics of the former and present Soviet states, especially Georgia and South Ossettia. I have no education in this area whatsoever, and reading those portions was more or less impenetrable. That’s all backdrop for a story about this girl who comes from a lineage of spooks and who is recruited to do some spooking of her own for nefarious, mysterious reasons.
But it’s just so unsatisfying. The “big reveal” is handled almost flippantly. The main character takes it all in stride, comes up with an on-the-spot and shrug-worthy idea to exploit what she finds, and the end result is, well, nothing. Life goes on.
I wanted to read a sci-fi novel, not a novel that had a sci-fi book-ends placed on it and was tweaked in a few places to make the book-ends fit. Who knows, maybe this is a whole sub-genre of sci-fi that I’m not aware of. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of the philosophy that comes with a sci-fi novel, lots of manifesto-filling commentary on the world’s political systems. But I expected… well, I guess it’s my own fault, I wanted something stupid and fun.
You know, to keep up my momentum, which is born on a compulsion the root of which I don’t really understand right now.
But until I reach the critical-mass of any-old-thing, I’m trying to keep up my momentum by sampling the genres. I was in the mood for sci-fi, so I browsed the shelves at my local bookstore, and found The Restoration Game. The cover looked intriguing, the opening page looked compelling, and so I took it. Started reading it yesterday afternoon.
The Restoration Game is not sci-fi.
But then, I mean, I don’t know what else it is. A spy novel, more or less, a thriller, a political thriller maybe. There’s the first few pages, which are very sci-fi, and the last few. And a speculation on page 136, and the big “reveal” on page 211. But that hardly makes up for the fact that 97 percent of this book is not sci-fi.
I mean, it’s a fine story, I guess. Gets really bogged down in the history and politics of the former and present Soviet states, especially Georgia and South Ossettia. I have no education in this area whatsoever, and reading those portions was more or less impenetrable. That’s all backdrop for a story about this girl who comes from a lineage of spooks and who is recruited to do some spooking of her own for nefarious, mysterious reasons.
But it’s just so unsatisfying. The “big reveal” is handled almost flippantly. The main character takes it all in stride, comes up with an on-the-spot and shrug-worthy idea to exploit what she finds, and the end result is, well, nothing. Life goes on.
I wanted to read a sci-fi novel, not a novel that had a sci-fi book-ends placed on it and was tweaked in a few places to make the book-ends fit. Who knows, maybe this is a whole sub-genre of sci-fi that I’m not aware of. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of the philosophy that comes with a sci-fi novel, lots of manifesto-filling commentary on the world’s political systems. But I expected… well, I guess it’s my own fault, I wanted something stupid and fun.
You know, to keep up my momentum, which is born on a compulsion the root of which I don’t really understand right now.
January 22, 2012
I've heard many good things about MacLeod, and so I was interested in this book before I really knew what it was about. When it arrived, it was put on the pile, and eventually I pulled it out to read. I can honestly say it was interesting, but not in the least what I was expecting. Marketed as a science fiction book, but for the 5% (and that's being generous) that is lite science fiction, I don't think it should be considered as such. It's more of a political thriller and focuses on the personal journey of the main character, Lucy. She is taken from her safe world working for a computer gaming company and thrown into the world of intrigue her mother and possible fathers are involved in. The possible fathers sub-plot is thrown in there, I think, to add some depth to the story, but mostly I found it confusing in a is he or isn't he kind of way.
I think this story would have held more interest for me if it had focused more on the science fiction points that are brought up towards the end. MacLeod delivers some serious ides to mull over in your head awhile and perhaps even to analyze over a cup of coffee with your more 'what if' analytical friends, but they are thrown in almost as an after thought. With a little more development of those ideas, and a little less political this and that, this story could have been a great story. As it is though, I find it hard to recommend it to anyone who is not already a fan of MacLeod. This will not stop me from trying another of his books, but until I read another, I don't want to possibly turn people from him if this is not a good example of his abilities.
I think this story would have held more interest for me if it had focused more on the science fiction points that are brought up towards the end. MacLeod delivers some serious ides to mull over in your head awhile and perhaps even to analyze over a cup of coffee with your more 'what if' analytical friends, but they are thrown in almost as an after thought. With a little more development of those ideas, and a little less political this and that, this story could have been a great story. As it is though, I find it hard to recommend it to anyone who is not already a fan of MacLeod. This will not stop me from trying another of his books, but until I read another, I don't want to possibly turn people from him if this is not a good example of his abilities.
September 10, 2011
The Restoration Game lacks the fiery brilliance of earlier Macelod: it's not quite warmed-over leftovers, but definitely a stew of familiar bits from his other works. It's mildly disappointing in the same way Charlie Stross's latest was: B+ Macleod and Stross is still some of the best stuff around, but it's definitely not their A-game.
Macleod makes an odd structural choice in revealing the whole plot in the first four pages. I'd thought it was a serious mistake, robbing the whole story of mystery or tension, until the end, when he pays it off well. I still think it was an error, and readers may want to consider skipping the prologue.
