Sky Road: A Fall Revolution Novel (Fall Revolution Series) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Ken MacLeod's new book is an intriguing offshoot from his previous three novels. (It is not necessary to have read those books to appreciate The Sky Road.) In this future, the world has fractured into numerous smaller states by the early 21st Century, essentially in a continuation of the process begun in the ex-communist states in the 1980s. In addition, Artificial Intelligences begin to emerge, not always planned, and not always benevolent. The three books, in addition to the persistent worry about AI's, portray a variety of political organizations, and forms of organization, most notably perhaps the anarcho-socialist society of the Solar System and the anarcho-capitalist society of New Mars, in the time of The Cassini Division.

The Sky Road is kind of an "alternate history" of MacLeod's future. The earlier parts, chronologically, of The Stone Canal, and all of The Star Fraction, are set in a common past to both The Sky Road and to The Cassini Division, but one of the events in The Stone Canal goes a different way in The Sky Road. Like The Stone Canal (and, to a lesser extent, The Cassini Division), this book is told in two threads, one in the past, in 2059, and the other some centuries in the future. The pastward thread follows Myra Godwin-Davidova, a minor character in The Stone Canal. Myra, 105 years old, is the head of the government of a mini-state near Kazakhstan, called the International Scientific and Technical Worker's Republic. At the opening of the action, the Sino-Soviet Alliance, or the Sheenisov, is advancing on Kazakhstan. Both the reformed UN and Dave Reid's Mutual Protection Society are trying to take control of the world, partly from space, and to stop the Sheenisov. Myra goes on a whirlwind tour of Kazakhstan, Turkey, the US and the UK, looking for military assistance. What she has to offer are the world's remaining supply of nuclear weapons. But her problem is, it's not at all clear who the real enemy is, or for that matter how many enemies there are. She also deals with her personal problems: her age, her guilt over such betrayals of her past ideals as the use of slave labour, and the selling of nuclear protection, and her loss of yet another loved one in suspicious circumstances.

The other thread features Clovis colha Gree, a young student in an odd, somewhat Utopian, Scotland. He is working on a project building a spaceship: the first spaceship to be built since the mysterious "Deliverance". It seems that since this "Deliverance" the world has reorganized itself on a rather pastoral model. Clovis' field of study is history, particularly the life of the "Deliverer". (The reader figures out right quick that the "Deliverer" is Myra Godwin-Davidova.) Clovis meets a beautiful woman called Merrial, and they fall tumultuously in love. But Merrial is a tinker, and the tinkers are regarded with suspicion by the rest of society, as they are the only people who deal with the somewhat restricted computer technology available in this future. Clovis is drawn by his love for Merrial and his thirst for knowledge about the Deliverer to a questionable search for secret files of the Deliverer's: ostensibly to help protect the spaceship project. But this search leads them not only to some anti-hagiographic knowledge about the Deliverer (her use of nuclear weapons, for example), but also to some potential use of the "black logic", the "path of power".

The two threads converge to reveal to the reader some, at least, of what's going on: what the Deliverance really was, and what "black logic" might be, and part of the nature of this future society. It's intriguing, and clever, and by the end quite moving. The only weakness is that I found Merrial and Clovis' affair just a bit convenient: not all that easy to believe. (To explain exactly why would involve spoilers.) I also found the political machinations of Myra's time hard to follow, but that weakness is in me, partly, and partly, I think, its a feature: MacLeod 21st century really is a chaotic time. I also was impressed again by MacLeod's clever way with a phrase. His prose is sound, but only some of the time does it sing. (The first chapter is quite impressive in this way, but he doesn't really maintain that peak level.) However, throughout there are dry asides, and clever plays on words, and mordant observations that hit home.

Ken MacLeod continues to be one of the most exciting new SF writers. His books are politically intriguing, and honest, also full of nice SFnal speculation about future technology, nicely written, and fast moving. The characters are well-drawn, and almost always ambiguous. Each of his books is worth reading, and The Sky Road is one of his best.

Fortunately, I did not let my initial disappointment with "The Cassini Division" sour me completely on MacLeod. "The Sky Road" is one of the finest science fiction novels I have read in quite some time. MacLeod is worthy of the accolades and praise he has been receiving. However, I echo other reviewers' advice that readers should tackle "The Sky Road" before turning their attention to "The Cassini Division."

In alternate chapters, "The Sky Road" jumps back and forth between the story of Myra Gowin-Davidova, who faced a worldwide crisis in her time, and that of Clovis colha Gree, who lives in Scotland far in the future when mankind is preparing to venture back into space for the first time since "The Deliverance." Clovis, a would-be scholar, wants to write a biography of The Deliverer, who is none other than Myra. One of the interesting and successful aspects of the novel is MacLeod's juxtaposition of a character acting in times of crisis with a far-removed biographer attempting to understand what happened in a time for which he has no context. MacLeod seems to argue that History is a matter of context, as much as it is a matter of anything. Many would agree.

The novel is a lot of fun for those who are a bit left-leaning, or at least left-inclined. In MacLeod's alternative future, the fall of the Soviet Union turns out to have been a mere counter-revolutionary moment. Myra herself, who is ultimately a bit of a 21st century Joan of Arc, is Head of State for a small soviet-style republic known as the ISTWR (International Scientists and Technical Workers Republic). In the crisis of her times, she is the only one who can save the world from itself in the act known as "The Deliverance." Another interesting aspect of the novel is MacLeod's exploration of how spontaneous actions taken in the heat of the moment become mythic to all who seek to understand and explain the way that powerful personalities shape their times.

In "The Sky Road," MacLeod demonstrates why such praise has been lavished upon his small canon. "The Cassini Division" is much too vague and referential to an unknown alternative history. In contrast, "The Sky Road" stands on its own as an entertaining tale. It reminds me of what I liked about science fiction in the first place.