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Beyond the Burn Line
A novel about posthuman Earth, colonisation, Ufology, and secret histories.
It's two hundred thousand years in the future. Humanity is extinct, the ruins of its cities fossilised beneath sediments deposited by rising oceans. After a civilisation of intelligent bears collapsed when a plague turned them into crazed killers, their former slaves, descendants of racoons who call themselves the people and worship Mother Earth, have driven the last of the former masters northward and built a new civilisation.
Peaceful and emphasising harmony with nature and cooperation between its tribes, but with strict divisions between the roles of men and women, it spans the American continent and is beginning to explore the rest of the world. But now, sightings of mysterious visitors are being reported. Are they bears which escaped the plague, a remnant population of human beings, or an unknown intelligent species? Where are they from, and what do they want?
Conceptually and thematically this is an example of what the genre can do best: using far future SF tropes to explore contemporary challenges faced by our own society - in this case historical issues such as colonisation, race relations and questions of responsibility for past injustices. There's also a timely Ufology strand in there, along with impeccable McAuley world-building.
It's two hundred thousand years in the future. Humanity is extinct, the ruins of its cities fossilised beneath sediments deposited by rising oceans. After a civilisation of intelligent bears collapsed when a plague turned them into crazed killers, their former slaves, descendants of racoons who call themselves the people and worship Mother Earth, have driven the last of the former masters northward and built a new civilisation.
Peaceful and emphasising harmony with nature and cooperation between its tribes, but with strict divisions between the roles of men and women, it spans the American continent and is beginning to explore the rest of the world. But now, sightings of mysterious visitors are being reported. Are they bears which escaped the plague, a remnant population of human beings, or an unknown intelligent species? Where are they from, and what do they want?
Conceptually and thematically this is an example of what the genre can do best: using far future SF tropes to explore contemporary challenges faced by our own society - in this case historical issues such as colonisation, race relations and questions of responsibility for past injustices. There's also a timely Ufology strand in there, along with impeccable McAuley world-building.
455 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 22, 2022
83 people are currently reading
1322 people want to read
About the author
Paul McAuley
229 books418 followersSince 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
September 30, 2022
I have only previously read two of Paul McAuley's science fiction novels, Fairyland and Austral, both impressive, interesting and different. The same is also true of Beyond the Burn Line, making me realise I need to dig into his back catalogue for the future.
Beyond the Burn Line is a book of two halves. The first takes us into a far future Earth, where the dominant species, simply referred to as 'people' but clearly not human, live a relatively low tech, but rich life. We discover that they used to be slaves of intelligent bears, who were the main intelligent species on Earth for thousands of years before their relatively recent demise. Humans (referred to as ogres) have been extinct far longer, which, until things are explained further, made the tag line of the book 'What will become of us?' confusing.
This first half of the book is a distinctly slow-paced adventure, involving the troubles of the secretary of a notable scholar who has just died: as a result of his punishment, the former secretary discovers a fascinating relic that sends him on a quest, trying to prove the existence of visitors from the skies. Whether or not intentionally, what McAuley has produced here is the SF equivalent of the hobbits in Tolkien's fantasies - McAuley's 'people' are small, hairy, a touch pompous, with a tendency to teeter on the borderline between being loveable and being twee. Their not-quite-human nature makes it a little harder to truly sympathise with the main character, but the reader is kept onside by the storyline.
The second half is an abrupt transition from the first. The 'people' still feature, but we now find out exactly what they are and how they came to exist. This section is not told from their viewpoint, but it would give away too much to say why and how this is the case. Most of this half worked significantly better for me in terms of characterisation, while the pace picks up significantly. Much of the mystery of the earlier part of the book is now explained.
So far, so good, but there remain some problems. Practically every character in the second half seems to have an ulterior motive, and the main character's actions are repeatedly derailed to an extent that becomes a touch tedious. It is also confusing in places as many characters are introduced briefly, and it becomes difficult to remember who is who amongst the various adversaries and apparent helpers in the repeatedly shifting perspective of the apparent truth. Add in a distinctly frustrating ending, and the reader can emerge a little unsettled.
Despite this, though, the ideas are original and far-thinking. There are (slightly heavy-handed) messages about colonisation and the treatment of indigenous people - though perhaps there is not enough exploration of what being indigenous really means under the circumstances of the novel's storyline. I'm very glad I read this book - and, as mentioned, I will search out more McAuley - but I still wish the second half wasn't both confusing and endowed with a rushed feeling as it reaches the ending.
Beyond the Burn Line is a book of two halves. The first takes us into a far future Earth, where the dominant species, simply referred to as 'people' but clearly not human, live a relatively low tech, but rich life. We discover that they used to be slaves of intelligent bears, who were the main intelligent species on Earth for thousands of years before their relatively recent demise. Humans (referred to as ogres) have been extinct far longer, which, until things are explained further, made the tag line of the book 'What will become of us?' confusing.
This first half of the book is a distinctly slow-paced adventure, involving the troubles of the secretary of a notable scholar who has just died: as a result of his punishment, the former secretary discovers a fascinating relic that sends him on a quest, trying to prove the existence of visitors from the skies. Whether or not intentionally, what McAuley has produced here is the SF equivalent of the hobbits in Tolkien's fantasies - McAuley's 'people' are small, hairy, a touch pompous, with a tendency to teeter on the borderline between being loveable and being twee. Their not-quite-human nature makes it a little harder to truly sympathise with the main character, but the reader is kept onside by the storyline.
The second half is an abrupt transition from the first. The 'people' still feature, but we now find out exactly what they are and how they came to exist. This section is not told from their viewpoint, but it would give away too much to say why and how this is the case. Most of this half worked significantly better for me in terms of characterisation, while the pace picks up significantly. Much of the mystery of the earlier part of the book is now explained.
So far, so good, but there remain some problems. Practically every character in the second half seems to have an ulterior motive, and the main character's actions are repeatedly derailed to an extent that becomes a touch tedious. It is also confusing in places as many characters are introduced briefly, and it becomes difficult to remember who is who amongst the various adversaries and apparent helpers in the repeatedly shifting perspective of the apparent truth. Add in a distinctly frustrating ending, and the reader can emerge a little unsettled.
Despite this, though, the ideas are original and far-thinking. There are (slightly heavy-handed) messages about colonisation and the treatment of indigenous people - though perhaps there is not enough exploration of what being indigenous really means under the circumstances of the novel's storyline. I'm very glad I read this book - and, as mentioned, I will search out more McAuley - but I still wish the second half wasn't both confusing and endowed with a rushed feeling as it reaches the ending.
October 25, 2022
Finally. I picked this sci fi novel up based on a recommendation and because I thought the premise sounded interesting. It takes place 200,000 years in the future after the decimation of our human civilization, beyond the burn line. I think the title may be my favorite part. The story involves the rise and demise of a civilization of philosopher bears, a race of evolved raccoons, and humans reconstituted based on preserved DNA. Of the various peoples I much preferred the raccoons. Overall, I took away from the reading that the more things change the more they stay the same.
Parts of the book were intriguing or clever and thus I kept reading, although I often questioned whether it was the best use of my time. But in the end the parts were greater than the whole and that’s not really the conclusion you hope to draw at the end of 455 pages.