The book has a nostalgic feel to it: nostalgia for Cold War intrigue, for a glamor and grandeur gone for the world, and overall, for Macleod's alternate timeline that makes ours look like a long nightmare.
It may be getting harder to write good near-term SF in a world looking increasingly broken and shabby: the authors who're trying have my sympathy. Macleod's return from Big Ideas SF to the present highlights the problem. Still, The Restoration Game was a fun, compelling and surprisingly haunting read. Don't pass it up; just don't expect it to rock your world.
Macleod makes an odd structural choice in revealing the whole plot in the first four pages. I'd thought it was a serious mistake, robbing the whole story of mystery or tension, until the end, when he pays it off well. I still think it was an error, and readers may want to consider skipping the prologue.
The book has a nostalgic feel to it: nostalgia for Cold War intrigue, for a glamor and grandeur gone for the world, and overall, for Macleod's alternate timeline that makes ours look like a long nightmare.
It may be getting harder to write good near-term SF in a world looking increasingly broken and shabby: the authors who're trying have my sympathy. Macleod's return from Big Ideas SF to the present highlights the problem. Still, The Restoration Game was a fun, compelling and surprisingly haunting read. Don't pass it up; just don't expect it to rock your world.
January 14, 2016
You can judge this book by it's cover if you remember the table from the War Room in Dr. Strangelove. Although The Restoration Game does not have the zaniness of the movie, it still takes politics and government with the same level of gravity.
CIA spooks, immigrant smuggling, and the use of an MMORPG to start a political uprising, all through the perspective of a twenty-something nerd who just wants to read some sci-fi, grab some pints with her co-workers, and hang out with her Kiwi boyfriend.
The story is fun with some interesting surprises and characters. My main problem is that I found the ending a bit anti-climactic. Although it is enjoyable to read a book filled with references to movies, games, and command line code, I did not feel like the loose ends came together in a very satisfying way. I rarely need everything explained, but I would like to know a bit more about characters that were introduced early on, to simply fade out of the story later on.
Overall - enjoyable, but not entirely memorable.
CIA spooks, immigrant smuggling, and the use of an MMORPG to start a political uprising, all through the perspective of a twenty-something nerd who just wants to read some sci-fi, grab some pints with her co-workers, and hang out with her Kiwi boyfriend.
The story is fun with some interesting surprises and characters. My main problem is that I found the ending a bit anti-climactic. Although it is enjoyable to read a book filled with references to movies, games, and command line code, I did not feel like the loose ends came together in a very satisfying way. I rarely need everything explained, but I would like to know a bit more about characters that were introduced early on, to simply fade out of the story later on.
Overall - enjoyable, but not entirely memorable.
April 21, 2017
After dealing with the Singularity (The Fall Revolution cycle and Newton’s Wake) MacLeod takes a look at the Simulation Argument with his customary mix of politics and reminisces of recent (Scottish) history. We’ve been in these areas before - the parts of the Fall Revolution set in ex-Soviet Central Asia echo in the fictional Automomous Republic of Krassnia. And likewise the background in radical academia in Edinburgh in the 1970s.
If you’re a fan of MacLeod, as I am, this is not to be missed. But I’m not sure if it’s one of his better ones!
If you’re a fan of MacLeod, as I am, this is not to be missed. But I’m not sure if it’s one of his better ones!
Read
December 6, 2020This is a really difficult book to categorize. It's not exactly science fiction, more of a political thriller than anything, but it has an SF "wrapper". In the beginning of the book, a member of a future civilization, playing a highly advanced MMORPG, discovers that a group of Synthetic Psyches (AIs) have created a vast simulation, which turns out to be a Matrix-like reality that we are currently living. She also appears at the tail end of the book, to explain what's going on to the protagonist, hence the SF wrapper.
The heroine of the story is Lucy Stone, a Western girl who was raised in the tiny area of Krassnia, part of the former USSR. The area was once ruled by the Vrai, a race of warriors who claimed to be descended from the Romans, and who folklore says guarded a secret kept atop or inside a mountain, which each young adult Vrai had to experience in order to come into their full powers over the peasants in the area.
Lucy is now living and working in Scotland (MacLeod's homeland) as an admin for a game design firm who have developed an MMORPG with some novel features. First, it employs a novel game engine which allows it to run on any platform, even outdated systems with limited resources. It adjusts its graphics and physics engines on the fly, so to speak, and can display in any mode from 3D down to wireframe, without slowing gameplay. Next, players begin as members of a horde of orc-like creatures with primitive weapons, assaulting the stronghold of elf-like rulers of the land. If and when they win their way to the top of the mountain, they become rulers themselves, and turn about to find themselves facing a new horde of orc-like creatures, composed of all of the players who have newly joined the game.
One passage I found amusing:
"I found another hobby: role-playing games. In those days we played them around a table with rule-books and score-sheets made from paper. (You don't believe me? - Check Wikipedia.)"
It turns out that Lucy's mom has been involved with the CIA (and perhaps some other shadowy agencies) and used to pass information to them about the Krassnian region when they lived there. Her employers come up with a plot to use a game based on the Krassnian folklore as a clandestine forum where democratic dissidents can meet and plan their revolution against the Soviets. Lucy and the guys at her game company are recruited to adapt their new game to this template, which turns out to be not too much of a stretch, as Lucy has been central in developing its storyline and has subconsciously included most of the plot elements remembered from her childhood.
