Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

This is the second Ken MacLeod book I’ve read. Its part of a sequence of books, all of which share the same universe and explore certain political ideas. The Stone Canal also has particularly close links with the follow up book The Cassini Division (which I read first just to be difficult) in that the events in this book are referred to in The Cassini Division.

Buy The Stone Canal

The central characters in this book are Jon Wilde (yes the plural was deliberate). The story jumps back and forward from the 20th century where he was a political agitator and “anarchist with nuclear capability” to the far future where he is brought back to life.

His return to the living is the responsibiliity of the construction robot Jay-Dub who wants him to take Dave Reid (an old associate of Wilde’s and now the most important man in Ship City) to court. Add to this the fact that Dave Reid’s robot concubine Dee Model is attempting to assert her own freedom and that shejust happens to have the body of Wilde’s now deceased wife….

As you can no doubt tell there is a lot going on in this book. Its packed with interesting ideas. MacLeod does a stunning job of world building throughout this book, taking is from 1975 through into the 21st century via wars and revolutions and then on to the far future in New Mars.

Be warned that political ideas are central to this book. In particular there is a sort of battle between libertarian ideals and socialist ideals. The two might seem light years apart but MacLeod makes a strong case for them actually being intertwined.

On several occasions I found myself exclaiming “but thats just not RIGHT” as I read what a character had to say about something. I see this as a tribute to the realism of MacLeods characters that I actually wanted to argue politics with them.

The book is imaginative and well written. MacLeod plays with the narrative form a little but not in such a way as to distract you from the story itself. His main characters have real personality to them. They aren’t simply mouthpeices for their politics.

I do wonder how easy it would be for people outside of the UK to read this book though. There are several references which would probably slip past them. Certain dates or unusual ways of referring to things. Since I live in Scotland it was rather an unusual feeling for me to read descriptions of places that I regularly pass.