Customer Reviews

Gardens of the Sun (Gollancz)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel and its predecessor The Quiet War are a welcome change of pace from all the non-stop action Hollywood-style blockbuster SF that's been going around. By taking a little time to describe the beauty of the solar system, the biology of engineered ecosystems and the creative inspiration involved in their design, the passage of time during slower-than-light travel, the author allows us to actually feel the world he has built and experience it as participants rather than ADD-addled thrillseekers looking to get to the next plot point. I for one hope this foreshadows the next phase of SF, less hyper, with thorough exposition and background structure. Here the smoke and mirrors have gelled into something a little more substantial, and you feel like the story is something that could really happen. The offbeat choice of characters follow and their less-than-predictable destinies also add to the realism and gives us a sense of respect for the story and the broad themes which could fuel a whole graduate course. Finally, I commend Mr. McAuley for the quiet confidence of and poetic undertow in his writing, which make it more than easy-to-digest disposable junk and compel the reader toward contemplation and appreciation of life, its preciousness, and its fragility.

I went into Gardens of the Sun with eagerness, but also somewhat trepidatiously as The Quiet War was one of my favorite Science Fiction reads last year. Would McAuley loose the sense of the characters? Would the continuation of their story seem unneeded? Is there more to learn about this incredible vision of the future?

Most of my fears were quite unfounded as McAuley was able to put a nice cap on this Universe and a fitting end to most of the characters. Gardens of the Sun picks up not long after the close of The Quiet War, but it leaps months and sometimes years in the narrative as it moves along. During The Quiet War it felt as though the characters were pushed by larger powers while now they are fighting to make their own destinies

An odd juxtaposition occurred while reading Gardens of the Sun in terms of me liking and connecting with certain characters. In The Quiet War I was drawn to Sri Hong-Owen and Ken Shinto (the spy). While in Gardens of the Sun it is Loc Ifrahim and Macy who standout the most. Macy has always struggled to fit in wherever she went and now in exile with the other free outers, including her now husband, she still is pushed aside despite all she has left behind to be among them. Loc was probably the least ambiguous character in the first book with his underhanded and backstabbing ways. This time around McAuley does try to reform him to a certain degree and by the end I was shocked to find I actually liked him.

A sense of tension and inevitably that was present in War is missing though. You knew a war was coming in the first, but with Gardens you are left with more of a sense of the unexpected, which McAuley delivers in spades. Especially in regards to Avernus and Sri. A few of the characters who had such clear missions in The Quiet War find themselves lost in the shuffle as with Shinto (the spy) and Cash (the pilot). For the majority of the book I couldn't see how all the principles were going to come together in the end as well as they did in The Quiet War, but to McAuley's credit he finesses things just so to give you the unexpected. Many times in Science Fiction you'll find that the ship the characters inhabit is a character into itself, while McAuley makes the Universe a character as much as any of the others. It is a cold, but inviting place for those with the taste for adventure and freedom.

If The Quiet War represented fear of what could be than Gardens of the Sun is meant as a sign of hope for the future and that against everything humanity has a desire to live and grow. I give The Quiet War 8.5 out of 10 Hats. While Gardens of the Sun was not as enrapturing as the first volume the universe still comes alive and together form a duology that will be seen years from now as a classic Space Opera. McAuley also hinted in a recent interview that he is working on something set in this universe pushed forward a little. Given the ending of Gardens of the Sun he certainly left himself fertile ground for a return.

The Three Powers Alliance of Greater Brazil, the European Union, and the Pacific Community won the Quiet War. To the victors go the spoils, but first the winners must deal with the conquered Outers and their cities on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn before plundering the scientific and technological advancements of the defeated leading to prison camps and forced cooperation. A century of enlightened pragmatic rationalism in the Milky Way has returned to the Dark Ages of repression.

Some Outers escape the deadly incarceration of the "Final Solution" fleeing to the Uranus moon of Miranda, but chased further away from the sun by the Greater Brazil armada to Neptune's moon Triton. An enigmatic leader directed allegedly by a future version of himself and followed by Outer "Ghost" cultists takes Outers further out in the solar system to Nephele. There the surviving Free Outers change colonization techniques from permanent to portable as they construct detachable "Gardens of the Sun" habitats. Meanwhile other Outers push diverse surviving techniques starting with the natural habitat genetic genius Avernus with her "gardens" and the human pragmatic cutting by Sri Hong-Owen. Thus beyond the inner planets where the sun is weak, humans still seek the light of knowledge while on earth people demand freedom having learned of the heroism of the Outers even in defeat. .

