This is my second Alastair Reynolds novel after Revelation Space. Reynolds' sub-genre is referred to as 'hard scifi'. To be honest, Revelation Space was a bit too 'hard' for me...to much emphasis on technology and too many unpleasant characters. I am happy to say that Terminal World perfectly addresses those aspects of story-telling.
The synopsis implies that the story is all about a giant spire which reaches high up into the sky, on which an entire civilization lives. The spire, called Spearpoint, is divided into different zones which support different levels of technology...starting from horse-drawn carriages at the base of Spearpoint, to Neon Heights, which appears to support 20th/ 21st century technology, to a zone called the Celestial Levels where 'angels' (humans modified to be able to fly) live.
The entire basis of the story is the fact that technology on one level ceases to function when it is taken to a lower level. The people can move between levels, but only for short periods of time and only when administered exact doses of anti-zone drugs. The residents of Spearpoint talk about zone shifts in much the same way that we talk about earthquakes and there is talk of the 'big one', the big zone shift that is expected to come, which will throw all of Spearpoint civilization into chaos.**SPOILERS AHEAD**
The book starts off feeling like a noir murder mystery. Our protagonist Quillon, who works in the government morgue in Neon Heights, is asked to conduct an autopsy on an angel cadaver who has apparently fallen to its death from the Celestial Levels. Soon, Quillon is revealed to be an angel himself, who had been part of an experiment designed to enable angels to live incognito in the lower levels. He finds himself on the run from his ex-employers and has to use his contacts in the underworld to escape to the Outzones, the barely civilized lands beyond the base of the spire. He succeeds in doing so with the help of a feisty young woman named Meroka...some of the scenes feel like they come from a cold war spy novel.
At this point, the story starts to feel like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie...Quillon and Meroka have to navigate their way through the Outzone to a town called Fortune's Landing. They come across bands of marauders called Skullboys, very reminiscent of the punks in the Mad Max movies. Meanwhile, the 'big one' has happened and from the Outzone, Quillon and his team can see the lights on Spearpoint go out as the entire city falls into chaos following catastrophic shifts in zones. At this point, Quillon saves a mother and daughter from a Skullboy gang...these two eventually turn out to be the key to restoring the equilibrium of the zones. They eventually fall into the clutches of another Skullboy gang who trade them to a group of carnivorgs (carnivorous cyborgs) who roam the Outzones looking for humans to prey upon. The carnivorgs reminded me of the biomechanical Voynix creatures from Dan Simmons' Ilium/ Olympos novels.
Quillon and co. are saved from the Skullboys and carnivorgs in the nick of time by members of the Swarm...a conglomerate of airships who live in the Outzone. The Swarm were once the military arm of Spearpoint but broke away centuries earlier and now live a nomadic existence as a flying city...very much like the floating city of ships in China Mieville's The Scar. Once they are part of the Swarm, the story takes a turn into steampunk/ adventure territory. Many more characters enter the story and we get into the 2nd act of the novel, where conversations between Quillon and the Swarm's leader Ricasso reveal much of the history and background of this world.
It is speculated by Ricasso that Spearpoint was originally a space elevator (a nod to Arthur C. Clarke's Fountains of Paradise). Through further conversations, the reader comes to suspect that the story is taking place on a future version of Earth, but the link becomes clear during a dramatic sequence when the Swarm flies over a plain filled with the wrecks of airplanes, of all shapes and sizes. Most of the aircraft bear a symbol of a red rectangle with 5 stars (the Chinese flag). Even more is revealed when they reach an abandoned settlement and discover a diorama of what appears to be a moon landing. However, the flag is Chinese, there are more than 2 astronauts and while the diorama appears to be full scale, the astronauts are pygmy-sized, so obviously this is not a representation of the original moon landings. I didn't get the significance when I read the novel, but then I read a review which explained what this was...it is a representation of a Mars landing. In other words, the entire story is taking place on a terraformed Mars of the future with the inhabitants having evolved to a much greater height than the original humans, due to the lower gravity of Mars. It is clear that the state of the world today is the outcome of some major catastrophe which took place centuries ago, leaving Spearpoint as the only surviving civilization with its multiple zones and fractured way of life.