This novel has more twists and turns than a nest of pythons, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The heroine of the story is Lucy Stone, a Western girl who was raised in the tiny area of Krassnia, part of the former USSR. The area was once ruled by the Vrai, a race of warriors who claimed to be descended from the Romans, and who folklore says guarded a secret kept atop or inside a mountain, which each young adult Vrai had to experience in order to come into their full powers over the peasants in the area.
Lucy is now living and working in Scotland (MacLeod's homeland) as an admin for a game design firm who have developed an MMORPG with some novel features. First, it employs a novel game engine which allows it to run on any platform, even outdated systems with limited resources. It adjusts its graphics and physics engines on the fly, so to speak, and can display in any mode from 3D down to wireframe, without slowing gameplay. Next, players begin as members of a horde of orc-like creatures with primitive weapons, assaulting the stronghold of elf-like rulers of the land. If and when they win their way to the top of the mountain, they become rulers themselves, and turn about to find themselves facing a new horde of orc-like creatures, composed of all of the players who have newly joined the game.
One passage I found amusing:
"I found another hobby: role-playing games. In those days we played them around a table with rule-books and score-sheets made from paper. (You don't believe me? - Check Wikipedia.)"
It turns out that Lucy's mom has been involved with the CIA (and perhaps some other shadowy agencies) and used to pass information to them about the Krassnian region when they lived there. Her employers come up with a plot to use a game based on the Krassnian folklore as a clandestine forum where democratic dissidents can meet and plan their revolution against the Soviets. Lucy and the guys at her game company are recruited to adapt their new game to this template, which turns out to be not too much of a stretch, as Lucy has been central in developing its storyline and has subconsciously included most of the plot elements remembered from her childhood.
This novel has more twists and turns than a nest of pythons, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
June 7, 2020
2.5/5, rounded up for the sheer reason that it was better than Reamde. But hey, it qualifies for book bingo, so that's something.
I liked roughly the first thirty-odd pages. Solid start to the book. But then I lost interest after correctly guessing the ending, which, to be fair, was probably novel when the book was released.
Unfortunately about 60% of the book is infodump and the rest of it is a Sanderlance, and it's not even a proper Sanderlance, . I just felt, by the end, very confused. There's not much room for character development (the MC's mostly just there as a vessel for plot, and sidecharacters can be stick figures).
It's also fairly light on the sff bits, which didn't help engagement, but might be cool if you (or someone you know) doesn't read sff but wants a thriller/mystery with hints of sff.
I would've liked more frame story than the actual mainline story, but it is what it is. At least it's a quick read.
Meh.
I liked roughly the first thirty-odd pages. Solid start to the book. But then I lost interest after correctly guessing the ending, which, to be fair, was probably novel when the book was released.
Unfortunately about 60% of the book is infodump and the rest of it is a Sanderlance, and it's not even a proper Sanderlance, . I just felt, by the end, very confused. There's not much room for character development (the MC's mostly just there as a vessel for plot, and sidecharacters can be stick figures).
It's also fairly light on the sff bits, which didn't help engagement, but might be cool if you (or someone you know) doesn't read sff but wants a thriller/mystery with hints of sff.
I would've liked more frame story than the actual mainline story, but it is what it is. At least it's a quick read.
Meh.
January 3, 2019
A startup game company, a woman from a country that in some ways doesn't exist, family secrets. It all sounds very exciting, and parts of the book are. There was, however, a LOT of rather tedious stuff - all necessary to the story, but a bit of a slog - that covered most of the middle. I'm glad I read it, but it's definitely not on my reread list.
September 25, 2020
Not really SF, other than the prologue and the epilogue. The rest is just a straight espionage thriller, cut with bits of MacLeod's NZ holiday and a lot of stuff about Soviet Communism (which is pretty boring). Did not keep me up past 2am - hell, barely kept me up past midnight. Pick another MacLeod book over this one.
May 1, 2018
Interesting mix of spy novel with techno thriller. And a pretty great ending as well.
December 20, 2019
Lucy Stone is dragged into a world of espionage and folklore that mainly is driven by the video game she helped create. But is there any truth in the game and the legend
May 6, 2020
A bit obvious - too much of the RPG style.
October 11, 2020
3.5 Decent Cold War ish techno thriller.
December 23, 2020
Good story
Read
June 8, 2022I read this ten years ago and don't remember it at all now, alas. The publisher's blurb sounds good.
August 26, 2025
Similar, simulacrum
Twists within twists, plots within plots, code within code.
Sic transit gloria mundi
Very much a "What if..." book, and a good one at that.
Twists within twists, plots within plots, code within code.
Sic transit gloria mundi
Very much a "What if..." book, and a good one at that.
November 23, 2025
A great read, very much in the vein of Macleod’s other books but with a fun take on the “are we living in a simulation” question.
December 13, 2025
Awesome read. Some of the history was difficult to follow but not enough to ruin the book
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