Customer Reviews

Octagonal Raven

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

 

 

The Octagonal Raven (2001) is a standalone SF novel in the Archform: Beauty universe. Over four centuries after Flash, Earth has a number of colonies linked by interstellar Gates. The Federal Union is the overgovernment of Earth and the colonies.

In this novel, Daryn Alwyn comes from a rich family and has the advantage of preselected genes. However, he did not join UniComm, the family business, but instead became a Federal Service pilot. Now he has retired from FS and started his own business as a consulting methodizer and is also an up and coming edart composer. Most of his consulting work is for the networks, but never for UniComm.

Attending a concert party organized by his cousin Kharl, Daryn meets an interesting young lady named Elysa. When the room becomes a bit warm, Daryn and Elysa step outside on the veranda. While outside, Daryn becomes a little flushed and dizzy. He returns to the house and immediately collapses. Elysa fades into the night and then cannot be found in the public databases.

Recovering enough to have an extended conversation, Daryn finds that he has been more or less unconscious for two weeks. Apparently he had an anaphylactic reaction, but later learns that this shock had been caused by unknown nanites. Kharl had treated him with specialized search and destroy nanites that cleared out all other nanites from his system. Then Kharl restores his normal nanetic protection and releases him from treatment.

In this story, Daryn is attacked several times by a hidden cabal. He reports some of these attacks, but the Civil Authority either cannot detect the attacks or is unable to follow up the available evidence. Daryn only knows one assailant -- Elysa -- so he keeps trying to discover her true identity. However, two of the attacks occur while he is tracking down the single physical clue to her identity.

Daryn revisits an old acquaintance -- Majora Hyriss -- who had been at Kharl's party. Daryn had originally been introduced to Majora by his mother, the matchmaker, and so he had been polite but reserved at the time. In the last few years, he has begun to regret his coolness. When he finds his own system to be snooped, Daryn pays her a visit to use her system for his data searches. After a while, he really begins to regret his prior coolness.

This story was published before Arch-Form: Beauty and Flash, but seems to have some common elements. Apparently this novel is a sequel to these other books, taking place hundreds of years afterward. One such element is the Noram Commonacracy. Yet this book also has a PST Trust -- the cabal entity -- although that acronym may have another meaning than the PST in Flash. But the role is the same in both books.

Highly recommended for Modesitt fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of differing societies, hidden conspiracies, and understated romance.

=Arthur W. Jordin

Modesitt is best known for his Recluce novels. I discovered "The Magic of Recluce" through Science Fiction Book Club, and was captivated. It's a brilliant book, with some genuinely new ideas on the shop-worn coming of age theme, and a truly new set of ideas for a the operating rules of a universe.

When he leaves Recluce, it seems to me, Modesitt fares less well. "Raven" is an interesting yarn, speculating on societal balance if we had genetic engineering and on-demand nanotech assistance. If those benefits were available only at a steep price, how would the society be affected? Would the wealthy establish a plutocracy?

This is hardly a new theme in science fiction. Zelazny's "Lord of Light" probably defined this plot line. Modesitt is not Zelazny. While the protagonist, himself one of the augmented elite, acts on behalf of the disadvantaged, he doesn't do so from any higher principle than self-protection: it's to stop the shadowy bad guys from killing him. And he doesn't act to make things better; he preserves the deeply flawed status quo to keep things from getting still worse.

At times the plotting and dialogue sinks to the potboiler yarn, reminiscent of the recent Julian May "Perseus Spur" series; likeable enough but annoying because you know the author can do much better.

In some ways, Modesitt seems to just be grinding out the books now, no longer bringing to them the soaring invention and new ideas that characterized the first few Recluce books. He's still worth reading, but keep your expectations firmly under control... And let's hope for a return to form.

Because of his family's wealth, Daryn Alwyn has been the recipient of genetic enhancements and nanotech augmentations. Still, Daryn prefers to succeed on his own, rejecting the opportunity to join in the giant media firm, UniComm, run by his family. Instead, he becomes federal starship pilot and ultimately serves as a media consultant.

However, Daryn's perfect world is knocked off its axle when a woman tries to kill him at a party. After recovering from "poison," Daryn can not find the elusive culprit. His world spins further out of orbit when his sister dies in a suspicious looking accident. More attempts on his own life and other selected murders have Daryn, a raven among eagles, investigating who will benefit from the deaths of his family ands other key UniComm officials.

THE OCTAGAONAL RAVEN is a well written, but somewhat slow science fiction thriller. The story line is fabulous when it concentrates on the social issues of the haves vs. the have nots which involve "modern" medical techniques such as the genetic enhancements that give an added edge to the rich. When the plot focuses on a conspiracy, it teeters a bit as if L.E. Modesitt, Jr. was undecided between a social statement and a futuristic take over the world thriller. Science fiction fans will want more of the latter as that type of tale provides quite an impact when well written and Mr. Modesitt, Jr. can tell a terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner

This is simply an excellent SF thriller. The main character, Daryn Alwyn, is a member of the genetic and economic elite called "pre-selects", as well as a member of one of the richest and most powerful families in the world - the Alwyns control the largest news network in the world. Daryn chooses not to use his family's wealth and sets out to make it on his own, first as an interstellar pilot and later as an independent artist/analyst. The first part of the novel consists of alternating chapters, switching back and forth from Daryn's youth to the present. I usually dislike this type of structure but Modesitt handles it perfectly, balancing the development of character, plot and setting perfectly. Towards the end of this section, the main conflict has been set up, and the last 200 pages are a page-turner leading to a very satisfying conclusion. The novel has a large number of similarities with "Archform: Beauty", another excellent stand-alone by Modesitt Jr.