Parts of the book were intriguing or clever and thus I kept reading, although I often questioned whether it was the best use of my time. But in the end the parts were greater than the whole and that’s not really the conclusion you hope to draw at the end of 455 pages.
December 29, 2022
Arguably the worst book I've read this year... Long, boring, far-fetched, no characters to speak of... Plus, for the first (long!) half the, very relevant I'd say, fact that the characters are, what's the term?... "evolved raccoons" is not revealed... (Don't ask me why I finished it... Ok, I was hoping for some closure - instead I got an awkward cliffhanger preparing the next installment... No thanks...)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2024
I've had mixed experiences with Paul McAuley novels. I loved Austral for its environmental themes, but wasn't that keen on The Quiet War or Cowboy Angels. I enjoyed the ideas in all three, while not really liking the plots of the latter two. Beyond the Burn Line likewise has really interesting ideas, yet I'm ambivalent about how they were explored. The pace is slow as the protagonists are ordinary people, experiencing regular setbacks and bad luck. When their lives get caught up in events of global importance it is relatively glossed over. Thus I found the world-building detailed and thoughtful, without being caught up in the plot.
Beyond the Burn Line is set tens of thousands of years in the future. Humans are extinct and a different kind of intelligent mammals know them as 'ogres'. In the first half of the novel, a minor scholar finds a lost document that suggests humans may have visited cities built by the previous dominant species, bears. However his investigations into the truth of the matter are stymied by domestic matters. The second half of the novel has a different protagonist, although the matter being investigated is essentially the same. The new protagonist gets bit further with it, while also encountering bureaucratic hurdles and interpersonal discord.
I appreciate what McCauley set out to do here: explore really big themes around intelligence, colonialism, historiography, and coexistence via characters who are random ordinary people of the distant future. It's interesting to see the machinations of powerful beings in a fragmentary and distant way via their impact on individuals. That said, I think the character voices could have been stronger and the details of daily life in the future more fun. A bit more humour might have made the narrative more compelling . The serious points were well-made while not being terribly enjoyable to read.
Beyond the Burn Line is set tens of thousands of years in the future. Humans are extinct and a different kind of intelligent mammals know them as 'ogres'. In the first half of the novel, a minor scholar finds a lost document that suggests humans may have visited cities built by the previous dominant species, bears. However his investigations into the truth of the matter are stymied by domestic matters. The second half of the novel has a different protagonist, although the matter being investigated is essentially the same. The new protagonist gets bit further with it, while also encountering bureaucratic hurdles and interpersonal discord.
I appreciate what McCauley set out to do here: explore really big themes around intelligence, colonialism, historiography, and coexistence via characters who are random ordinary people of the distant future. It's interesting to see the machinations of powerful beings in a fragmentary and distant way via their impact on individuals. That said, I think the character voices could have been stronger and the details of daily life in the future more fun. A bit more humour might have made the narrative more compelling . The serious points were well-made while not being terribly enjoyable to read.
April 25, 2023
Looking for something original? Then this book about an advanced racoon civilization grappling with a technological revolution and aliens who threaten to undo its societal norms and radically alter the arc of its development should fit the bill. Honestly, while I always marvel at the ability of an author to get into the mind of someone so different than him or her, this writer’s ability to get into the mind of an animal takes the cake. I cannot say much more without giving too much away, but suffice it to say that the villains do not disappoint and the story never slows down, even if you do see some of the plot twists coming. If I do have one complaint, it is that the ending was rather abrupt, left much unanswered and did not feature as much racoon as I might have hoped. In any case, those were small hiccups in what was otherwise a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stale sci-fi landscape. Bravo!
February 12, 2023
Good science fiction book. Made me think a lot. Didn't care for the ending much though. It meandered a lot before ending abruptly. A little unsatisfying. But overall it was very good.
March 18, 2023
Beyond the Burn Line by Paul McAuley
https://medium.com/@peterseanEsq/scie...
I can be entranced by the concept of “Deep Time.” For example, anthropologists now think (or speculate) that human beings were trapped between Siberia and Alaska for “thousands of years,” specifically for ten to twenty thousand years.
We have a tendency to let our eyes glide past numbers like “twenty-thousand years” without any particular emotional reaction, thinking, perhaps, “Hmm….interesting. Now what’s the next point I need to know?” But I invite you to meditate on that number. Our recorded history – the history that we can kind of piece together with records and structures – goes back maybe 6,000 years ago. The pyramids were built 4,500 years ago. Tack on another 1,000 years and we wonder what was going on.
Then turn your attention to the Beringerian Standstill – twenty-thousand years! Three times as long as we have history. For three times longer than earliest pharaohs, there was a population of humans that could not leave this godforsaken sliver of land. Eventually, they did, at which time they populated North America.
Or consider human prehistory which goes back 100,000 years. What were people doing in their small bands as they wandered across the face of Europe and Asia? How could they not have settled down sooner and started farming and cities. Why didn’t they start ten-thousand years sooner? It seems like a short time, but it is twice as long as the time that brought us from stone tools to spaceships.
I purchased “Beyond the Burn Line” by Paul McAuley because it promised that deep time perspective. The book is set after the extinction of humanity. Another intelligent species (the “People”) have evolved intelligence, but they were not the first since humanity. After humans and before the People, there was a species of intelligent Bears. The People know about humans – who they call “ogres” – from the fossils that lie underneath a layer of burned soil.
With that setting, I assumed that the book was set perhaps several hundred million years in the future, given the amount of time that it would take to evolve human intelligence. I wasn’t sure how McAuley was going to work a story set in a completely post-human setting. Stories that are exclusively alien in perspective lack a connection with readers. It can be done if the aliens are anthropomorphized with human virtues that engage the reader, but a story that was really about real aliens would be incomprehensible.
Beyond the Burn Line is organized into two connected parts. In the first part, we follow an apprentice scholar named Pilgrim Saltmire. Pilgrim’s master has died at the outset of the book and Pilgrim is turned out by the heirs. Pilgrim makes it his mission to prove his master’s controversial theory that UFO’s are real. At various places around the known world, individual members of the People have been visited by flying, glowing ships that carry Visitors who bear a resemblance to the Ogres.
The People’s society is going through an industrial/scientific revolution. Trains have been invented. Traditional agrarian clan societies are being disrupted. A class of scholarship is sharing information. In this world, Pilgrim returns to his clan, has some adventures, is exiled to the frozen south – which is a clue about where the story is set – and discovers a key to the Visitors.
In the course of this story, we learn that humans have been extinct for “only” two-hundred thousand years and that the intelligent Bears were overthrown by the People eight hundred years before when a plague reduced Bear intelligence and made them feral.
That is a clue that something is going on which is not natural. Two-hundred thousand years is not enough time for the evolution of a new intelligent species, much less two. There is an explanation for this, but I will not spoil it here.
At the end of the first section, the mystery of the Visitors is solved. The second section is set forty years later. The Visitors play the viewpoint role in this section as we discover the answers to the mysteries that Visitors existence are disclosed. This section involves a Visitor who specializes in Visitor-People relations. Those relations have soured. In addition, the question of the plague that overthrew the Bears becomes important.
I enjoyed this book. McAuley is a good writer. I liked the characters. The action kept the story moving along. What kept me involved was the game of trying to figure out what was going on. When I got one answer, another one would be presented. My curiosity kept me turning pages.
