Orbital Cloud

by Taiyo Fujii

The global war on terror has a new front—the very edge of outer space.

In the year 2020, Kazumi Kimura, proprietor of shooting star forecast website Meteor News, notices some orbiting space debris moving suspiciously. Rumors spread online that the debris is actually an orbital weapon targeting the International Space Station. Halfway across the world, at NORAD, Staff Sergeant Darryl Freeman begins his investigation of the debris. At the same time, billionaire entrepreneur Ronnie Smark and his journalist daughter prepare to check in to an orbital hotel as part of a stunt promoting private space tourism. Then Kazumi receives highly sensitive information from a source claiming to be an Iranian scientist. And so begins an unprecedented international battle against space-based terror that will soon involve the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NORAD, and the CIA.

Genres: Science Fiction, Japanese Literature, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Thriller, Space, Technology

528 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2014

About the author

Taiyo Fujii (藤井太洋 Fujii Taiyō?) (born 1971 in Amami Ōshima) is a Japanese science fiction writer.

Awards
2015: Nihon SF Taisho for Orbital Cloud
2015: Seiun Award Japanese Long Form for Orbital Cloud

Works
English translations, long form[edit]
Gene Mapper (2015), translation of Gene Mapper —full build— (2013)

English translations, short form
"Violation of the TrueNet Security Act" (2015), translation of "Koraborēshon" (コラボレーション?) (2012)
"A Fair War" (2016), translation of "Kōseiteki sentō kihan" (公正的戦闘規範?) (2015)

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A techno-thriller with thin but likable characters dealing with hostile action in Earth orbit and an international cast of entrepreneurs, terrorists, government and military.

In Japan in 2020 the proprietor of a small web company dedicated to tracking objects in orbit notices some debris moving very strangely. Across the Pacific, NORAD investigates it as well. Something very strange is going on and as more parties get involved it becomes clear that something is happening in orbit that threatens the whole world.

Wide-reaching, with a cast of characters from Japan, the US, Iran, China and Korea, the book is a hard science espionage thriller with lots of action and politics. There's also a lot of commentary on the state of the aerospace sector, from the careers of engineers in this sector to the roles of JAXA and NASA and how private companies are moving forward into that space and why. Unfortunately all of the commentary and background information (particularly around aerospace and IT) along with a fast-moving plot leaves little space for character. As such, while entertaining and likable, most of the characters here get very little development.

Realistically this is probably a 3.5 star book, but I'm bumping it to 4 because of how much I enjoyed reading it. This is squarely in my wheelhouse of interests so gets a bonus there.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 Stars
This was a solid piece of hard science fiction with an interesting premise. As a translated Japanese work, I enjoyed that the story had global perspectives, rather than the North American perspective I am so use to reading. The characters were not particularly interesting and certainly not the reason to pick up this book. I liked the premise, but unfortunately I found the actual narrative quite flat and I did not enjoy this one as much as I hoped I would. 

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this.

[Queen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!!! We follow an amateur meteorologist and web designer (both with untapped skills) as they discover mysterious objects in low earth orbit. As they work with international experts and spies on a case of global terrorism, we get to enjoy the main characters coming into their own. They're brilliant! An incredible space scientist and computer engineer. They and their team are so fraking competent. I love reading nothing more than books about competent people in hard sci-fi espionage thrillers.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of complex IT and orbital physics, so much so I was a bit concerned I might need to be more knowledgeable to continue reading. But the story that unfolds is of the work it takes to solve a LEO terrorist attack is accessible and enjoyable.

[Ivo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Techno-Thriller, eher am tech-nerdigen denn am mainstreamigen Ende der Skala angesiedelt. Wer Freude an astrophysikalischen Abhandlungen hat, sollte hier mal vorbeischauen. Ansonsten eher dünne Kost, was Charaktere, Spannung und Glaubwürdigkeit der Handlung angeht.

Der Roman wurde in Japan mit mehreren SF-Preisen ausgezeichnet und ist bereits das zweite Werk des Autors, das auf Englisch vorliegt.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad I read a book about LEO (low earth orbit) and it was quick enough despite its size, but... Characters were flat and story was plot-driven in a sort of unsatisfying way. It was moving toward one obvious, happy-ending kind of ending. Didn't say anything really aside from the plot and the bit of science in there. The science was the most satisfying part for me personally, cause this was completely new for me. It was chock full of a few tropes I can't stand - unlikely characters called in to save the world and crazy-mushy super-supportive team work to save the world. So, overall, glad I read it, but will not be picking up this author again.