Every description and review I've seen on this book calls it an 'action' novel. For the most part, this book doesn't contain 'action' as defined by normal human beings -- it's a book about the owner of a 'television' network. The climax of the book revolves around controversial news stories being broadcast to the public. Modesitt's next action/adventure novel will probably be about the exciting life of a Certified Public Accountant. Readers will be thrilled as our protagonist audits the corporations of the 'bad people' -- fighting off legions of paralegals as they try to serve him with injunctions to stop his heroic efforts to save the world from greedy CEOs.

Not only is the plot pretty bad but Modesitt is starting to show a remarkable lack of imagination. I can summarize the base characters and story elements of pretty much every one of his books that I've ever read in just a few lines. The protagonist is always a *very* mild-mannered man. He doesn't partake of strong drink -- only teas and fruit juices. We know this because the reader is treated to elaborate descriptions of *several* meals in every book that I can recall -- I sometimes wonder if Modesitt moonlights as a restaurant reviewer. Our protagonist starts out alone, but somewhere fairly early on in the book, he finds his soulmate. There will be a minor subplot for the remainder of the story of them dancing around whether or not they're truly meant for each other. The soulmate always has a distinctive fragrance about her which will be brought up several times throughout the story (perhaps Modesitt dabbles in perfume marketing as well). There's "something special" about the protagonist, but he always considers himself to be just an ordinary individual. He's also generally disliked by a significant number of people because of some sort of stereotyping against his profession or origin. The story will consist of large amounts of philosophizing as our protagonist ponders the problems inherent in the world in which he lives and whether it's possible to find solutions. He will experience a continually escalating set of attacks by his enemies throughout the story, and the climax will come when he personally takes what seems to be extreme actions of a morally questionable nature that cause the deaths of innocent people along with the guilty. Did he have to do that? Maybe -- or maybe not.

Daryn Alwyn is a genetically modified human and a member of the family that controls UniComm, THE major news and net organization in human-occupied space. However, Alwyn decided to make his own path, and became a Federal Service deep space pilot. Retired, he opens a consulting business as a "methodizer" to analyze strengths and weakness of businesses (including UniComm's competitors) as well as developing a hobby as an "edartist," an essayist combining prose with images and sound.

So why did someone or something try to kill him? And again? And again?

It's enough to make you paranoid. But then his sister is killed. Then his father and brother.

He decides he needs to give this issue his full, undivided attention. And society will never be the same.

This story is rather slow to develop, and always seems to be dangling a new mystery at the fore. I always had the feeling that this was part of a larger, and alien, story, but this story was unfulfilled. I think I read that the Octagonal Raven is connected to other L.E. Modesitt, Jr., novels, but I have not read those particular ones.

Here's an interesting snippet:

Professor Trebman - "'You did not address the question of whether intelligence, even if it can be measured and assessed accurately, is merely a rationale for control by the elite. Mr. Hamelfar?'

'It is, sir, but the rationale is based on experience, practicality, and history. In the last years of the North American Union, the legislators who controlled the government failed to use their intelligence. They enacted laws and rules that the less informed majority desired. That was so that they could maintain power, even when such rules were wrong economically, socially, and environmentally."

"So?' asked Trebman. 'What's your point?'

Hamelfar swallowed. 'They couldn't maintain control because they subordinated their brains in order to keep the power that they got through media-generated identity politics.'

'And if you wished to retain power in that culture, what would you have done, Mr. Hamelfar?'

Hamelfar flushed, belatedly understanding the professor's point.

Trebman waved his had across the end of the table is a vague gesture. 'Power is - in its simplest form - the ability to get other people to do what you want'" (p. 52-53).

Ouch.

It's a while since I've had so much fun reading an SF mystery/adventure yarn. This is a masterfully crafted work. You're into it from the first page, and it doesn't slow down or let up the rest of the way (and THAT's a satisfying 460 pages).

What's more, Modesitt manages to cram more action/suspense per page than one usually expects, so there's none of those boring "filler" passages one sometimes has to suffer through while looking for the next place where something actually happens, not in this book. The book is structured into numerous short chapters, each a compact and attention-grabbing little story, all strung together to make up the larger story. And the mystery element just keeps building up.

To top it off, it's not just a dumb space opera action novel, but the intelligent and thought-provoking work we've come to expect of Modesitt.

On the surface, The Octagonal Raven is a compelling, intelligent thriller. It can be read as such. However, this story is far more than that. Modesitt satirically blows up the flaws in our society and uses them for a greater purpose. He picks on the alarming bias of 24/7 news channels, strikes at the elitist medical system in our world, and allows the reader to consider many other social issues. The Octagonal Raven is an exciting and suspenseful science fiction novel. Modesitt has truly evolved into a pivotal and important writer of the new millenium.