I was not completely satisfied. I had hoped for much deeper time, but, obviously, given the answers to the mysteries presented, that would never work. In addition, new mysteries were raised at the end of the book that were not answered. It may be that McAuley intended to write a second book, but that left this book with the sense that some things were left hanging.
On the whole, this is an enjoyable science fiction book, but not a perfect one.
https://medium.com/@peterseanEsq/scie...
I can be entranced by the concept of “Deep Time.” For example, anthropologists now think (or speculate) that human beings were trapped between Siberia and Alaska for “thousands of years,” specifically for ten to twenty thousand years.
We have a tendency to let our eyes glide past numbers like “twenty-thousand years” without any particular emotional reaction, thinking, perhaps, “Hmm….interesting. Now what’s the next point I need to know?” But I invite you to meditate on that number. Our recorded history – the history that we can kind of piece together with records and structures – goes back maybe 6,000 years ago. The pyramids were built 4,500 years ago. Tack on another 1,000 years and we wonder what was going on.
Then turn your attention to the Beringerian Standstill – twenty-thousand years! Three times as long as we have history. For three times longer than earliest pharaohs, there was a population of humans that could not leave this godforsaken sliver of land. Eventually, they did, at which time they populated North America.
Or consider human prehistory which goes back 100,000 years. What were people doing in their small bands as they wandered across the face of Europe and Asia? How could they not have settled down sooner and started farming and cities. Why didn’t they start ten-thousand years sooner? It seems like a short time, but it is twice as long as the time that brought us from stone tools to spaceships.
I purchased “Beyond the Burn Line” by Paul McAuley because it promised that deep time perspective. The book is set after the extinction of humanity. Another intelligent species (the “People”) have evolved intelligence, but they were not the first since humanity. After humans and before the People, there was a species of intelligent Bears. The People know about humans – who they call “ogres” – from the fossils that lie underneath a layer of burned soil.
With that setting, I assumed that the book was set perhaps several hundred million years in the future, given the amount of time that it would take to evolve human intelligence. I wasn’t sure how McAuley was going to work a story set in a completely post-human setting. Stories that are exclusively alien in perspective lack a connection with readers. It can be done if the aliens are anthropomorphized with human virtues that engage the reader, but a story that was really about real aliens would be incomprehensible.
Beyond the Burn Line is organized into two connected parts. In the first part, we follow an apprentice scholar named Pilgrim Saltmire. Pilgrim’s master has died at the outset of the book and Pilgrim is turned out by the heirs. Pilgrim makes it his mission to prove his master’s controversial theory that UFO’s are real. At various places around the known world, individual members of the People have been visited by flying, glowing ships that carry Visitors who bear a resemblance to the Ogres.
The People’s society is going through an industrial/scientific revolution. Trains have been invented. Traditional agrarian clan societies are being disrupted. A class of scholarship is sharing information. In this world, Pilgrim returns to his clan, has some adventures, is exiled to the frozen south – which is a clue about where the story is set – and discovers a key to the Visitors.
In the course of this story, we learn that humans have been extinct for “only” two-hundred thousand years and that the intelligent Bears were overthrown by the People eight hundred years before when a plague reduced Bear intelligence and made them feral.
That is a clue that something is going on which is not natural. Two-hundred thousand years is not enough time for the evolution of a new intelligent species, much less two. There is an explanation for this, but I will not spoil it here.
At the end of the first section, the mystery of the Visitors is solved. The second section is set forty years later. The Visitors play the viewpoint role in this section as we discover the answers to the mysteries that Visitors existence are disclosed. This section involves a Visitor who specializes in Visitor-People relations. Those relations have soured. In addition, the question of the plague that overthrew the Bears becomes important.
I enjoyed this book. McAuley is a good writer. I liked the characters. The action kept the story moving along. What kept me involved was the game of trying to figure out what was going on. When I got one answer, another one would be presented. My curiosity kept me turning pages.
I was not completely satisfied. I had hoped for much deeper time, but, obviously, given the answers to the mysteries presented, that would never work. In addition, new mysteries were raised at the end of the book that were not answered. It may be that McAuley intended to write a second book, but that left this book with the sense that some things were left hanging.
On the whole, this is an enjoyable science fiction book, but not a perfect one.
September 30, 2024
I'm impressed by the imagination of the author, and I'm not surprised, he's a biologist. He has created a rather unique tome with some fascinating peoples.
June 18, 2023
Paul McAuley dives into the deep future in his latest novel. Humanity is gone, mysterious Ogres fallen victim to climate change and their own hubris. Uplifted bears have risen and fallen once more. Their fall to barbarism has freed their slaves, racoons also modified by the whims of lost humanity.
It begins with scholar's assistant Pilgrim Saltmire after the death of his patron. Pilgrim wants to complete his master's work, an investigation of mysterious lights in the sky that might be visitors but might also be mass hysteria. He wants but funds for the work, which are hard to obtain. Returning to his mome he meets rejection, shame and exile. But exile leads to discovery of a mysterious map and a connection beween his people, bears and ogres which have devastating implications.
The moral of the tale is that nothing is ever quite what it seems, or even that which we may wish it to be. McAuley navigates this terrain with his signature elegaic style - slightly distant, but not far enough removed for the reader not to connect with the characters and invest in their fate. It is notable too for the elaborate worldbuilding creating and describing the culture of Pilgrim and his compatriots. And also for an insight into the wish to do good, and the often unintended consequences of those altruistic intentions.
Eligible for the 2023 Hugo Award, and likely to be on my nomination ballot
It begins with scholar's assistant Pilgrim Saltmire after the death of his patron. Pilgrim wants to complete his master's work, an investigation of mysterious lights in the sky that might be visitors but might also be mass hysteria. He wants but funds for the work, which are hard to obtain. Returning to his mome he meets rejection, shame and exile. But exile leads to discovery of a mysterious map and a connection beween his people, bears and ogres which have devastating implications.
The moral of the tale is that nothing is ever quite what it seems, or even that which we may wish it to be. McAuley navigates this terrain with his signature elegaic style - slightly distant, but not far enough removed for the reader not to connect with the characters and invest in their fate. It is notable too for the elaborate worldbuilding creating and describing the culture of Pilgrim and his compatriots. And also for an insight into the wish to do good, and the often unintended consequences of those altruistic intentions.
Eligible for the 2023 Hugo Award, and likely to be on my nomination ballot
October 10, 2022
Excellent science fiction from a modern master. Too easy to spoil the plot - just read it.
October 31, 2022
A somewhat good idea, very poorly executed, not only in the way the plot goes (which can be argued is just a matter of taste) but in the way the story is told.
June 22, 2023
8,5 Science fiction is not a homogenous genre, even though there is a lot of SF that seems similar. There are the usual near future dystopias, far out space opera's, climate fiction or morality tales set on other planets. And then there are the novels that are about truly exploring new viewpoints and new ideas - conceptual science fiction, one might say. Even though to me this is the core of the genre, and novels like this were prevalent in the 'golden age of SF', now these are few and far between. But I still like stumbling on them.
Paul McAuley seems to specialise in these conceptual novels. This is no exception. It takes place 200.000 year after the exctinction of humanity. A race of intelligent raccoons has arisen. One of them, Pilgrim Saltmire, tries to complete the research of his mentor, who has passed away. It concerns the observations of mysterious 'visitors' and the question if these are a real phenomenon or pure imagination. Pilgrims journey takes him to the south of his continent, where he finds a map from an earlier civilisation ... The map contains clues to something bigger going on ...
