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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bear tops her debut with an even better novel., August 24, 2005
Hammered sucked you into Bear's future world of climate change, cyberware and strange technologies of dubious origin, Scardown ratchets up the tension a few more notches.
Giving little concession to those who did not read the first, Scardown gives us MORE. Alien technology influenced spacecraft. Space Warfare. Nanotechnology. Artificial Intelligences. And characters we care about.
Its no wonder that Bear won the John Campbell award for best new writer at the 2005 Hugo Awards. If you've not read Hammered, go read that, and you will want to read this. And if you did read Hammered, its likely you don't need me to sell you on reading this book, save for me to tell you that its not as good as Hammered.
It's BETTER.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Things take an unexpected turn, March 28, 2006
"Scardown" goes off in a totally unexpected direction. The three-part saga that in the author's "Hammered" seemed to be establishing itself as a cyberpunky "band of outlaws up against globalism and the corporations" turns into something quite different, soaring off into international conflict, character conflict, space opera, and more than a hint of mysterious aliens.
As before, the tale is told in a series of jagged, short, time-stamped chapters from multiple povs. Jenny Casey, with her "wetware" upgraded, is now going to be plugged in as a starship pilot, while the scientists, teenagers, gangsters, et al. from the previous volume continue to play their roles. (Bear cleverly borrows the "mad space pilot" concept from Cordwainer Smith.) The characters' motivations are constantly in flux, and it's impossible to clearly tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Let's just say they're all mostly imperfect, but try to do what they think is best. Also, the author is, fortunately, interested as much in character as she is in plot and action. Indeed, there are times when you're likely to tear up at some of the hard choices that the characters have to make.
Bear's a clever writer, too--a great prose stylist, and her dialogue can often go off in unexpected directions. Sometimes a character will begin speaking, after which some other bit of business starts, and the other speaker doesn't respond for a paragraph or so. Disconcerting at first, but you'll get used to it.
Notes and asides: Second of three, so obviously you should read "Hammered" before tackling this one.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Cybernetic female ex-soldier tangled in a geopolitical catastrophe, July 2, 2010
Former Canadian Special Forces operative Jenny Casey, in her 50's, is back in duty. A corrupted Unitek corporation is working with armed forces and made it possible for Canada to have a space fleet. The army requires Jenny to do the impossible. He must pilot starship Montreal, based on alien technology left by the mysterious Benefactors behind Mars, to scout new habitable worlds. Earth is suffering from ecological collapse within 100 years and can't sustain its population for long. Canada an China are the superpowers which are in a race to colonize nearby stars. This is cold war, not cooperation, but ruthless survival game.
The book starts up right where Hammered left off, so it is not best to read stand alone. In this dystopian future the old war dog, half mechanical woman, is not just anybody. The relationships are one night stands, she's having an addiction, and choices in this cyberpunkish world are tough; people die. The book expands from previous book from being on the street to the geopolitical cyberware where and AI becomes central to the story. The AI, Jenny's protege, communicates with all pilots with help of Hammer drug, but there it is soon needed for the Earth. This trampling free will AI is not exactly wise but its intentions are hoped to be on the right side.
Two (2) stars. Written in 2004 this is book 2 in a trilogy. The writer is very good at painting characters by bringing up their humanity and flaws in this post-War nanotech world. They are all figuring out how to cope with their lives. The moral choices are not right or wrong, but commenced out of necessity. The sketches of imagination continue to be followed in narratives but the reader must concentrate hard on varying points of view to gather pieces and fill in the roomful of events. The extremely short chapters titled with exotic time stamps barely leave enough meat to dive. The snaring narratives have a problem generating tensions with their use of slang. The Razorface gangster lord story line from the first book is a minuscule, barely staying under control, and feel out of proportions compared to the eco-war settings the nations are having. There is something that is bipartite here. The expected starship plot is practically a side step and the wheels rolls towards the turning points to be in history. The reader will either love the book or have hard time with it.
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