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The Fall Revolution #1-2
Fractions
The first half of The Fall Revolution, Ken MacLeod's landmark modern science fiction series, this volume comprises The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal.In a balkanized future of dizzying possibilities, mercenaries contend with guns as smart as they are, nuclear deterrence is a commodity traded on the open market, teenagers deal in "theologically correct" software for fundamentalists, and anarchists have colonized a planet circling another star. Against this background, men and women struggle for a better future against the betrayals that went before. Death is sometimes the end, and sometimes something altogether different…Both The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal won the Prometheus Award on their original publication. They are followed by The Cassini Division and the British Science Fiction Association Award-winning The Sky Road.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
644 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 28, 2008
46 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Ken MacLeod
113 books770 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 2, 2009
This book contains the first 2 novels in MacLeod's "The Fall Revolution" series. The first one, The Star Fraction is a near-future cyberpunk-ish story set in a balkanized version of the UK after WW III. The second one, The Stone Canal A Novel, is partly set before the first novel and partly far in the future.
The Star Fraction reminded me of more politically-focused early William Gibson novel - but not in a good way. Despite having been written 10 years after Neuromancer, it somehow came across as more dated, probably at least in part because Gibson didn't know much about computers, whereas MacLeod tried to drop in some then-current computer terms and technologies which now seem dated. The main character is Moh Kohn, a security mercenary who accidentally obtains information/technology that could change the world. Other characters are a scientist working on proscribed technology, and a teenage kid escaping from a hyper-religious enclave. Expect lots of political arguments and glimpses at the hard life of a political splinter group interrupted by the occasional action scene. I barely felt any connection with any of the characters and at several points almost stopped reading, despite the fact that the future history MacLeod created is actually quite interesting.
The Stone Canal A Novel alternates telling two stories, the first one focusing on the life Jonathan Wilde, showing glimpses of his life as a student in the 70's, 80's and 90's, and the second one of his adventures on New Mars in the far future. Once again, expect a considerable amount of political discussions. Fortunately, Wilde is actually an interesting character, making this second novel a more enjoyable read. Also, reading his story puts the first book in perspective and explains a lot of the events that led up to the Fall Revolution (leading me to think that it would actually make more sense to read book 2 before book 1). However, I thought the far-future story set on New Mars was far less interesting and that the novel completely derailed towards the end.
I don't think I'll be reading the final two books in the series, which are due to be re-released by Tor as "Divisions" later this year.
The Star Fraction reminded me of more politically-focused early William Gibson novel - but not in a good way. Despite having been written 10 years after Neuromancer, it somehow came across as more dated, probably at least in part because Gibson didn't know much about computers, whereas MacLeod tried to drop in some then-current computer terms and technologies which now seem dated. The main character is Moh Kohn, a security mercenary who accidentally obtains information/technology that could change the world. Other characters are a scientist working on proscribed technology, and a teenage kid escaping from a hyper-religious enclave. Expect lots of political arguments and glimpses at the hard life of a political splinter group interrupted by the occasional action scene. I barely felt any connection with any of the characters and at several points almost stopped reading, despite the fact that the future history MacLeod created is actually quite interesting.
The Stone Canal A Novel alternates telling two stories, the first one focusing on the life Jonathan Wilde, showing glimpses of his life as a student in the 70's, 80's and 90's, and the second one of his adventures on New Mars in the far future. Once again, expect a considerable amount of political discussions. Fortunately, Wilde is actually an interesting character, making this second novel a more enjoyable read. Also, reading his story puts the first book in perspective and explains a lot of the events that led up to the Fall Revolution (leading me to think that it would actually make more sense to read book 2 before book 1). However, I thought the far-future story set on New Mars was far less interesting and that the novel completely derailed towards the end.
I don't think I'll be reading the final two books in the series, which are due to be re-released by Tor as "Divisions" later this year.
December 4, 2016
Hmmmm...... I read this book because I know that Iain Banks asked Ken MacLeod to finish any of his unfinished writing before he died. However, the two really do not compare.
Where Banks makes megaworlds and huge events and spaces believable, I felt that MacLeod fell very short on that. His worlds and ideas ARE huge, but for me not believably enough so. That was one of the major let-downs. However, I read the book all the way through. The main reason for this is that the ideas behind the Fall Revolution are very compelling: the resurgence and emergence of socialist, capitalist and anarchist elite who are able to transform their ideas into a New World Order, where technology plays a central role in them being able to do so in the near future, is understandable and frighteningly believable.
The first 'book' within the book puts down the basis of this idea, but sometimes delved too murkily into the political theoretical depths - this detracted from the interspersed action scenes of the main plot, and contrasted too much with them to be a comfortable read. This was corrected in the second book, "The Stone Canal", which was written only a year later but was more enjoyable. At one point I even thought I was getting into it, especially as MacLeod had put much more 'intrigue' and a really good backstory to some of the characters. He also supplemented the societal and technological issues with questions on self, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. But, 10 pages from the end, it suddenly seemed like he had a deadline to meet and rushed the end into incomprehension.
This put me off MacLeod for a bit. I may or may not indulge in the 3rd and 4th book just because of the political aspects, but perhaps MacLeod should use his knowledge to write future history with less extreme science fiction elements.