I will not tell more of the plot, as finding out about each new revelation is part of the fun. Of course there are new layers to peel off about this future world and how it came to be and I thought it was all well thought out. The first half of the book was a bit hard to go through. It reads like a nineteenth century novel about a young scientist following a lead and is a bit meandering. But in the second half another perspective is introduced and the pace ramps up. At that point I was thoroughly hooked. Sadly though even if the main questions were answered, the author chose to end on a bit of cliffhanger. But that's not a large issue.
Plotwise, the second half, even though interesting, didn't seem to be well constructed, as I didn't think the main character had a lot of influence on what was going on. Several times they were taken in by authorities, set free and then apprehended again by another agency. This made it possible for the author to present information, but maybe the main character could have been a bit more instrumental in the resolution. Also, a lot of new people were introduced and I found it hard to keep track of them all, even more so because their alliances shift and the reader is not sure who is on which side all the time. I did like how the map served as a throughline through all developments and I appreciated the strained relationships between several characters at the end, which had the feel of realism.
To me, the criticisms above taken together, mean this novel did not really make the most of its ideas. I mean, the idea was great, maybe brilliant, but the story based on those could have been greater. But in a landscape of samey SF-novels this is a true outlier, harking back to an older, more concept driven layer of SF, which makes me recommend this to those who love their SF to be a bit weird and different, even if it's by no means perfect.
Paul McAuley seems to specialise in these conceptual novels. This is no exception. It takes place 200.000 year after the exctinction of humanity. A race of intelligent raccoons has arisen. One of them, Pilgrim Saltmire, tries to complete the research of his mentor, who has passed away. It concerns the observations of mysterious 'visitors' and the question if these are a real phenomenon or pure imagination. Pilgrims journey takes him to the south of his continent, where he finds a map from an earlier civilisation ... The map contains clues to something bigger going on ...
I will not tell more of the plot, as finding out about each new revelation is part of the fun. Of course there are new layers to peel off about this future world and how it came to be and I thought it was all well thought out. The first half of the book was a bit hard to go through. It reads like a nineteenth century novel about a young scientist following a lead and is a bit meandering. But in the second half another perspective is introduced and the pace ramps up. At that point I was thoroughly hooked. Sadly though even if the main questions were answered, the author chose to end on a bit of cliffhanger. But that's not a large issue.
Plotwise, the second half, even though interesting, didn't seem to be well constructed, as I didn't think the main character had a lot of influence on what was going on. Several times they were taken in by authorities, set free and then apprehended again by another agency. This made it possible for the author to present information, but maybe the main character could have been a bit more instrumental in the resolution. Also, a lot of new people were introduced and I found it hard to keep track of them all, even more so because their alliances shift and the reader is not sure who is on which side all the time. I did like how the map served as a throughline through all developments and I appreciated the strained relationships between several characters at the end, which had the feel of realism.
To me, the criticisms above taken together, mean this novel did not really make the most of its ideas. I mean, the idea was great, maybe brilliant, but the story based on those could have been greater. But in a landscape of samey SF-novels this is a true outlier, harking back to an older, more concept driven layer of SF, which makes me recommend this to those who love their SF to be a bit weird and different, even if it's by no means perfect.
August 12, 2023
I feel like this book scratches every single reading itch that I have...The setting, in a far future Earth, is exactly what I love most about speculative science fiction. The characters are aware that "Kilroy was indeed here" but they don't devote much thought to the why or what happened to us, until they are faced with our distantly related genetic replicas attempting to reforge the existing natives in their own image, who are at the time facing down their own cultural failings and long held prejudices. This book reads like the most fun and interesting social (and maybe religious) commentary that can possibly be experienced in fiction. It reads something like a combination between Cloud Atlas and Avatar, with its connecting narratives separated generationally, and its subtle commentary on (perceived) superior species interventions. All in all, I think this is one that I would heartily recommend to those who enjoys science fiction, particularly with pervasive post-apocalyptic themes but I'd also recommend to anyone with an open mind about the far future development of the human race and other post human Earth based life forms.
August 13, 2023
Loved the first half but the mystery of it gets lost in the second half of the book :(
September 30, 2022
Pilgrim Saltmire a young secretary/apprentice to famed scientist Master Able, an expert on the artifacts and centuries gone civilization of the Bears who enslaved and even ate "the people" for millenia and who has recently died of old age/illness, has been let go by his master's kin and is also kicked out of his lodgings and access to research, so he needs material support to continue his mentor's last and very controversial project, namely investigating mysterious sightings of "aliens". After being refused by the wealthy and advanced Union capital city Sweetwater "collective", a new type of clan that has been powering the people's economic expansion through new technology obtained from studying the long-gone "Ogre" cities of yore, he goes back to his rural and not that wealthy clan to ask his mother, Thorn, one of the "aunties" who lead the clan, for said support. His grandfather Bearbane, once an important person famed for defeating a remnant bear population that was threatening the clan and who seasons ago put him in touch with Master Able, is now in the decline of advanced age and may not be able to help either.
And so it seems to go, only for the story to take an unexpected turn and lead to Pilgrim's most important discovery which seems to suggest that recent history including the fall of the Bears civilization to plague and the rise of the people to their peaceful but definitely materially and technologically progressing society along the lines of the long ago Ogres civilization, though hopefully this time without violating Mother (Earth) so inviting her brutal response that led the Ogres to extinction, is actually not quite as in the official histories preserved in the vast Library of the People where Pilgrim worked for so long.
And of course, there are the mysterious and seemingly increasing sightings of the "visitors", the rise of a new cult preaching that they will soon arrive and bring even more prosperity to all and eliminate the wealth and status
differences that are more and more visible in the Union.
Later the story moves along some decades in the future and switches again in perspective, though Pilgrim's discoveries are still its main focus. The second part is by its nature much faster-paced than the first and at times this makes it seems a bit rushed especially towards the ending which solves the main mysteries at least to a large extent, though as in any good story, leaves enough hooks for a possible sequel.
The actual last page may disappoint some as the author pulls a trick that is quite effective when it works, and I actually really liked it and found it very appropriate.
Overall, I lovedThe Burn Line a lot and found its twisting and turning, from Pilgrim's almost picaresque set of adventures to the second part, very captivating, and while I thought the resolution of the main mysteries to be a bit rushed, it was still adequate and I definitely loved the last page.
There is a lot of cool stuff including action, philosophy, and science - one of the theories that master Able was well known for in addition to his conclusively proving the theory of "selective change" (so him being a sort of Darwin of the "people") was his theory of lifestyle adaption that posited that species that live the same way start resembling each other regardless of how different they are biologically, and especially applying it to the "people" and the long ago "Ogres"... The Bears were the bears so to speak, quite different, violent, and with a brutal civilization that did not really evolve materially until close to its end and even then only in a few places...
