The Quiet War
(Quiet War #1)
by Paul McAuley
(hard) science fiction
copyright 2008
read in April 2020
rated 7/10: well worth reading... maybe
Is it possible for a book to be both absolutely fascinating and incredibly tedious? Yes. Let McAuley show you how.
The Quiet War is hard science fiction, science fiction with lots and lots of real -- or potentially real -- science. It's fascinating. Unfortunately the story -- an essential part of any novel -- is slow, complex and barely interesting.
Okay, it's not an entirely boring story. It's a very *short* story -- hidden amongst swathes of technical wonder. It's an unlikely story, stretched very thin.
I finished the book and thought, Oh well, that was okay.
Several hours later I suddenly thought, Hang on! that's just book one of a series! As I finished reading I thought, fleetingly, Well, I guess that places most of the characters where they belong. Either free to be free. Or free to continue their evil ways.
Hours later I suddenly realise, No! those characters are just placed in positions where they can continue their good or evil ways -- in another book. This story is not finished. Sure enough, Wikipedia shows several follow-on stories.
Why did I miss this obvious non-conclusion?
One, the only two sympathetic characters end in a reasonably comfortable position. Two, I care so little for any of the characters that I simply did not care -- so did not notice -- that their stories are incomplete.
Hard science fiction? Great stuff. (Though it's disappointing when a character sends a Morse OSO instead of SOS... Lots of textbook science but the author fails to check his "inherent" knowledge of a less scientific fact.) A good story? Hardly. Well worth reading? Yes... if you enjoy hard SF -- or can read through tedium.
Oh, perhaps I should put this in context: the story is better and the tedium far less than when reading the Long Earth series. This book is, at least, readable. With a story which at least has a point.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"No sense being pessimistic. It wouldn't work anyway." … per Ginger Meggs
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"No sense being pessimistic. It wouldn't work anyway." … per Ginger Meggs
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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)
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