The Quiet War Omnibus: The Quiet War and Gardens of the Sun

by Paul McAuley

THE QUIET WARWho decides what it means to be human?Twenty-third century Earth has been ravaged by climate change, and is now dominated by a few powerful families, with millions of people in prison and millions more labouring to rebuild ruined ecosystems. Meanwhile on Jupiter and Saturn, live the Outers. They have built a wild variety of scientific utopias crammed with exuberant creations of the genetic arts. Now they want to colonise Earth and drive human evolution in a new direction.On Earth, some want to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Outers while others wish to exploit the talents of the gene wizards. It is clear that the fragile detente between the two branches of humanity is breaking down and they may be heading towards war . . .GARDENS OF THE SUNThe Quiet War is over. A century of enlightenment, rational utopianism and exploration of new ways of being human has fallen dark. But victory is fragile, and riven by vicious internal politics. While seeking out and trying to anatomise the strange gardens abandoned in place by Avernus, the Outers' greatest genius, the gene wizard Sri Hong-Owen is embroiled in the plots and counterplots of the family that employs her. The diplomat Loc Ifrahim soon discovers that profiting from victory isn't as easy as he thought. And in Greater Brazil, the Outers' democratic traditions have infected a population eager to escape the tyranny of the great families who rule them.After such a conflict only one thing is clear. No one can escape the consequences of war - especially the victors.

Genres: Science Fiction

450 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2017

About the author

Since about 2000, book jackets have given his name as just Paul McAuley.

A biologist by training, UK science fiction author McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction, dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternate history/alternate reality, and space travel.

McAuley has also used biotechnology and nanotechnology themes in near-future settings.

Since 2001, he has produced several SF-based techno-thrillers such as The Secret of Life, Whole Wide World, and White Devils.

Four Hundred Billion Stars, his first novel, won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1988. Fairyland won the 1996 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 1997 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had only to now read McAuley's Confluence series. I enjoyed that, so I figured I'd try the Quiet War series.
I really enjoyed this two book compendium. Took quite a while to get through though. The character development is second to none IMHO. But sometimes it can get a bit too granular and you just wish the author would move on. But ultimately it was all worth it.
Great storytelling too, but again, a bit slow in places. I found myself skimming through passages quite a few times because they were just too detailed. And the skimming made no difference to the story it seemed.
Not a lot of physics science here. Pretty much all biology and genetics science and speculation. Which can be very interesting and I think we, as humans, will probably explore these ideas way before we have any huge advances in physics or engineering sciences.
I'm really in the mood for a really good hard physics sci fi book after this, but I think I will continue on with this series anyway and see what happens. Two more books after this one.

[Milton Soong]

Wars among the inner planets. A very different style from the Expanse, good in its own way.