[Kamakana · Rating 2 out of 5]

exactly the book you do not want to give to someone to introduce science fiction. this is hard science. i do not know much physics or astrophysics but got some of the ideas, though i do not know if you really need 528 pages of not-very-convincing espionage, simple characters, linear plotting, minimal poetics, to get them across. there are a lot of numbers, tech, computers, geek heroes, but this made me think in comparison the last paul auster book read: not that i had similarly high expectations but i did read this in three big chunks, less happy each time, and figuring, as this is Japanese, perhaps it is going somewhere interesting- no. if i had had another book to read... well if literature is auster, this is sf, both are prolix and disappointing and really not likely interesting to each other's readers...

[Shaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars

This science fiction book was originally published in Japanese in 2014 and the English translation appeared in 2017. The events of the story occur in a span of just a few days in December 2020 and a great deal happens. The cast of characters are from a few different countries which is refreshing with so many books having a focus on the US. The characterization isn't very deep but still these are interesting characters and the technology projection and the exploration of the aerospace industry are detailed and thoughtful. I'm glad I read this even though it took me a while as I didn't find it had that quality some books have that compel me to keep reading as fast as I possibly can. Strangely enough, it's possible that the book benefits from a more slow reading experience.

[Wynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know if the flaws I’m picking up come from the author or from the translator, but—essentially, this reads like a run-of-the-mill shounen manga, or the plot of one of those JRPGs with a silent protagonist.

The plot is interesting, if a bit confusing at the start, but the characters are almost all caricatures who don’t experience any growth at all. In fact, far from growing, they appeared on the page totally flat. Whether it’s the overweight, slovenly, rich American, or the super personality-less but talented Japanese IT guy, or the spunky billionaire-and-daughter pair, none of them had any dimension to them. Also the names are just bizarre. What kind of Indonesian name is Daryl Freeman? And Ronnie Smark sounds like an off-brand Tony Stark.

But, well, I’m nitpicking. It was a fun romp through space with some limited human drama thrown in.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neat story, interesting enough to get through, but overlong and I absolutely hate Fujii's writing style -- so many cliches. It's a big novel that plays like a colossal Hollywood blockbuster that nobody ever remembers.

[Aramiheartilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent hard sci-fi book with characters that have depth and are well developed.
This is a very long book but it’s worth it. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Guy L. Pace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Orbital Cloud. I wasn't sure what Taiyo was getting at in the first chapters. But he kept the action moving and brought out a unique technology concept around which he wove an interesting, immersive story. I love the characters and the interplay of the geo-political landscape.

Good hard science fiction is rare and Taiyo delivers well. I'm always watching for translated works from him and have not been disappointed.

[Diana What · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read!!! Epic SF with a wide lens that reminds me of the TV show 'The Expanse' (which I want to read but haven't yet), this book skillfully navigates between locations all over the world to build international cooperation and intrigue. All the characters are brilliant and wonderful in their own way, all incredibly dedicated and impressive in the humanity. I highly recommend!!

[Elrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

finally, a book which lives up to the science in science fiction. Though techno thriller might be more accurate.

the technical background is mind-blowing, but it is OK if one doesn't get it all down.l to the detail. the story works, and although the characters are a little... underdeveloped, they work in the whole picture.

I would have liked more personal stories, and the book would have profited immensely from more human perspective and maybe less stereotypes. still, this is nitpicking, I really enjoyed this read and will look more closely at Japanese based scifi.

if you like orbital mechanics, spy stories and some fun It lore (which I cannot say how well written it was), this is mustread!!

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that is plot and science driven but not with very strong characters. But a decent enough read.

[Lady Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 2.7 / 5

I'm sure that Taiyo Fujii meant this to be a greater book than it actually is. Just based on the summary alone, I was hooked on the idea. Something space-related--check. Cool cover--check. Unique author that I'd never heard of--check. Assortment of fun characters--eh, so-so.