The characters are quite interesting too, the structure of the "people" society and their biology is well thought out, though, for most of the storyline, Pilgrim and his friends and companions are not that distinguishable from human characters as per master Able's theory above
Highly recommended and one of the top novels of 2022
And so it seems to go, only for the story to take an unexpected turn and lead to Pilgrim's most important discovery which seems to suggest that recent history including the fall of the Bears civilization to plague and the rise of the people to their peaceful but definitely materially and technologically progressing society along the lines of the long ago Ogres civilization, though hopefully this time without violating Mother (Earth) so inviting her brutal response that led the Ogres to extinction, is actually not quite as in the official histories preserved in the vast Library of the People where Pilgrim worked for so long.
And of course, there are the mysterious and seemingly increasing sightings of the "visitors", the rise of a new cult preaching that they will soon arrive and bring even more prosperity to all and eliminate the wealth and status
differences that are more and more visible in the Union.
Later the story moves along some decades in the future and switches again in perspective, though Pilgrim's discoveries are still its main focus. The second part is by its nature much faster-paced than the first and at times this makes it seems a bit rushed especially towards the ending which solves the main mysteries at least to a large extent, though as in any good story, leaves enough hooks for a possible sequel.
The actual last page may disappoint some as the author pulls a trick that is quite effective when it works, and I actually really liked it and found it very appropriate.
Overall, I lovedThe Burn Line a lot and found its twisting and turning, from Pilgrim's almost picaresque set of adventures to the second part, very captivating, and while I thought the resolution of the main mysteries to be a bit rushed, it was still adequate and I definitely loved the last page.
There is a lot of cool stuff including action, philosophy, and science - one of the theories that master Able was well known for in addition to his conclusively proving the theory of "selective change" (so him being a sort of Darwin of the "people") was his theory of lifestyle adaption that posited that species that live the same way start resembling each other regardless of how different they are biologically, and especially applying it to the "people" and the long ago "Ogres"... The Bears were the bears so to speak, quite different, violent, and with a brutal civilization that did not really evolve materially until close to its end and even then only in a few places...
The characters are quite interesting too, the structure of the "people" society and their biology is well thought out, though, for most of the storyline, Pilgrim and his friends and companions are not that distinguishable from human characters as per master Able's theory above
Highly recommended and one of the top novels of 2022
November 7, 2022
DNF @ 50%. Honestly a waste of my time.
The concept sounded so cool and in the beginning I thought it could deliver, but then the next 200 pages, the entire first section of the book, was nothing but filler and I got so mad by the time I reached the second section that I just dgaf about how it ends and gave up.
Apparently there’s a time jump and humans finally make an appearance, but honestly, I’m not sticking around to find out.
The concept sounded so cool and in the beginning I thought it could deliver, but then the next 200 pages, the entire first section of the book, was nothing but filler and I got so mad by the time I reached the second section that I just dgaf about how it ends and gave up.
Apparently there’s a time jump and humans finally make an appearance, but honestly, I’m not sticking around to find out.
July 26, 2023
solid 4 maybe 4.5
His work is always very clear and readable but this story, while enjoyable, was not as exciting
as much of his works.
Perhaps the subject matter?
I didn't put it down but I could have in a couple of places.
Recently read In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune. Similarly far future post human etc but very much more engaging and involving.
Not a criticism but a comparison for other readers
His work is always very clear and readable but this story, while enjoyable, was not as exciting
as much of his works.
Perhaps the subject matter?
I didn't put it down but I could have in a couple of places.
Recently read In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune. Similarly far future post human etc but very much more engaging and involving.
Not a criticism but a comparison for other readers
May 8, 2023
I loved this. Well written and inhabited of insanely unexpected ideas and characters, it gets the mind fired up from the first. In a world where every book sees the publication of too many books to count, it's not often that one comes across something truly apart. But this is that.
October 7, 2022
Paul’s latest is another book (there’s been a few lately) that begins and makes the reader think they’re reading one type of novel before veering off into a very different story.
The novel is separated into two books. When I started the first one, I thought it was a story straight out of Fantasy. With its talk of notaries and supplicants, it felt almost Dickensian, a point compounded by the fact that our hero Pilgrim Saltmire is a secretary to Master Able, recently deceased, but also a scholar and a curator of books.
When Pilgrim goes in search of an ancient map that is taken from him, one that hints of a world where the feral bears may have had cities in the past and a connection to the strange alien ogres, the more modern wider world beyond Pilgrim’s town of Highwater Reach reveals itself to be somewhat steampunkish, with train travel, printing presses and balloons.
It is only as this journey progresses that I realised that it was something more than this story of animals with human traits at first suggested. The tribes whose lives we quickly become immersed in do not seem like something from science fiction at all, instead reading rather like Tolkien’s Hobbits in terms of a bucolic lifestyle (although I’d be tempted to suggest Terry Brooks’s The Sword of Shannara rather than Tolkien), with a Victorian-style manner.
Paul manages to do that clever thing of telling stories from non-human perspectives and yet still embody human characteristics – a thirst for knowledge and understanding, love, friendship, envy, and even bureaucracy! – all of which make the characters quite endearing. At times the lifestyle of these creatures is more enviable than that of the humans, managing a lifestyle on the whole mainly without violence and in keeping with the nature of their planet. It is also interesting how much the species imitate human nature - there’s a wry look at cult religion and paranoid conspiracy theories that also feels strangely appropriate to us humans, as too the revelation of an Invisible College, run by females who wish to enable the emancipation of women. Injustice exists in different yet recognisable ways here too.
It is in the second part of the book that Paul’s long game is revealed. There is a change in style and tone in this latter part of the novel. If I had to compare Beyond the Burn Line here, too, then Part Two is rather like Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep, or Brian Aldiss’s Helliconia, in its descriptions of an evolving, uplifted society and their connection to other species.
We still have a continuing search for the ancient map, but this quest is with the next generation, beyond Pilgrim. Here we see ‘ogres’ working alongside Pilgrim’s descendants in order to recover the lost map. Goodwill Saltmire, Pilgrim’s nephew, and the ogre Ysbel Moonsdaughter hope to find the answer to a mystery, but in their travels discover that there is more to the map and their world than they realised. We discover the origins of Pilgrim’s people, their relationship to humans and their past, as well as the origins of Mother, the deity who they worship, and their relationship with the feral bears, who they generally kill on sight.
By the end a much bigger story is revealed, and the consequences of this discovery are played out to an interesting conclusion. The background to this world and the creatures upon it are revealed, and the story’s science-fictional element is made clear.
In summary then, as with the best of Paul’s work, Beyond the Burn Line is inventive and smart, engaging and logical. As a reader I found myself caring a great deal about what happens to Pilgrim, his descendants, and their world, until by the end when the story was done, I was sad to find it finished.
Beyond the Burn Line shows us what a skilled writer can do. Imaginative, intelligent world building, with a far-future setting that allows our characters, whilst different, to exhibit endearingly human traits. It is going to be one of my books of the year, I think.
The novel is separated into two books. When I started the first one, I thought it was a story straight out of Fantasy. With its talk of notaries and supplicants, it felt almost Dickensian, a point compounded by the fact that our hero Pilgrim Saltmire is a secretary to Master Able, recently deceased, but also a scholar and a curator of books.
When Pilgrim goes in search of an ancient map that is taken from him, one that hints of a world where the feral bears may have had cities in the past and a connection to the strange alien ogres, the more modern wider world beyond Pilgrim’s town of Highwater Reach reveals itself to be somewhat steampunkish, with train travel, printing presses and balloons.
