A nightmarish vision of future war from a literary master of SF.
Adam Roberts' new novel is a terrifying vision of a near future war—a civil war that tears the UK apart as new technologies allow the worlds first truly democratic army to take on the British army and wrest control from the powers that be.
Taking advances in modern communication and the new eagerness for power from the bottom upwards, Adam Roberts has produced a novel that is at once an exciting war novel and a philosophical examination of war and democracy. It shows an exciting and innovative literary voices working at the height of his powers and investing SF with literary significance that is its due. A giant has brought war to England's heartland. He stalks across the fields and towns to the west of London. The British army has tried to destroy him but each time has has beaten them. When they bring in air support and deploy heavy weapons he simply melts away, only to form again somewhere else and deliver another devastating blow. Pantegral is a New Model Army—a giant whose thoughts flow through countless wireless connections, whose intelligence comes from the internet and real-time camera updates, whose mind is made up of thousands of minds, each deciding what Pantegral will choose to do. And Pantegral has chosen the joy of the fight. His fury is truly democratic. Adam Roberts' stunning new novel is a savage satire on on our capacity for war and a celebration of our need for love. It confirms his status as one of the most exciting voices writing today.