To be honest, I think that I was expecting this to be something like The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, which I read last year and consequentially made an insta-fave right after my first read. (Will be re-reading that again this year as soon as the sequel comes out.) But, alas, it turns out that Mr. Fujii just doesn't have the same storytelling skill that Mr. Scalzi has.

To sum up why I put this book down after reading only about 125 or so pages of it, it's not that the idea isn't interesting, because it is. Set to take place in 2020 with the threat of North Korea as the enemy in a post-Cold War battle for space (with no war actually breaking out yet, but it's still that same paranoia of before), an object, SAFIR-3 is sent into space and defies all expectations as it accelerates the higher it goes, contrary to what was expected. This raises some select few eyebrows, which are elaborated on by the author as he zigzags from character to character, but the problem turns out to be bigger than that.

There are tons of events and characters and personalities and perspectives all expressed in the story, and I really did like some characters like Jamshed, Akari, the "man Friday", and so on, so I congratulate the author for making the characters interesting, given that he attributes only a limited amount of space in each chapter per character. However, as is often the case for me personally as a reader, just the characters alone aren't enough to really carry the story through.

The biggest problem with this novel that brought it into the boredom corner of my mind is that there were too many technical terms and calculations and technical visualizations, etc. that I didn't understand, and this took away from my enjoyment of the story. There's a point in every reader's experience, when they start skipping over paragraphs that contain data that they don't want to read, that one starts to pinpoint as the time to set a book aside. Or, even more likely, that time is when one has to continuously remind themselves that they should read the book. "Should" is for a job or for school--never for recreational reading.

As such, with no hard feelings on my end and complete liberty to set this one aside, I move on to something that will hopefully appeal to me more.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Kazumi Kimura discovers that the orbit of a spent rocket booster is increasing rather than degrading, he posts an article about it on his website, Meteor News. When Ozzy Cunningham, former realtor to tech startups and now retired and obsessed with astrophotograpy, sees the post, he turns his lens to the sky and captures images of the anomalous object for his own post, but decides to add some click-bait to it by speculating that it's a kinetic strike platform, dubbing it the "Rod from God." That's not true, but it works just fine for the terrorist nation behind what's actually going on, hiding their intent until they're ready.

They've put up some 40 thousand tiny spacecraft which use a revolutionary power and propulsion technique developed by an Iranian graduate student, who doesn't know that his thesis paper has found a receptive audience after being ignored by his adviser. The Rod from God ideal doesn't get any traction with Kazumi, or NORAD for that matter, but they quickly realize that something potentially more dangerous is going on and a tale of international intrigue and space science takes off complete with web developers saving the world, CIA agents holding project meetings, scientists and engineers not being given the support they need and getting even, and a tech entrepreneur and his journalist daughter in an orbital hotel on a collision course with disaster.

Taiyo Fuji is an award winning Japanese SF author whose first book, Gene Mapper, was the #1 Kindle title for Amazon.co.jp in 2012. Orbital Cloud, his second novel, swept a number of awards in Japan for its 2014 release, and was published in English in March 2017, but hasn't gotten a lot of attention. That's too bad, because the thinking in this sf/techno story is on a par with James Cambias second novel (Corsair) in terms of tech vision and real world consequences. As for the story itself, there's a quality to the characters and prose which is very Japanese, a little too proper, a little to burdened with getting the details presented correctly, and not leading with as strong a hook as it could have. The story starts out a bit slowly, but once you get into the rhythm of the translated writing, and things pick up, the action pulls you along nicely.

[Charl · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Orbital Cloud" is a good, plausible near-future story that enjoyed right up until the author flubbed his science completely, totally negating the heroes' triumphant destruction of the threat.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

First he describes a formation of AWACS aircraft flying above the satellite cloud, upside down so their radars could get a good image of them.

Wait, what?! AWACS are aircraft — it's impossible for them to leave the atmosphere, much less reach LEO and maneuver. So how would they get above the satellite cloud? That's like having someone drive from California to Hawaii.

That flub shattered my immersion completely, but I could simply ignore it and continue reading.

Until they started cutting the tethers. The plan was to beam energy at the satellites at a frequency and power level such that they'd only pick up energy when they're perpendicular to the energy beam. That way they can control when the tether burns through by where they aim from. And by cutting the tethers when they're perpendicular to the direction of orbit, one satellite in each pair slows and drops to Earth, and the other flies completely out of the Solar System.