Eventually, Quillon convinces the Swarm to return to Spearpoint to help out the citizens who are dying from zone sickness in the aftermath of the big zone shift. Another reason Quillon wants to go back to Spearpoint is because he has realized that the little girl is a 'tectomancer', with the ability to shift zones...a remnant of a guild of genetically bred humans who originally controlled the zone technology.
There is a gripping aerial action sequence where the Swarm flies back to Spearpoint through a low-tech zone which has emerged around the city and which is now under the control of the Skullboys. Many lives are lost and there is further treachery once the rescuers enter the city. But eventually, the girl is taken through tunnels to the core of Spearpoint where other surviving tectomancers have made their way back over time and have been plugged into giant machines in an effort to set things right. We are told that this planet is actually a gateway to the stars and a great accident in the past has led to the creation of the zones and life as it exists. Now, after centuries, with the arrival of more and more tectomancers to the secret chamber at the core of Spearpoint, it appears that they will be able to set things right again.
The members of the Swarm meanwhile, help to bring order to Spearpoint and make efforts to end the civil war which has erupted between the angels and the lower levels in the aftermath of the zone shift.
Quillon is wounded during the last action sequence, but as the novel closes, we see him being airlifted by Meroka to the Celestial Levels in the hope of being saved.
Overall, I loved the scope of the story and the concept of a Martian colony which has devolved over time. The thrill comes in the slow revelation of the history of the planet and the discovery that it is indeed written in 'our universe'.
I felt that many of the concepts in the book were derivative and had borrowed from the authors I mentioned above like Dan Simmons (post-humans, carnivorgs), China Mieville (The Swarm) and Arthur C. Clarke (Spearpoint). But it all comes together wonderfully into an intriguing and entertaining read, that rarely slows down.
Although Alastair Reynolds has stated that he will not write a sequel to the novel, I sincerely hopes he changes his mind. A prequel, perhaps...
The synopsis implies that the story is all about a giant spire which reaches high up into the sky, on which an entire civilization lives. The spire, called Spearpoint, is divided into different zones which support different levels of technology...starting from horse-drawn carriages at the base of Spearpoint, to Neon Heights, which appears to support 20th/ 21st century technology, to a zone called the Celestial Levels where 'angels' (humans modified to be able to fly) live.
The entire basis of the story is the fact that technology on one level ceases to function when it is taken to a lower level. The people can move between levels, but only for short periods of time and only when administered exact doses of anti-zone drugs. The residents of Spearpoint talk about zone shifts in much the same way that we talk about earthquakes and there is talk of the 'big one', the big zone shift that is expected to come, which will throw all of Spearpoint civilization into chaos.**SPOILERS AHEAD**
The book starts off feeling like a noir murder mystery. Our protagonist Quillon, who works in the government morgue in Neon Heights, is asked to conduct an autopsy on an angel cadaver who has apparently fallen to its death from the Celestial Levels. Soon, Quillon is revealed to be an angel himself, who had been part of an experiment designed to enable angels to live incognito in the lower levels. He finds himself on the run from his ex-employers and has to use his contacts in the underworld to escape to the Outzones, the barely civilized lands beyond the base of the spire. He succeeds in doing so with the help of a feisty young woman named Meroka...some of the scenes feel like they come from a cold war spy novel.
At this point, the story starts to feel like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie...Quillon and Meroka have to navigate their way through the Outzone to a town called Fortune's Landing. They come across bands of marauders called Skullboys, very reminiscent of the punks in the Mad Max movies. Meanwhile, the 'big one' has happened and from the Outzone, Quillon and his team can see the lights on Spearpoint go out as the entire city falls into chaos following catastrophic shifts in zones. At this point, Quillon saves a mother and daughter from a Skullboy gang...these two eventually turn out to be the key to restoring the equilibrium of the zones. They eventually fall into the clutches of another Skullboy gang who trade them to a group of carnivorgs (carnivorous cyborgs) who roam the Outzones looking for humans to prey upon. The carnivorgs reminded me of the biomechanical Voynix creatures from Dan Simmons' Ilium/ Olympos novels.