This is a fascinating science fiction sequel to the Quiet War, which makes two strong assertions. First even in the deadliest of dictatorships, there are tiny lights of enlightenment trying to find a means to get free, and second that war makes the victors pay exorbitant costs and consequences. The story line is action-packed as the Free Outers flee further away from the sun using diverse paths to freedom while the totalitarian axis of evil sends troops in pursuit to eradicate the survivors in spite of problems back home caused by the war. Paul McCauley provides a thought provoking yet exciting fast-paced futuristic thriller.

Harriet Klausner

The sequel to A Quiet War was bizare at times. Dave #8's sacrifice, the decisions by Avernus, and all of the interesting factions including ghosts. Sri-Hong's final project was consistent with her meglomania, and her misplaced sense of worth. Contrasted with Avernus's final project it makes for an interesting lesson in what it means to be human. This book is a worthy sequel. It leaves you thinking about what we must do to perserve any sense of society in a damaged earth.

This is a fast paced, extremely detailed and thought provoking story. The authors knowledge of sophisticated biological processes is interwoven throughout the story. He has used the limitations imposed upon us by the laws of physics to limit his story to this solar system, while showing in detail just how BIG this space really is. An excellent work.

Gary 7

Just as good as, if not better than, the Quiet War. Complex characters, epic plot, and hard science. Although definitely science fiction, the book spends a surprising amount of time with how the characters dealt with the aftermath of a war won by a strong military dictatorship. The characters must cope physically, emotionally, economically, and politically. McAuley also goes out of his way to make sure we visit almost every planet and large moon (and many small moons and asteroids) in the solar system at some point in the duology, even while mostly maintaining focus on the handful of characters from the first book. The one problem I had was that this focus somewhat limited the presentation of the story. Many important events seemed to happen "off stage" as a result of McAuley's focus on just a handfull of "view point" characters. At the very end of the book, however, McAuley allows a secondary character take center stage for a chapter, even though that character is interacting with one of McAuley's main view-point characters. When you read the chapter, the reason why he changes view points is clear (the impact of the chapter would not have been as great, given the major changes that had occurred with one of the characters), but it kind of made me wonder why, if he was going to expand the story beyond the view-point characters from the first book, he didn't allow us to see some of the "off stage" events through the eyes of other secondary characters. Don't get me wrong, though; this was still a great book that I would recomend to anyone that loves hard sci fi.

Gardens of the Sun takes place after the Quiet War, which results in interstellar prison camps, looting, and a fragile 'victory' by Earth's forces. A group of refugees struggle to preserve enlightenment and the old values as a band of fanatics prepare for a final battle that could destroy the human species in this riveting military sci fi adventure, recommended for any strong military science fiction library.

I am sorry to say this book failed for me. I had just read the author's The Quiet War. On another website I had seen high ratings for this sequel, Gardens of the Sun. So I was hopeful this sequel was better than the first book. It was worse.

By the end of the first book I was tired of all the long description and the tedious plot intrigue. This book was more of the same. Plus, it re-explains what happened in the first book, more than is necessary (if any is). One third into this book I was already skimming. I skimmed most of the rest of the book just to see how it ended.

I searched out books by this author after being impressed by one of his short stories. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to find the novels from him that I was hoping to find.

[Spoilers follow:] The most unfortunate thing in all of the two books is how this sequel treats the daughter of Avernus. The daughter isn't really focused on until this second book. I found her very interesting, by far the most interesting character of both books. The author could have written a whole book about her - unique origins, exceptional and unusual abilities, conflicted relationship with her mother and the rest of humanity. Now that's a great character with a lot of story potential. Unfortunately, her few scenes are short and her fate unremarkable (I didn't even realize she was actually dead until several pages after it happened.) A tragically wasted opportunity.

I enjoyed the Quiet War, but the title of the review summarizes this book. I finished by skimming the last half, only because I hate to stop books in the middle. Both Quiet War and Gardens of the Sun have the "parallel events and characters" layout. Unfortunately, some the parallels do not intersect with the main plot for very long periods and of themselves are uninteresting. None of the characters stands out as an empathetic central character, although Macy Minnot may come closest. McAuley paints some interesting panoramas of the surface of various moonscapes of the outer planets. However, the long explanations of billions of years, sublimation of whatever, striking of large object to cause upwelling of something or other, contrasting low light, etc is repeated at great length and ad nauseum. Let's get on with the story. Even more annoying are sections where he does long, long third person descriptions of the evolving thinking or feeling of a character or how the relations of the character are changing. This is a novel, and the reader would rather see the events unfold and make the judgment.