So far, so good. To beam the energy so the tethers burn through at the right time you'd have to be ahead of or behind the cloud, but by positioning yourself in a slightly higher or lower orbit, you should be able to avoid and collisions with the released satellite pairs. You'd have to adjust your position frequently, but it's doable.

However, he then has them beaming the energy from the Earth's surface. The way they work, the tethered pairs spin in a plane tangent to the Earth's surface. Which means they'd always be perpendicular to energy beamed from the surface, and they'd have no control over when the individual tethers burned through. Leaving them with the very same random dispersal of the untethered elements they're trying to avoid.

[Marie Labrousse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un bilan mitigé pour cette nouvelle incursion dans la science-fiction japonaise.

Résumé : un astronome amateur japonais, qui cherche à calculer la date de retombée d’un débris spatial, s’aperçoit que celui-ci, en dépit des lois de la physique, est en train d’accélérer. Ce phénomène ne manque pas d’inquiéter l’armée américaine alors que le premier vol spatial privé vient justement de quitter la Terre. Commence alors tout autour du globe une course contre la montre pour comprendre cette anomalie, qui risque de bouleverser tout le futur de l’exploration spatiale.

L’histoire se lit bien, on devine en arrière une réflexion sur les enjeux de la course à l’espace et le fait que celle-ci, monopolisée par les pays les plus riches, laisse une place croissante aux intérêts privés. C’est bien amené et traité plutôt finement, quoique l’épilogue s’achève sur une conclusion un peu ambiguë.

Les personnages sont simples mais bien campés et très compétents dans leurs actions – parfois trop, au point que cela fait parfois sourciller : au moins, les lecteur·ices ne sont pas les seul·es à s’en étonner. Aussi, cela fait du bien de constater qu’on ne se limite pas aux États-Unis (ni même, d’ailleurs, au Japon), puisque les personnages proviennent d’au moins cinq pays différents. Et (ô joie) on a aussi droit à des personnages féminins tout à fait corrects.

Mais ce que j’ai trouvé dommage, c’est l’impression de lire un techno-thriller – sous-genre qui me rejoint moins personnellement – plutôt qu’un roman de science-fiction. J’aurais voulu en savoir plus sur la façon dont l’auteur envisageait à long terme l’exploration spatiale plutôt que partir dans une course contre la montre qui dure moins d’une semaine. Cela a sans doute influé sur mon appréciation globale.

[Kyra Boisseree · Rating 3 out of 5]

OOF. This is the longest it’s taken me to read a book in a while. But I knew going in that this book would be a challenge. I’m so proud of myself for finishing it tbh—4 years ago I had very little experience reading science fiction, despite liking it as a film genre and also for some reason thinking I could write it. I started consciously trying to “get better” at reading science fiction and I think this is by far the hardest science fiction I’ve ever read. So, yeah, I’m proud of myself.

I am not a STEM person though, so the science part of this science fiction did go over my head. I have been known to watch physics documentaries for fun, but not this kind of physics. I was a fan of Kazumi and Akari, though, and I also liked Jamshed!!! I’m sad about how his story turned out. I found the political statement of this book to be quite interesting, but didn’t love how it was resolved. The portrait painted of the US in this was....interesting. Illuminating? Certainly a perspective I’d never seen us from before. I was not super comfortable with the portrayal of the CIA and US military. It was like “yeah the CIA monitors everything, but that’s actually a good thing for us.” :/ And I’m never gonna be enthusiastic about such a capitalist ending, especially since I spent the whole book HATING the Smarks. Ah, well. I’m still happy to have read this.

[Bryan Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Orbital Cloud is a hard science fiction technothriller. It's about spies and high technology, schemes and mathematics.

The plot concerns a secret effort to do something spoilerish in low Earth orbit. A motley crew of eventual allies from around the world piece things together. Secret agents, an internet-less scientist, rich men, bureaucrats, hackers, and space fans people the stage. The result is fun but thin and focused. Only one character gets a stab at development, and that doesn't make much sense. Beyond the mechanical workings of the plot there isn't much else: little description, wacky politics, nothing really about society.