It is only as this journey progresses that I realised that it was something more than this story of animals with human traits at first suggested. The tribes whose lives we quickly become immersed in do not seem like something from science fiction at all, instead reading rather like Tolkien’s Hobbits in terms of a bucolic lifestyle (although I’d be tempted to suggest Terry Brooks’s The Sword of Shannara rather than Tolkien), with a Victorian-style manner.
Paul manages to do that clever thing of telling stories from non-human perspectives and yet still embody human characteristics – a thirst for knowledge and understanding, love, friendship, envy, and even bureaucracy! – all of which make the characters quite endearing. At times the lifestyle of these creatures is more enviable than that of the humans, managing a lifestyle on the whole mainly without violence and in keeping with the nature of their planet. It is also interesting how much the species imitate human nature - there’s a wry look at cult religion and paranoid conspiracy theories that also feels strangely appropriate to us humans, as too the revelation of an Invisible College, run by females who wish to enable the emancipation of women. Injustice exists in different yet recognisable ways here too.
It is in the second part of the book that Paul’s long game is revealed. There is a change in style and tone in this latter part of the novel. If I had to compare Beyond the Burn Line here, too, then Part Two is rather like Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep, or Brian Aldiss’s Helliconia, in its descriptions of an evolving, uplifted society and their connection to other species.
We still have a continuing search for the ancient map, but this quest is with the next generation, beyond Pilgrim. Here we see ‘ogres’ working alongside Pilgrim’s descendants in order to recover the lost map. Goodwill Saltmire, Pilgrim’s nephew, and the ogre Ysbel Moonsdaughter hope to find the answer to a mystery, but in their travels discover that there is more to the map and their world than they realised. We discover the origins of Pilgrim’s people, their relationship to humans and their past, as well as the origins of Mother, the deity who they worship, and their relationship with the feral bears, who they generally kill on sight.
By the end a much bigger story is revealed, and the consequences of this discovery are played out to an interesting conclusion. The background to this world and the creatures upon it are revealed, and the story’s science-fictional element is made clear.
In summary then, as with the best of Paul’s work, Beyond the Burn Line is inventive and smart, engaging and logical. As a reader I found myself caring a great deal about what happens to Pilgrim, his descendants, and their world, until by the end when the story was done, I was sad to find it finished.
Beyond the Burn Line shows us what a skilled writer can do. Imaginative, intelligent world building, with a far-future setting that allows our characters, whilst different, to exhibit endearingly human traits. It is going to be one of my books of the year, I think.
April 13, 2025
Beyond the Burn Line is set 200,000 years in the future. Human civilization perished in some unspecified disaster - the title of the book refers to a dark layer of ash that scars the geologic record which coincides with the end of humans, who are now all extinct. The implication is that there was a cataclysmic disaster (nuclear war? Raging infernos due to global warming?) the directly caused all of the humans to perish. Thousands of years later, a race of intelligent bears arose, built cities and started their own civilization. But 200 years ago, some sort of insanity virus infected the bears, driving them all mad and their nascent civilization crumbled into ruin. However, the collapse of the bears meant that their oppressed slaves (whom we learn much later in the novel are descended from raccoons) were now free to build their own civilization - and that is where the novel begins.
Pilgrim Saltmire is a scholar. Unfortunately, his mentor - Master Able - has just died, leaving Pilgrim without secure funding or purpose. Although Master Able was well established and respected, in recent times he had taken to investigating the persistent rumors of lights in the sky and glimpses of ogres haunting the grounds. Is it possible there is kernel of truth to these rumors? Master Able was writing up his research and theories but died before he could publish. Pilgrim wishes to finish what Master Able started, but no serious academic is going to waste time on stories told by charlatans and liars. Pilgrim will have to find a new career. Master Able's books and notes are confiscated by his heirs.
Pilgrim ends up banished to the far southern tip of the continent, where it is cold and isolated. Once a bigger city stood there, but it is decaying away. Pilgrim is assigned to spend a year sorting through an old library, to find books and scrolls that are worthwhile and discard the rest. In the course of his work, Pilgrim finds a map. It looks like a copy of an ancient map made by the bear civilization - it shows where their cities were located, with strange bear-text and crude images. Most curiously, near one of the cities is a drawing of what looks like an ogre-figure (racoons called the extinct humans "ogres") wearing a helmet. Master Able would have loved to have seen this map. It turns out that there are others who else are greatly interested in that map and its implications. Much of the first half of the novel deals with these rumors of extraterrestrial visitors and Pilgrim's investigations.
Beyond the Burn Line is a tale told in two parts. The second half of the book brings in a whole new set of characters and describes events a generation after Pilgrim. McAuley reveals a lot more details in the second half, but even so, I thought the ending of the story was surprisingly abrupt. When McAuley shows his cards and explains what is going on, it led to more questions for me. Indeed, I looked to see if there was a sequel, but it looks like this is a stand-alone novel.
McAuley has a lot of interesting idea here as he describes a far-future of Earth without any humans in it. The racoon culture has a lot of similarities to our own, but it also is less violent and greedy. I thought this was a worthwhile read.
Pilgrim Saltmire is a scholar. Unfortunately, his mentor - Master Able - has just died, leaving Pilgrim without secure funding or purpose. Although Master Able was well established and respected, in recent times he had taken to investigating the persistent rumors of lights in the sky and glimpses of ogres haunting the grounds. Is it possible there is kernel of truth to these rumors? Master Able was writing up his research and theories but died before he could publish. Pilgrim wishes to finish what Master Able started, but no serious academic is going to waste time on stories told by charlatans and liars. Pilgrim will have to find a new career. Master Able's books and notes are confiscated by his heirs.
Pilgrim ends up banished to the far southern tip of the continent, where it is cold and isolated. Once a bigger city stood there, but it is decaying away. Pilgrim is assigned to spend a year sorting through an old library, to find books and scrolls that are worthwhile and discard the rest. In the course of his work, Pilgrim finds a map. It looks like a copy of an ancient map made by the bear civilization - it shows where their cities were located, with strange bear-text and crude images. Most curiously, near one of the cities is a drawing of what looks like an ogre-figure (racoons called the extinct humans "ogres") wearing a helmet. Master Able would have loved to have seen this map. It turns out that there are others who else are greatly interested in that map and its implications. Much of the first half of the novel deals with these rumors of extraterrestrial visitors and Pilgrim's investigations.
Beyond the Burn Line is a tale told in two parts. The second half of the book brings in a whole new set of characters and describes events a generation after Pilgrim. McAuley reveals a lot more details in the second half, but even so, I thought the ending of the story was surprisingly abrupt. When McAuley shows his cards and explains what is going on, it led to more questions for me. Indeed, I looked to see if there was a sequel, but it looks like this is a stand-alone novel.
McAuley has a lot of interesting idea here as he describes a far-future of Earth without any humans in it. The racoon culture has a lot of similarities to our own, but it also is less violent and greedy. I thought this was a worthwhile read.
March 22, 2024
Think Redwall meets War of the Worlds and you’ll have some idea of what to expect from Beyond The Burn Line. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world bent on survival. Those engineered to survive have founded their own unique culture and respect their history, but do they truly know what that history is?
The book is split into two parts, with themes and personalities running through them both. What really works well is the immersive introduction into this strange new world, which you soon realise is more familiar than it first appears. Society is facing the dilemma of how to share resources, and deal with outsiders as well as dissenters from within.
