Context: Book II of the Nulapeiron Sequence (Bk. 2) [Paperback]

John Meaney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2007

Nulapeiron is a world isolated for twelve centuries. Its billions of inhabitants occupy subterranean strata, ruled by a logosophically trained aristocracy of Lords and Ladies whose power base is upheld by Oracles. But revolution has touched all of its many cultures - failing in its intent, yet changing everything. Now Lord Tom Corcorigan - the commoner-turned-noble who renounced his power, the poet, logosopher, and holder of the key to understanding the myriad wonders of mu-space, the legendary one-armed warrior, former revolutionary and would-be peacemaker - lies fatally wounded. His survival is dependant on his meeting with a mysterious Seer whose spacetime-warping talents transcend the merely Oracular. It is a confrontation that will result in bitter tragedy and loss.Can the woman he loves be truly dead, or can quantum mysteries lie beyond the grave? Turning his back on a society sliding once more into anarchy and chaos, a disillusioned and despairing Tom wanders this strange, stratified world in search of meaning, love and his own salvation. But it seems Nulapeiron is threatened by a vast, insidious and terrifying enemy whose origins may lie beyond their world, beyond their understanding. And now is the time for legends to be reborn...Sequel to the acclaimed "Paradox" and the second book in the "Nulapeiron Sequence", "Context" is a thrilling, daring and complex novel that confirms John Meaney as one of British science fiction's most original and exciting practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Replete with thought-provoking ruminations on the nature of space and time, Meaney's second Nulapeiron book (after Paradox) follows Tom Corcorigan as the logosopher and one-armed warrior, now a lord, seeks an antidote for the femtocyte toxins that are slowly killing him. Tom and his chief of security and future inamorata, Capt. Elva Strelsthorm, meet with the mysterious Seer, whose projected visions force Elva to download her personality (and the Seer's all-important information) to a twin sister. Aided by a vision from the Seer, Tom determines to recover Elva in a single-minded quest that's threatened by the invasion of the vicious, alien Dark Fire. While readers may find the personal stories of the characters more accessible than the almost overly detailed realm of Nulapeiron, they should enjoy the exquisite world building of this ambitious SF epic.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

John Meaney is the author of four published novels in the UK - To Hold Infinity, Paradox, Context, and Resolution, the latter three titles being the first two books in the Nulapeiron Sequence. He also has numerous short fiction publication credits. His novelette "Sharp Tang" was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award in 1995, and To Hold Infinity and Paradox were on the BSFA shortlists for Best Novel in 1999 and 2001 respectively. His novella "The Whisper of Disks" was included in the 2003 "Years Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection." The Times called John Meaney "The first important new SF writer of the 21st century." Meaney has a degree in physics and computer science, and holds a black belt in Shotokan Karate. He lives in Kent.

Product Details

• Paperback: 535 pages
• Publisher: Pyr (April 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591025427
• ISBN-13: 978-1591025429
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,825,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm John Meaney (aka Thomas Blackthorne), writer of hard SF, gothic SF/dark fantasy, and near-future thrillers. Having studied physics and computer science, I've been an IT consultant and taught software engineering on three continents. Nowadays, I hide in a Welsh valley and write full-time.

I've trained in martial arts since I was a kid, primarily shotokan karate. I'm a trained hypnotist, so don't look into my eyes... And I adore cats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars LOOKING FOR THE FUTURE, June 16, 2006

By 

Sesho "www.sesho.libsyn.com" (Pasadena, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Context: Book II of the Nualpeiron Sequence (Bk. 2) (Hardcover)

At the end of the first volume of the Nulapeiron Sequence, Tom Cocorigan risked his life to save Lady Sylvana, the Noblewoman who he had dreamed he was in love with. He had to save her from the very revolution he had began with the wanton killing of Oracles in a bid to gain the freedom of all of Nulpeiron and free the lower stratum from the kind of abuses he had suffered as young man due to the stratification of society. He no longer believes in that cause. After all is said and done, nothing has really changed all that much. Tom just wants to fade into obscurity and be left alone. Alas, the quiet life is not to be, for when Tom is summoned to an audience with an Oracle, his only companion, Elva, inexplicably commits suicide and soon after that the Oracle himself is killed by what seems like assassins who can bend space and time. After the death of Elva, Tom suddenly realizes that he was in love with her, but now it's too late to do anything about it. Well, that's not entirely true. Before he died the Oracle showed him a vision in which Elva is still alive. Tom will stop at nothing to learn where she is and how she can still be alive, even as dark forces threaten to take over his world!

I'm not going to beat around the bush and so I'll tell you what brought this book down from a masterpiece to an "OK" novel. These three things would be martial arts, rock climbing, and jogging! Whatever happens in this book seems to bring up these too overtly personal interests of the author. Every time Tom gets in trouble he has to resort to one of these techniques. If some enemies are after him, he climbs a cliff, he has to work himself up a ventilation shaft, he has to suspend himself on the ceiling, etc. And then all these supposedly advanced humans are still kung fu fighting and everybody knows one fighting art or another. But the worst facet is the jogging. Whenever Tom feels down or stressed, he goes jogging, which Meaney has to recount over and OVER again, describing his breathing, the scenery, with very little contemplation. He even joins a monastery where the monks jog to gain enlightenment! If I wanted to read about these activities, I would get books on them. They stick out like sore thumbs in Context and it seems like the writer bent the plot just so he could include his hobbies in this series. What a waste. Another thing that brings down the book is Tom's what seems like insincere love for Elva. I mean, it's like there was no clue in the first book and he doesn't love her until she's dead. And then he just wanders around in an aimless plot that is a pale imitation of a picaresque adventure tale without showing much urgency to find her. The book just kept repeating itself to me. Tom gets beat down. A stranger heals him. Tom is almost killed. Somebody heals him over and over, making the coencidences seem trite and unrealistic. The last thing that just wounded the novel was that Meaney even injects analogies to WWII and the Jewish Holocaust into the plot which seem just dumb and out of place. While the end of the book begins to make up for the shortcomings in the work, even that is a retread of the climax of the first volume in my mind. Probably some of the concepts in these two books would have been easier to digest if Meaney's first book, To Hold Infinity, which has not been published in America, would have come out first, since it concerns the same universe.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Paradox was better, December 21, 2008

By 

Christopher J. Phoenix (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Context: Book II of the Nulapeiron Sequence (Bk. 2) (Paperback)

Paradox, the first book in this series, was chock-full of ideas and story. There was some violence, but it advanced the story, and the descriptions were ... not restrained, but appropriate.

Context is chock-full of blood and gore. Resolution, the third book, is worse. It's as though Meanie ran out of ideas, even ran out of story, but had to keep going to make a trilogy, and replaced the science fiction with shock value. Context and Resolution together could have been told in half a book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, September 3, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Context: Book II of the Nualpeiron Sequence (Bk. 2) (Hardcover)

Tom is now Lord Tom, and doing the whole rise and fall thing ends up seriously hurt, and having to involve himself with those annoying future predicting seer people again.

He wants to turn the use of these Oracles to his own ends, and to help the underprivileged, basically. He also wants to get his woman back, or see if she is not dead, anyway.