What else might Orbital Cloud tell us? It offers an untimely view of North Korea as dire global threat while China is a sleeping dragon. It duns several bureaucracies, especially those in Japan. And it sees space as a liberatory, benevolent force taking humanity forward. An interesting constellation of ideas.

Recommended if you're in a hard sf, technothriller mood.

[Pranav Saxena · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book proved to be a bit of a disappointment.

It had the foundation of being a really good story, including a super interesting idea of a never-exhausting propulsion system that can be deployed in lower earth orbit, multiple space agencies, a billionaire, a space hotel, the ISS, the CIA and a few amateurs who become pivotal to the entire story.

However, the narrative seemed to be stretch to 150 more pages than were required. The protagonists (the amateurs) become "easy superheroes" with their problem solving being over simplified (they just had the answer to everything). And at some point the book stopped being a page turner. However, the foundational scientific idea was really interesting.

Overall, not highly recommended.

[Jeff Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a major slog for me.

New technology for things in orbit become what is essentially a national/worldwide security issue, and this story follows the discovery and the science and whatnot behind it. It balances the harder science aspects with some of the discovery ones, and it keeps the pacing moving pretty well.

Why doesn't this work? I can't tell if the translation is a little lifeless or if this just feels a little too sterile and/or detached to truly make an impact. I really wanted to love this book, since the idea really pings my interests, but I just had a lot of trouble getting into and sticking with this book. I can't recommend.

[Sweemeng Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book have a lot in it, hacking, web advertising, startups, orbital dynamics, anti satellite weapons. It even feature internet shutdowns and raspberry pi!. As this is set in near future, it is not hard to imagine on how all this can work. The thing is there is not much of a character development, but they are still very likable.

One of the recurring theme in the book is about engineers that didn't get enough support. What happen if engineer didn't get infrastructure support. What about the environment with good infrastructure, but the people don't support them well enough! It is a thing to think about.

[Scintilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the first hard sci fi book I read. Whilst the parts about spoofing technologies such as the spyware advertisement, foreign SIM cards, corrupted translation database & aux cable were enjoyable and felt incredibly realistic; most of the orbital mechanics flew over my head.

Good cast of character but as another reviewer point out, the characters were quite thin and whilst likeable, I didn't really care about them - e.g. the relationship between Shiraishi and Akari would have been more emotional if they were more fleshed out characters. In all honesty, there were probably too many characters in the book and some of them could have been cut.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a well crafted novel, and TImothy Silver did a great job in the translation.

This is my second foray into Taiyo Fujii, and I have to say I've really enjoyed his work. The scenarios he comes up with and the science behind his ideas is so interesting.

In Orbital Cloud, we follow many perspectives, expertly woven together to create one cohesive story about space tethers, and space terrorism. I loved how each aspect of the story contributed to the overall plot, and how each character was important. I really enjoyed the writing, and how Fujii created multi-faceted characters.

Overall, this was fascinating and enjoyable, and I really want to read more from this author!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

An at first fun, detailed science fiction read that quickly deteriorated because of its 2D characters and overuse of cliches.

Instead of giving a longer explanation, here are some alternative (spoiler-heavy) titles for the book:
- 50 Things To Do With Your Raspberry Pi
- North Korea Is Going To Kill Us All
- America Is Great (and So Is Starbucks)
- That's What You Get For Trusting Iran
- If We All Work Together We Can Make It
- Everyone Is Nice But Non-Western Spies
- Huzzah! Capitalism In Space
- All Is Well When the End Is Well

[Nacho A. A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad. Nor good, either. The narrative and plot weaving is slow, convolutedly going-to-nowhere, too the japanese way of thinking, too show the brains, too essayish. The overall story is fine but takes too long for things to happen. Being mere fiction for reading fun, a more agile approach is better, as neither the characters nor the non-dialogue passages nor the scientific discourse on orbital mechanics appeal too much, an endless feeling of boredom and nothing-happens crawls throughout the pages. Not for me. I'm 25% and I'm just giving up.

[Leonard Armitage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Near modern day sci-fi (sorta). I so so so wanted to like this book but like my other recent read it seemed to be written to be a screen play and the characters were all from central castings while most of the scenes were back lot studio at best. was hoping it'd be good enough to jump into his other works but that's a no go.