Quillon and co. are saved from the Skullboys and carnivorgs in the nick of time by members of the Swarm...a conglomerate of airships who live in the Outzone. The Swarm were once the military arm of Spearpoint but broke away centuries earlier and now live a nomadic existence as a flying city...very much like the floating city of ships in China Mieville's The Scar. Once they are part of the Swarm, the story takes a turn into steampunk/ adventure territory. Many more characters enter the story and we get into the 2nd act of the novel, where conversations between Quillon and the Swarm's leader Ricasso reveal much of the history and background of this world.
It is speculated by Ricasso that Spearpoint was originally a space elevator (a nod to Arthur C. Clarke's Fountains of Paradise). Through further conversations, the reader comes to suspect that the story is taking place on a future version of Earth, but the link becomes clear during a dramatic sequence when the Swarm flies over a plain filled with the wrecks of airplanes, of all shapes and sizes. Most of the aircraft bear a symbol of a red rectangle with 5 stars (the Chinese flag). Even more is revealed when they reach an abandoned settlement and discover a diorama of what appears to be a moon landing. However, the flag is Chinese, there are more than 2 astronauts and while the diorama appears to be full scale, the astronauts are pygmy-sized, so obviously this is not a representation of the original moon landings. I didn't get the significance when I read the novel, but then I read a review which explained what this was...it is a representation of a Mars landing. In other words, the entire story is taking place on a terraformed Mars of the future with the inhabitants having evolved to a much greater height than the original humans, due to the lower gravity of Mars. It is clear that the state of the world today is the outcome of some major catastrophe which took place centuries ago, leaving Spearpoint as the only surviving civilization with its multiple zones and fractured way of life.
Eventually, Quillon convinces the Swarm to return to Spearpoint to help out the citizens who are dying from zone sickness in the aftermath of the big zone shift. Another reason Quillon wants to go back to Spearpoint is because he has realized that the little girl is a 'tectomancer', with the ability to shift zones...a remnant of a guild of genetically bred humans who originally controlled the zone technology.
There is a gripping aerial action sequence where the Swarm flies back to Spearpoint through a low-tech zone which has emerged around the city and which is now under the control of the Skullboys. Many lives are lost and there is further treachery once the rescuers enter the city. But eventually, the girl is taken through tunnels to the core of Spearpoint where other surviving tectomancers have made their way back over time and have been plugged into giant machines in an effort to set things right. We are told that this planet is actually a gateway to the stars and a great accident in the past has led to the creation of the zones and life as it exists. Now, after centuries, with the arrival of more and more tectomancers to the secret chamber at the core of Spearpoint, it appears that they will be able to set things right again.
The members of the Swarm meanwhile, help to bring order to Spearpoint and make efforts to end the civil war which has erupted between the angels and the lower levels in the aftermath of the zone shift.
Quillon is wounded during the last action sequence, but as the novel closes, we see him being airlifted by Meroka to the Celestial Levels in the hope of being saved.
Overall, I loved the scope of the story and the concept of a Martian colony which has devolved over time. The thrill comes in the slow revelation of the history of the planet and the discovery that it is indeed written in 'our universe'.
I felt that many of the concepts in the book were derivative and had borrowed from the authors I mentioned above like Dan Simmons (post-humans, carnivorgs), China Mieville (The Swarm) and Arthur C. Clarke (Spearpoint). But it all comes together wonderfully into an intriguing and entertaining read, that rarely slows down.
Although Alastair Reynolds has stated that he will not write a sequel to the novel, I sincerely hopes he changes his mind. A prequel, perhaps...
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