Newton's Wake [Paperback]

Ken Macleod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 2005

The Hard Rapture took Earth's best minds away. Now the rest are about to find out where they went ...Centuries ago, space settlers and soldiers fled to the stars from the sentient AI war machines that engulfed Earth. They colonised Eurydice, a planet whose rocks contain traces of its own war machines - some of which still guard a vast, enigmatic artifact on a remote tundra. When an expedition raids this strange artifact, the Eurydiceans discover that they weren't the last survivors of humanity after all. Their leisured lifestyle is about to be disrupted by new arrivals for whom Eurydice is a prize worth fighting over. And the long-dormant war machines are awakening ...Newton's Wake is a stunning stand-alone space opera, charting the struggle for human survival in a universe dominated by post-human intelligence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Amid the somewhat strident politics there are some outrageously funny patches in this over-packed space opera from Nebula and Hugo finalist MacLeod (Cosmonaut's Keep, etc.). In the 24th century, brash young Lucinda Carlyle takes her first big chance to prove herself to her wheeling-dealing clan who control the skein, a network of "gates" transporting people and equipment instantaneously between planets. In the Hard Rapture war centuries earlier between the United States and united Europe, run-amok American AI took over the brains of humans. Survivors flung into space include the gawkish farmers of America Offline (AO), the straitlaced Oriental Knights of Enlightenment (KE) and the third-world "commies" who strip-mine planets (DK). Lucinda opens a Pandora's box of shifting alliances that turns 20th-century American sensibilities upside down. Keeping the AO, KE and DK straight can be confusing as Lucinda brawls along her barrack-room Glasgow-dialect way. Perhaps MacLeod's most memorably quirky character, Benjamin Ben-Ami, produces epics like Jesus Koresh: Martyred Messiah, with "a mild-mannered and modest but strong-willed hero" and "gloating psychopathic villains, the Emperor Reno and the Empress Hilary." MacLeod slyly entices Americans to see ourselves as others see us—not a flattering picture at all.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'Read the book. Then read it again. It's even better the second time' SFX, Praise for Ken MacLeod: 'Stunningly assured, inventive and intelligent' Iain M. Banks, 'MacLeod continues to add massive new levels of sophistication to the traditional space opera' STARLOG, 'He is writing revolutionary SF... a nova has appeared in our sky' Kim Stanley Robinson, 'The wit and thrust are like a needle shower' MAIL ON SUNDAY.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Orbit & Abacus; New Edition edition (January 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841492248
• ISBN-13: 978-1841492247
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,545,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ken MacLeod's SF novels have won the Prometheus Award and the BSFA award, and been shortlisted for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He lives near Edinburgh, Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag..., July 15, 2004

By 

Addison Phillips (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Newton's Wake: A Space Opera (Hardcover)

Newton's Wake is billed as "A Space Opera", which I guess is supposed to explain why this is a bit of a creampuff of a novel. MacLeod is a deft writer, with a nice ability to turn phrases.

We are dropped into the action and MacLeod does a good job of the "slow reveal" of the characters and the circumstances. We get a good feel for this universe and the folks who inhabit it. We get a variety of characters who's basic humanity is challenged by circumstances: there were trapped as a program, head replaced with a metal head, social pariah, simulation of the original person, etc. And there are little touches (Ben Ami's play about Leonid Breznhev is a hoot).

But... I found some jarring elements here too. We don't get close enough to most of these characters to really care all that much about them. Perhaps it is supposed to be telling that there are no real "bad guys" or "good guys", but the author should have had some stance on the Big Issues he raises, like: if you die and a version of you is brought back to life, it is really you? What if the version of you that is brought back isn't really you, it's just a reconstruction of other people's perception of you? Those are truly interesting questions and MacLeod goes nowhere with them: he asks without developing either an opinion or going near the really thorny bits. We are told more often than we are shown the developments that really matter.

I was annoyed by some "reverse anachronisms" here: things from today that inappropriately show up in this far future time and don't fit. I found the debate about "Returners" vs. "Runners" was ultimately empty, as much of the plot was empty, because the author doesn't seem to feel the motivations. The conflicts in the novel are set pieces.

As a space opera, this is neither gonzo enough to be a really wild ride nor pithy enough to really deal with the fascinating issues the book raises. This is a good read and I'll be keeping an eye on MacLeod, though. Here's an author with some talent. But this won't be his best novel.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Copies, Copies Everywhere!, May 24, 2005

By 

Kevin Spoering (Buffalo, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Newton's Wake: A Space Opera (Hardcover)

This novel is of a galaxy full of post-human technology, mind back-ups in case of death (with the associated question of identity survival), faster-than-light space travel, Drexler cornucopia macines, and post-singularity war machines. Most of the book centers around Carlyle's Drift, which are a series of wormholes connecting places many light years apart, with Lucinda Carlyle the principle character here. Across interstellar space there are several human factions, in various technological levels, competing with each other, allowing an interesting plot. I won't write about this further as I hate plot spoilers

I will give you my impressions of the book, however. At times, particularly the later one third, the writing seemed kind of vague, sometimes it was disjointed, making it difficult to recall who was fighting who. Perhaps MaCleod was trying to cover ground too quickly. But in the end it all does make sense. It may be that the main message of the novel is that we will always find ways to kill each other, and justify it, no matter how far technolgy takes us. After reading this, you may wonder as I did, what is real and what is'nt? If you enjoy this kind of science fiction, check out the fine novels by Richard K. Morgan.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, thoughtful, and approachable, August 8, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Newton's Wake: A Space Opera (Hardcover)

The war between Europe and the United States ended abruptly (although not before huge destruction) when the U.S. artifical intelligences jumped the firewalls and subsumed much of the human population. For moments, the hugely grown artificial intelligence was all-powerful, then, it vanished into infinity, too vast to be comprehended or even bothered by the petty wars and struggles left behind. Most of humanity was caught up in the 'rapture.' A few groups, though--America Offline descended from rural out-of-touch farmers, the Knights of Enlightenment--descendents of surviving Japanese and Chinese, Kemokratische Kommunistbund--northern Koreans cut off from computers by their governments isolationism, and a family of Scottish bandits (combat archeologists) who mostly control the tunnels between the stars. When Lucinda Carlyle of the Scots family stumbles across a planet settled by humans who had been on Mars at the time of the Rapture, everything changes. The inhabitants of Eurydice have access to the wormholes between the stars in a new way that puts the Carlyles to shame. But will the new variable in the equation mean war? And even in Eurydice, ancient rivalries between those who wanted to flee the solar system and those who hoped to save the humans forced into the artificial intelligence remain. Now, for the first time, it might actually be possible to realize that dream.

Author Ken MacLeod creates an intriguing universe and populates it with authentic characters and a touch of humor. He calls NEWTON'S WAKE a 'Space Opera,' and it does contain excitement, space travel, and youthful characters attempting to survive terrible mistakes and outrageous odds, but WAKE is much more thoughtful than an old-fashioned space opera. MacLeod asks fundamental questions about humanity, our future, and the nature of our goals--and provides only hints of an answer in the context of an entertaining story. Trust me, it works.

MacLeod is firmly tongue-in-cheek with his playwright, Benjamin Ben-Ami and his plays, including the 'Tragedy of Leonid Brezhnev,' 'The Madness of George II' and Jesus Koresh. I enjoyed the way MacLeod integrated his political beliefs into the story, unlike the more heavy-handed approach he had used in the earlier (but still enjoyable) books reviewed on this site. MacLeod is maturing as a writer, creating in layers now that make his work far more approachable, yet every bit as complex and thoughtful as his earlier novels.