Pilgrim Saltmire is a secretary who’s trying to honour his late professor’s work by finishing it. Seemingly ready to go to any length to do so, he soon ends up in an adventure all of his own. Pilgrim’s journey takes him back to his family before he’s banished to another tribe’s hearth. While sorting their library, he discovers a map that will change his life forever.
I enjoyed Pilgrim’s journey. He’s a complex character, and he makes a great introductory lens to see this twisty, layered world.
Long before the true nature of the people inhabiting the planet is revealed, McAuley builds a strong picture of what drives them and their approach to life. Working as a community is paramount and each member must contribute their share of work. When disciplined there is no need for binding or imprisoning as they always keep their word. They catalogue the treasures discovered from when the Bears enslaved them. (Yes, those are real bears!) They keep everything they find safe in their library for all people. But who really are they and how do they fit into the bigger picture? That’s where the mystery of the story lies, and the constant intrigue is what keeps you turning the pages. It’s handled with precision and makes for a compelling read.
The struggle between the natives and outsiders is a familiar theme which is approached with honesty. Both sides are presented in such a way that you can identify with all the characters. When the second part of the book starts from the perspective of Ysbel Moonsdaughter, an outsider, it feels a little awkward, but the strength of her character soon has you liking her, even if you don’t want to! Her mission to keep peace with the natives soon triggers a chain of events that further changes the course of history.
If you enjoy a book that makes you think from front to back then Beyond the Burn Line is for you. You won’t see the end coming! Immersing yourself in this reality is an escape that will leave its mark. It’ll burn a line through your imagination, and beyond.
The book is split into two parts, with themes and personalities running through them both. What really works well is the immersive introduction into this strange new world, which you soon realise is more familiar than it first appears. Society is facing the dilemma of how to share resources, and deal with outsiders as well as dissenters from within.
Pilgrim Saltmire is a secretary who’s trying to honour his late professor’s work by finishing it. Seemingly ready to go to any length to do so, he soon ends up in an adventure all of his own. Pilgrim’s journey takes him back to his family before he’s banished to another tribe’s hearth. While sorting their library, he discovers a map that will change his life forever.
I enjoyed Pilgrim’s journey. He’s a complex character, and he makes a great introductory lens to see this twisty, layered world.
Long before the true nature of the people inhabiting the planet is revealed, McAuley builds a strong picture of what drives them and their approach to life. Working as a community is paramount and each member must contribute their share of work. When disciplined there is no need for binding or imprisoning as they always keep their word. They catalogue the treasures discovered from when the Bears enslaved them. (Yes, those are real bears!) They keep everything they find safe in their library for all people. But who really are they and how do they fit into the bigger picture? That’s where the mystery of the story lies, and the constant intrigue is what keeps you turning the pages. It’s handled with precision and makes for a compelling read.
The struggle between the natives and outsiders is a familiar theme which is approached with honesty. Both sides are presented in such a way that you can identify with all the characters. When the second part of the book starts from the perspective of Ysbel Moonsdaughter, an outsider, it feels a little awkward, but the strength of her character soon has you liking her, even if you don’t want to! Her mission to keep peace with the natives soon triggers a chain of events that further changes the course of history.
If you enjoy a book that makes you think from front to back then Beyond the Burn Line is for you. You won’t see the end coming! Immersing yourself in this reality is an escape that will leave its mark. It’ll burn a line through your imagination, and beyond.
December 10, 2023
(3.5/10) DNF at p 268. The criticism I'm about to give is not one I'm very happy to give, because it feels anti-intellectual, or feels like I'm just not smart enough or patient and highbrow enough to 'get it' - not something that sounds at home in serious literary criticism. But I will firmly stand by it. This book is fuckin BOOOOOOO-RING.
Through all of Part One, the main character does practically nothing of his own accord, but simply reacts (usually passively) to various misfortunes happening around him. I started on Part Two, relieved at what appeared to be a change of pace, and gave up when I realised P2 was basically the same kind of story as P1, being a crawl across the countryside narrated in a detached fashion, with the plot hook being nothing more than a historiographical study. This is exacerbated by the prose itself being absurdly and unfulfillingly detailed, brimming with description of breeches and teapots and making sure to point out when the main character relieved themself.
Shoutout to Notes from the Burning Age - if I had a nickel for every speculative fiction book I read this year, set in the far-future post-climate apocalypse, which set out a really interesting premise and worldbuilding but failed to deliver any interesting plot, I'd have two nickels.
Through all of Part One, the main character does practically nothing of his own accord, but simply reacts (usually passively) to various misfortunes happening around him. I started on Part Two, relieved at what appeared to be a change of pace, and gave up when I realised P2 was basically the same kind of story as P1, being a crawl across the countryside narrated in a detached fashion, with the plot hook being nothing more than a historiographical study. This is exacerbated by the prose itself being absurdly and unfulfillingly detailed, brimming with description of breeches and teapots and making sure to point out when the main character relieved themself.
Shoutout to Notes from the Burning Age - if I had a nickel for every speculative fiction book I read this year, set in the far-future post-climate apocalypse, which set out a really interesting premise and worldbuilding but failed to deliver any interesting plot, I'd have two nickels.
January 4, 2023
This was very much a book of two halves and for that reason put me off. It is presented as 2 separate (related) stories so just as you are getting to know one set of characters and their adventure that section ends and you are faced with starting almost anew, meeting new characters albeit in the same world. The second half definitely felt like a sequel to the first story published as one book so to speak. That aside, this the first McAuley book I've read and I thought the concepts and world building as solid and believable. In the first story, really enjoyed the future civilisation struggling through the early phases of an industrial/ technology revolution set almost in a Victorian-like era. The second story takes up the narrative some years later and focuses more on different cultures trying to work together to solve "humanitarian" crises. My sympathies for the main protaganist in the second story started to wane as I realised I was possibly being set up for another sequel to the story in the coming year?
March 16, 2023
A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:
Bleh. The book is basically two stories: An unlikable raccoon looking for the truth about the "visitors" (they're exactly who you think they are) and flash forward a few decades then you get an uninspired human looking for bears (but first the map from the first story). You'd think there'd be something interesting over the course of that much time, but no, you'd be wrong.
I've read a few books by this author and his style seems to be to omit information early on and hope you catch on eventually, which usually works out. But in this book, things jump around enough at random times that it feels like there are pages missing, although the book spends plenty of time describing non-essential moments.
The pieces are there for a good book: AI, sentient animal species, futuristic tech, etc. but it just doesn't come together in a coherent manner. It moves slowly and then the "payoff" is glossed over and society is changed within a few pages. It just didn't work.
Skip it!
Bleh. The book is basically two stories: An unlikable raccoon looking for the truth about the "visitors" (they're exactly who you think they are) and flash forward a few decades then you get an uninspired human looking for bears (but first the map from the first story). You'd think there'd be something interesting over the course of that much time, but no, you'd be wrong.
I've read a few books by this author and his style seems to be to omit information early on and hope you catch on eventually, which usually works out. But in this book, things jump around enough at random times that it feels like there are pages missing, although the book spends plenty of time describing non-essential moments.
The pieces are there for a good book: AI, sentient animal species, futuristic tech, etc. but it just doesn't come together in a coherent manner. It moves slowly and then the "payoff" is glossed over and society is changed within a few pages. It just didn't work.