Where Banks makes megaworlds and huge events and spaces believable, I felt that MacLeod fell very short on that. His worlds and ideas ARE huge, but for me not believably enough so. That was one of the major let-downs. However, I read the book all the way through. The main reason for this is that the ideas behind the Fall Revolution are very compelling: the resurgence and emergence of socialist, capitalist and anarchist elite who are able to transform their ideas into a New World Order, where technology plays a central role in them being able to do so in the near future, is understandable and frighteningly believable.
The first 'book' within the book puts down the basis of this idea, but sometimes delved too murkily into the political theoretical depths - this detracted from the interspersed action scenes of the main plot, and contrasted too much with them to be a comfortable read. This was corrected in the second book, "The Stone Canal", which was written only a year later but was more enjoyable. At one point I even thought I was getting into it, especially as MacLeod had put much more 'intrigue' and a really good backstory to some of the characters. He also supplemented the societal and technological issues with questions on self, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. But, 10 pages from the end, it suddenly seemed like he had a deadline to meet and rushed the end into incomprehension.
This put me off MacLeod for a bit. I may or may not indulge in the 3rd and 4th book just because of the political aspects, but perhaps MacLeod should use his knowledge to write future history with less extreme science fiction elements.
July 7, 2010
Star Fractions is a politically imaginative account on where high technology can potentially take the human race in the near future. If you're into politics (which I am), you get to see political theory through the lens of an European writer. Seeing things through that perspective makes it interesting enough for me. The book drags a little; but still somehow holds your attention due to MacLeod's skill for writing in a cyber-punk literary style. Additionally, you get a well worth reward at the end of the journey. The last couple chapters is where the story culminates into a beautiful realization that you'll hold in your head for a while.
November 11, 2025
my review of the series is under the title of the 3nd volume Divisions
January 30, 2025
Often written in an amusing way. Big, fascinating ideas. But sometimes hard to follow. Some of the interactions between length and women feel like seventies scifi.
March 7, 2011
Credit for a sophisticated treatment of political ideology in fractured futures, including socialist and communist strains that you seldom see in sci-fi (outside of Robinson). But as novels they don't don't hold up well, for a few reasons. There is a disappointingly unrealistic portrayal of all these exotic political systems, so that you never really get a feel for the way that things actually work; they feel more like thought experiments than societies. The characters are rather thinly drawn, and their interactions often feel forced. The dialogue is often clumsy, with pervasively didactic tone (though in fairness all of the characters are ideologues, and that is often how ideologues actually talk). Perhaps it is just me, but I found the plots somewhat difficult to follow, especially at critical points.
August 23, 2016
El autor me hizo sufrir por interminables páginas de historias sobre-complicadas (para mi) y casi aburridas. La curiosidad de ver cómo el autor se imaginaba un mundo moldeado por dos ideologías de mi interés (el socialismo y el anarco-libertarismo) fue lo que me ayudó a aguantar tantas páginas. Pero realmente, entre los últimos capítulos de cada libro (Star Fraction y especialmente de The Stone Canal) el autor demuestra que su fuerte es el hard sci-fi, y lo supo pulir bien en The Stone Canal. El autor te hace re-pensar en lo que somos, en lo que significa ser humanos y en el mundo que nos rodea, y te deja con la esperanza de que un mundo diferente es posible. Un sci-fi que trata de la singularidad tanto tecnológica como humana.
June 30, 2015
This was MacLeod's first book, too ambitious for a beginning writer, and it certainly shows. The writing itself shifts between sentence fragments and overly complex rambling sentences that remind me of the 18th century. Before I quit reading at page 50 he seemed to be developing an interesting society, but the plots and opposing factions were quite complex, and he was not a good enough writer to manage them.
I MIGHT have presevered a little longer if I had nothing else to read, but my shelves and kindle collections are bulging with books that I am sure are better. My SF group will be discussing this next week; I'll see if they convince me to resume the reading.
I MIGHT have presevered a little longer if I had nothing else to read, but my shelves and kindle collections are bulging with books that I am sure are better. My SF group will be discussing this next week; I'll see if they convince me to resume the reading.
April 12, 2013
In a balkanized future of dizzying possibilities, mercenaries contend with guns as smart as they are, nuclear deterrence is a commodity traded on the open market, teenagers deal in "theologically correct" software for fundamentalists, and anarchists have colonized a planet circling another star. Against this background, men and women struggle for a better future against the betrayals that went before. Death is sometimes the end, and sometimes something altogether different…
This volume comprises The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal.
January 7, 2013
reads like a thinly veiled political manifesto, little character development. some interesting ideas about AI and what not, but after struggling through the first book decided to put it aside. may come back to it later, but not likely...
put-down
July 4, 2009Difficult to follow. Very political.
May 13, 2012
Incomprehensible. Lemmed after 59 pages.
Read
April 5, 2014The politics treatment is dizzying and required frequent web searches to follow up on what the heck Ken was talking about. The science fiction and the ideas about the Fast Folk are interesting.
October 3, 2013
Really really liked this one. Especially the first part, "The Star Fraction".
Want to read
December 18, 2008A Tor book
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews