Customer Reviews

Sky Road

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

 

 

This is another excellent, engaging, novel from a fairly new Scottish writer, just now making his mark in the United States. This probably does not quite jar my favorite of his novels, The Stone Canal (1996), from its position at the top of my personal MacLeod heap, but it's very fine, with yet another differently organized somewhat anarchic semi-utopia on display, as well as yet another look at the turbulent 21st century, and the menace of Artificial Intelligence.

Ken MacLeod's new book is an intriguing offshoot from his previous three novels. (It is not necessary to have read those books to appreciate The Sky Road.) In this future, the world has fractured into numerous smaller states by the early 21st Century, essentially in a continuation of the process begun in the ex-communist states in the 1980s. In addition, Artificial Intelligences begin to emerge, not always planned, and not always benevolent. The three books, in addition to the persistent worry about AI's, portray a variety of political organizations, and forms of organization, most notably perhaps the anarcho-socialist society of the Solar System and the anarcho-capitalist society of New Mars, in the time of The Cassini Division.

The Sky Road is kind of an "alternate history" of MacLeod's future. The earlier parts, chronologically, of The Stone Canal, and all of The Star Fraction, are set in a common past to both The Sky Road and to The Cassini Division, but one of the events in The Stone Canal goes a different way in The Sky Road. Like The Stone Canal (and, to a lesser extent, The Cassini Division), this book is told in two threads, one in the past, in 2059, and the other some centuries in the future. The pastward thread follows Myra Godwin-Davidova, a minor character in The Stone Canal. Myra, 105 years old, is the head of the government of a mini-state near Kazakhstan, called the International Scientific and Technical Worker's Republic. At the opening of the action, the Sino-Soviet Alliance, or the Sheenisov, is advancing on Kazakhstan. Both the reformed UN and Dave Reid's Mutual Protection Society are trying to take control of the world, partly from space, and to stop the Sheenisov. Myra goes on a whirlwind tour of Kazakhstan, Turkey, the US and the UK, looking for military assistance. What she has to offer are the world's remaining supply of nuclear weapons. But her problem is, it's not at all clear who the real enemy is, or for that matter how many enemies there are. She also deals with her personal problems: her age, her guilt over such betrayals of her past ideals as the use of slave labour, and the selling of nuclear protection, and her loss of yet another loved one in suspicious circumstances.

The other thread features Clovis colha Gree, a young student in an odd, somewhat Utopian, Scotland. He is working on a project building a spaceship: the first spaceship to be built since the mysterious "Deliverance". It seems that since this "Deliverance" the world has reorganized itself on a rather pastoral model. Clovis' field of study is history, particularly the life of the "Deliverer". (The reader figures out right quick that the "Deliverer" is Myra Godwin-Davidova.) Clovis meets a beautiful woman called Merrial, and they fall tumultuously in love. But Merrial is a tinker, and the tinkers are regarded with suspicion by the rest of society, as they are the only people who deal with the somewhat restricted computer technology available in this future. Clovis is drawn by his love for Merrial and his thirst for knowledge about the Deliverer to a questionable search for secret files of the Deliverer's: ostensibly to help protect the spaceship project. But this search leads them not only to some anti-hagiographic knowledge about the Deliverer (her use of nuclear weapons, for example), but also to some potential use of the "black logic", the "path of power".

The two threads converge to reveal to the reader some, at least, of what's going on: what the Deliverance really was, and what "black logic" might be, and part of the nature of this future society. It's intriguing, and clever, and by the end quite moving. The only weakness is that I found Merrial and Clovis' affair just a bit convenient: not all that easy to believe. (To explain exactly why would involve spoilers.) I also found the political machinations of Myra's time hard to follow, but that weakness is in me, partly, and partly, I think, its a feature: MacLeod 21st century really is a chaotic time. I also was impressed again by MacLeod's clever way with a phrase. His prose is sound, but only some of the time does it sing. (The first chapter is quite impressive in this way, but he doesn't really maintain that peak level.) However, throughout there are dry asides, and clever plays on words, and mordant observations that hit home.

Ken MacLeod continues to be one of the most exciting new SF writers. His books are politically intriguing, and honest, also full of nice SFnal speculation about future technology, nicely written, and fast moving. The characters are well-drawn, and almost always ambiguous. Each of his books is worth reading, and The Sky Road is one of his best.

I couldn't help but to leave this small piece of advice for those complaining about obscure references and an overwhelmed feeling due to plot points they failed to grasp (or indeed, viewed as inconsequential rambling on Mr Mcleods part).

If the fourth book in a series is the first you read, then OF COURSE you're not going to have a clue with regards to obscure references and knowing-winks-and-nods to past events and characters.

For the love of god, read the series and put the book into some form of context before slapping a 2 star rating on it. You're putting off more patient prospective-readers who may well take the time and effort to become properly versed in the back story before leaping in for the final lap and then moaning that they don't know what's going on...

An excellent book and a wonderful series, the more positive elements of the other reviews here are all spot on... Not to be missed if you are a fan of Hamilton or Reynolds... Or like myself, have strong leftist/socialist tendencies and a love of sci-fi.

Before reading MacLeod's "The Sky Road," I read his "The Cassini Division." My review of "The Cassini Division" reflected the confusion I had while trying to work my way through the often-obscure text. My initial impression was that, for the most part, the glowing reviews I had read of MacLeod's work had been much too generous.

Fortunately, I did not let my initial disappointment with "The Cassini Division" sour me completely on MacLeod. "The Sky Road" is one of the finest science fiction novels I have read in quite some time. MacLeod is worthy of the accolades and praise he has been receiving. However, I echo other reviewers' advice that readers should tackle "The Sky Road" before turning their attention to "The Cassini Division."

In alternate chapters, "The Sky Road" jumps back and forth between the story of Myra Gowin-Davidova, who faced a worldwide crisis in her time, and that of Clovis colha Gree, who lives in Scotland far in the future when mankind is preparing to venture back into space for the first time since "The Deliverance." Clovis, a would-be scholar, wants to write a biography of The Deliverer, who is none other than Myra. One of the interesting and successful aspects of the novel is MacLeod's juxtaposition of a character acting in times of crisis with a far-removed biographer attempting to understand what happened in a time for which he has no context. MacLeod seems to argue that History is a matter of context, as much as it is a matter of anything. Many would agree.

The novel is a lot of fun for those who are a bit left-leaning, or at least left-inclined. In MacLeod's alternative future, the fall of the Soviet Union turns out to have been a mere counter-revolutionary moment. Myra herself, who is ultimately a bit of a 21st century Joan of Arc, is Head of State for a small soviet-style republic known as the ISTWR (International Scientists and Technical Workers Republic). In the crisis of her times, she is the only one who can save the world from itself in the act known as "The Deliverance." Another interesting aspect of the novel is MacLeod's exploration of how spontaneous actions taken in the heat of the moment become mythic to all who seek to understand and explain the way that powerful personalities shape their times.

In "The Sky Road," MacLeod demonstrates why such praise has been lavished upon his small canon. "The Cassini Division" is much too vague and referential to an unknown alternative history. In contrast, "The Sky Road" stands on its own as an entertaining tale. It reminds me of what I liked about science fiction in the first place.

The combination of radical politics, space opera and cyber-driven fiction has propelled Ken Macleod's anracho-socialist/capitalist future-world to the top of my list of Preferred Universes to live in. Macleod's intricate construction of a possible future has enthralled and enlightened me... and it is with pleasure that I can say The Sky Road is not only the best book of the four, it seamlessly integrates both a comprehensible and fascinating story/universe of its own with a concluding coda to the series that answers many (not all) of the plotlines from the Dark Period of the saga.

Ok, that's all well and good, but PLEASE: do yourself a favor and just read a copy of this or any other Ken Macleod book you can get your hands on. Both The Cassini Division and The Stone Canal are availbale still here on amazon, and the first book can be bought from the UK iteration of the same.

After all, does anything beat really well-conceived and written speculative fiction?

This is a solid book, but a pretty quick read. One nice highlight is that one of the two main threads is centered around Kazakhstan. That certainly doesn't happen very often. Some funny computer jokes at the expense of the characters in the other section, and something that we, of course see coming, but the protagonist, does not.

Then he throws in one sneaky, very political AI, and it is not a bad story, along with being hopeful, even with a bit of the good old nuclear destruction.

I actually bought this book at a real store. My major complaint is that NOWHERE on the jacket or inside flaps is any mention that is is book 4 in a series. That is very annoying since I had to locate the other 3 books first in order to fully appreciate this novel. I don't think it reads too well as a stand-alone story. Aside from that complaint, I found the story, characters, etc... to be compelling.

Of the four books of the Macleodian future, the Sky Road is the weakest. Like the Stone Canal, this book is split in two time periods, past and present. However, in this one, the "present" was dull. It simply lacked any thrill that kept you reading. Worse, I had a hard tim placing it until late in the book when I concluded that it was the 22nd century. Only the "past" storyline was intersting. However, it was a wonderful portrayal of the global disintegration of the 21st century. Lovers of the Macleod's books will find this one worth it if only to watch his depiction of a global dark age setting in.

The only problem was the ending is entirely new. Its results are never mentioned in the Cassini Divsion. And in the "present" story, there is no mention of the Sheenosovs or any of the other things that seemed to have happened in the Cassini Division. This left me wondering if the Sky Road was in fact an Alternate History to Macleod's Future History. Half of it was wonderful, the other half left me confused.

This is the most mind-opening book I've ever read. I frequently impose MacLeods questions on other people because the book poses questions of philosophy on such a level that forming an opinion on some sends the reader into the most interesting paths of cognition.

For instance: (the responses to this always very) Let's say I can plug my head into this computer, and download every memory, every single feeling and second UP UNTIL this very second. Let's say I do that, and then I open the window of my 7th story apartment and take a running leap onto a taxi below. When I die, and the computer brings the three-minuite-old me back, is it really still me? More importantly, When I'm flying to my death, am I thinking "Well, I'm sure glad I made that backup". Personally, I think i'd just be thinking "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!", but then what's the point of making a backup?

I mean, exploring principles of high-technology and how it can completely smash political barriers in ways that we're so used to not thinking of that we completely don't see them; this is what the book does. It's a study of political-techno-biological relations in different stages of a world. Ironically, the 'past' section of the story less resembles the present than the 'centuries-in-the-future' sections.

Truly, the characters are merely vessels for carrying a greater message and simply acting out the functions of the story, they don't seem to have personal depth - but that isn't a fault of macleod; failing to delve into expressing a character's personality traits through action and dialogues. There's fair amounts of that, although the reader fails to connect at times because the fact is simply this: Macleod's characters are representations of external circumstance. The book's main message is that we really are products of our circumstance, and we do and think what's in front of us.

That's why it ends like it does, and clovis never does understand maya's story. It's outside of his societally-conformant way of thinking: history only makes sense in it's own context BECAUSE we only understand ourselves in our own history's context. The entrancement of the book comes from truly questioning how much we really can understand as we're stuck in the frame of mind that we've grown into. The true genius of the book is the mind-popping questions of new political-technological systems that are actually believable when considering the possibilities of the futures that the book presents. What effect would immortality have on a society? What effects would nano-technology instant fabrication have on a capatalist society? If the cost of production was zero, would anarcho-communism come into effect? Would the very greed principle guiding humanity dissolve if we were immortal? If we truly had all the time we needed to live out whichever life we choosed 800 times, The world changes inevitably.

Ultimately, it is usually those who ask such questions whom see a bigger picture in every aspect of any situation. As legs will grow musclar if forced to run, a mind will be more receptive and open to unfamiliar ideas if a mind is used to fathoming the completely unfamiliar.

I read the cassini division too, and found it equally (maybe a bit less) thought-provoking and generally 'neat'. I haven't read any others in the series, and i tried to read 'Dark Light' from the 'Engines of Light' series but couldn't dig it..

After its two thrilling predecessors, The Stone Canal and The Cassini Division, The Sky Road turns out to be a disappointment. For one thing, it depicts a world which seems decidedly inconsistent with the backdrop of The Cassini Division - which should occur between the two threads present in this book. For another, the technology of The Sky Road is much lower than in earlier books, with only slight incremental improvements on what we have today in the year 2000 (plus a powerful artificial intelligence who mostly stays in the background).

Thematically, I suppose The Sky Road is about individuals who become disillusioned with their beliefs over time, although it's a weakly-portrayed theme. Otherwise, the book presents a moral dilemma for its character Myra in the year 2058, who grapples with it in ultimately unsatisfying ways (her ultimate solution is telegraphed a mile away), and a voyage of discovery for its character Clovis, farther in the future (the 26th century?) as he learns about the legendary figure of Myra and discovers what his lover Merrial is up to.

The sense of wonder is low, and although this book might be a decent build-up to another book, the end leaves you wondering, "That's it? What happens next?" Which isn't what one really wants out of a novel.

As always, MacLeod's writing is fine, his characters enjoyable, and his mixture of politics with science fiction engaging. Unfortunately, it's all in the service of a rather bland story here. His earlier work is much better.

Having enjoyed "The Cassini Division" and "The Stone Canal", I was looking forward to this book with great expectations. Unfortunately, it came up somewhat short. That's not to say it's a bad book; but it isn't as intellectually stimulating, or as entertaining as its predecessors.

As usual, the writing is elegant, and generally superb. The story is well plotted, and moves along at a reasonable pace. However, when all was said and done, I didn't really feel like I had gone anywhere by reading this book. The story was entertaining, but there was no real climax, and hence no real resolution.

Perhaps that is what Macleod was striving for; a vehicle to develop characters for future works. If that is the case, he succeeded admirably. I suspect that this is a novel that will always be regarded in the context of his other works, rather than on its own merits.

Still, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes their science fiction on the serious side.