Skip it!
July 21, 2023
This was a complete surprise to me - I thought I was getting a hard sci-fi story, and instead got a rather mundane (I thought) fantasy-esque whodunnit. It wasnkt until page 213 that I started to understand what was going on...sort of... Then it did turn out to be a first-contact (or re-contact) story.
There are some interesting elements to the story, such as a new (to me) take on colonialism, and AI, and cultural evolution, and I didn't really mind the writing style (broad swaths of the story are simply told to the reader, with little dialogue or character development - a rather old-timey style of writing). However, the story moved slowly, and I found myself losing track of the characters, since none of them really had strong individual personalities (with the possible exception of Raia). Maybe if the author had had more room (more pages) he would have fleshed out parts of the story that to me he barely touched, but maybe that's his style - this is the first book I've read by him). I don't know that I will actively seek out any more of his books, but I'm glad I read this one.
There are some interesting elements to the story, such as a new (to me) take on colonialism, and AI, and cultural evolution, and I didn't really mind the writing style (broad swaths of the story are simply told to the reader, with little dialogue or character development - a rather old-timey style of writing). However, the story moved slowly, and I found myself losing track of the characters, since none of them really had strong individual personalities (with the possible exception of Raia). Maybe if the author had had more room (more pages) he would have fleshed out parts of the story that to me he barely touched, but maybe that's his style - this is the first book I've read by him). I don't know that I will actively seek out any more of his books, but I'm glad I read this one.
January 21, 2023
Paul McAuley is a world-builder, and in creating Beyond the Burn Line, I think he has been inspired by the animal uplift stories of David Brin and Adrian Tchaikovsky. The story is set on a far future earth in which all that seems to be left of human civilization are some burned patches that one thinks are the result of an ancient nuclear war. At one point, bears achieved sentience, but their civilization also collapsed when a plague drove them back to a feral state. Now a third species has evolved, and one scholar is exploring some of the evidence for recent UFO sightings. The plot involves a complex mystery that, fair warning, still has some threads dangling at the end. Beyond the Burn Line is billed as a stand-alone novel, but McAuley has left plenty of room to turn it into a series if he wants to. I appreciate his patient storytelling. Some reviewers found it slow, but it kept me involved all the way through. 4 stars.
February 8, 2023
I stumbled across this book via James Davis Nicoll's posts on Tor.com. It was one of the "Five SF Works About Ruined Civilizations." I bought it and found it very engrossing.
The book is divided into two parts. Part One is the story of Pilgrim Saltmire, a sentient raccoon who lives 200,000 years after humanity's extinction. It's also 600 years after the immediate successor to humanity, sentient bears, fell victim to a plague, which will be a key plot point. I found the story and worldbuilding of a society of sentient raccoons to be fascinating and informed by the author's PhD in biology. Also fascinating is that Saltmire is investigating what the late-lamented humans would call UFOs.
Part Two is set some 20 years later, when the immediate mystery of the UFOs has been revealed. However, Saltmire's original investigation proves still relevant. This part is a bit less engaging, being not from the raccoons' point of view, but still quite interesting.
The book is divided into two parts. Part One is the story of Pilgrim Saltmire, a sentient raccoon who lives 200,000 years after humanity's extinction. It's also 600 years after the immediate successor to humanity, sentient bears, fell victim to a plague, which will be a key plot point. I found the story and worldbuilding of a society of sentient raccoons to be fascinating and informed by the author's PhD in biology. Also fascinating is that Saltmire is investigating what the late-lamented humans would call UFOs.
Part Two is set some 20 years later, when the immediate mystery of the UFOs has been revealed. However, Saltmire's original investigation proves still relevant. This part is a bit less engaging, being not from the raccoons' point of view, but still quite interesting.
May 14, 2023
A novel of two parts of equal length. Lots of big, intriguing ideas and wonderfully imaginative world-building. I guess my problem is that the author tends to withhold so much from the reader, until a rush of exposition at the end, that it can be a frustrating read.
Presumably it’s by design that, at any one point in time, you never feel you have enough information to grasp what’s actually going on. Busy plot, with lots of running around - characters constantly being captured and rescued - without necessarily feeling you’re getting any kind of greater understanding. But maybe I’m just an impatient reader.
The first half feels like a rather meandering prelude that can probably be summed up in one sentence. Things really get cooking in the second, so my advice is to persevere.
Despite all my reservations, I made it through and still curious to read more of Paul McAuley’s novels.
Presumably it’s by design that, at any one point in time, you never feel you have enough information to grasp what’s actually going on. Busy plot, with lots of running around - characters constantly being captured and rescued - without necessarily feeling you’re getting any kind of greater understanding. But maybe I’m just an impatient reader.
The first half feels like a rather meandering prelude that can probably be summed up in one sentence. Things really get cooking in the second, so my advice is to persevere.
Despite all my reservations, I made it through and still curious to read more of Paul McAuley’s novels.
May 15, 2023
3 1/2 Stars, Actually
Overall I enjoyed this story. The plot is interesting and the world building and societal structure well done. It’s got a definite tilt towards a female atmosphere, tho. It’s a bit quirky and doesn’t follow the usual flow of a novel. The conflicts are sporadic and only sometimes resolve themselves satisfactorily. There were some definite letdowns…times when a climactic ending should have happened but didn’t…that led to a feeling of being cheated out of the experience. There were also a few times that there was supposed to be a sensational reveal but was painfully obvious. The underlying plot is intriguing and I’m curious to see where this goes. But I wish the author would add a bit more excitement…perhaps a truly fascinating reveal. Something to give this story a little more energy.
Overall I enjoyed this story. The plot is interesting and the world building and societal structure well done. It’s got a definite tilt towards a female atmosphere, tho. It’s a bit quirky and doesn’t follow the usual flow of a novel. The conflicts are sporadic and only sometimes resolve themselves satisfactorily. There were some definite letdowns…times when a climactic ending should have happened but didn’t…that led to a feeling of being cheated out of the experience. There were also a few times that there was supposed to be a sensational reveal but was painfully obvious. The underlying plot is intriguing and I’m curious to see where this goes. But I wish the author would add a bit more excitement…perhaps a truly fascinating reveal. Something to give this story a little more energy.
October 5, 2023
it's been over 10yrs since I last ready a book by McAuley; not because I didn't like them, but somehow because I lost track of his works amongst the forest of releases. I read this one because it received some recognition last year, and because I liked the blurb.
It took me a while to finish, as the first section of the book was a slow go; the story of the natives, their culture and their transition from a pastoral to a near-modern life was curious but unexciting. The transition (and time jump) to it's next section was slightly confusing, and again, sluggish; but the unfolding mystery grabbed more of my attention. The third and final section sped up a bit, but never really achieved that sense of momentum that made me finish it in one night.
In the end, the journey was worth the walk, but it was somewhat reserved in its' approach.
It took me a while to finish, as the first section of the book was a slow go; the story of the natives, their culture and their transition from a pastoral to a near-modern life was curious but unexciting. The transition (and time jump) to it's next section was slightly confusing, and again, sluggish; but the unfolding mystery grabbed more of my attention. The third and final section sped up a bit, but never really achieved that sense of momentum that made me finish it in one night.
In the end, the journey was worth the walk, but it was somewhat reserved in its' approach.
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