Customer Reviews

Inferno: A Chronicle of a Distant World

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I can't believe nobody else has reviewed this book. It was great. Although Resnick's book does have some scientifically unlikely things, like the existance of gigantic interstellar empire, almost everything in this book is scientifically, militarily, and politically reasonable -- as well as wonderfully entertaining. This is an analogy to the European colonies in Africa, and the results are quite close to what happened to some former colonial states. If you like military works and techno-thrillers along the vein of Tom Clancey and you like science fiction that is (mostly) based on science like Arthur Clarke, you will love Inferno. Try getting the other books in the series as well.

This is the conclusion to Resnick's *Galactic Comedy*, three romans a clef about the colonial histories of Kenya ("Paradise"), Zimbabawe ("Purgatory") and Uganda. Humans colonize a planet which resembles the rich and beautiful land that Uganda was in 1880, and the country descends into genocidal horror under brutal Gama Labu (Idi Amin, of course). These are not only excellent classic sf; they are palatable histories of these nations from which I've learned a great deal. Resnick has traveled in Africa and obviously loves it and its people dearly. I value his work much more than that of right-wingers Steve Stirling and Jerry Pournelle, for whom enslavement and colonization are positive benefits for the poor Africans. Resnick shows that colonization brought good and bad to Kenya; in Uganda, so many bad things happened that it's hard to describe.(Or understand. Do not read this book expecting a funny little comedy, please. It depicts horrors that Americans like to think went out with Hitler or Pol Pot).
Uganda has seen small improvements since Resnick wrote this book (millennial debt relief and some control of AIDS) but his tale is accurate as far as it goes. This is just beautiful and heartbreaking. Highly recommended.

I bought this book after reading the jacket and wanting to learn how the author was able to have this world developed in such a short time frame. I was dissatisfied with what I read, in that regards. I realize that a reader has to suspend disbelief when reading Sci-Fi, but without the resources of the galactic empire, I don't see how so much got done so quickly. I also don't understand a future that far out that doesn't account for the evolution and role of robots. I understand that this book is an allegory for events that occurred in Africa, but I don't think the science end of things was handled well. How can you have a technological society that can profitably ship produce though space and not have robots? If you can, why can't you apply that technology to produce food on those worlds? Obviously Resnick had to make some compromises between scientific reality and his political story. The political story, on the other hand, was well done. What was left out was how an advanced industrial society deals with a more primitive one "correctly" from the being. 'Hello, we just thought we'd stop in and see how you're doing. Don't want to upset your self-development. We'll be back in 2000 years to see if you are at a point where we can establish trade relations. Meanwhile, here's some literature on political correctness you might want to read."