Customer Reviews

The Star Fraction

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Star Fraction is Ken MacLeod's first novel, only now being published in the States. It is set in the same "future history" (or "future histories") as The Stone Canal, The Cassini Division, and The Sky Road. (The books can in general be read in any order.)

MacLeod is a very politically savvy writer, and his books are full of politics, but the politics is almost always expressed through action, or it is an integral part of the setting. In other words, the books aren't lectures: they are, rather, books that are about politics in interesting ways, ways that are integral to their themes. And I should add that besides being about politics, the books concern interesting future technology (especially computer technology and Artificial Intelligence), and they are centered on believable and likable characters. And they have rollicking plots, as well.

The Star Fraction follows several characters through a revolution of sorts in 21st Century Great Britain. As the novel opens, the UK of our time has undergone several political upheavals, and is now "balkanized" into quite a few different, nominally independent, political divisions. These include the "Hanoverians", apparently the closest thing to a controlling force on the island; the "Army of the New Republic", the remnants of a liberal/socialist republic which apparently succeeded the Kingdom of our present time; a number of basically independent "mini-states", some occupying only a few blocks of territory, with wildly different political organizations. Furthermore, the whole world seems to be under the loose control of some combination of the US and UN, and such organizations as Stasis, which proscribes certain technology, and Space Defense, which controls the orbital anti-nuclear lasers. This society is fascinating, and the details are well portrayed, with off the cuff hints, and only the occasional well-done infodump.

The main characters are Moh Kohn, a basically Trotskyite mercenary; Janis Taine, a scientist studying memory enhancement; and Jordan Brown, a young atheist computer expert, fleeing from his upbringing in the Fundamentalist Christian enclave Beulah City. Their paths intersect when one of Moh's jobs involves defending Janis' lab: Stasis seems to have decided that Janis' research is dangerous, and Moh takes her to Norlonto, in the process becoming infected her new memory drug. At the same time Jordan encounters the mysterious "Black Planner", an entity of the net, who some think may be the long-feared "Watchmaker": an AI coalesced from the combined networked computing power of the world. Jordan also flees to Norlonto, and hooks up with Janis and Moh. Moh soon begins to remember details about his late father's work, which involved a freeware program called (cleverly) Dissembler, which has become omnipresent on the world's computers. And people are beginning to ask Moh what he knows about a mysterious organization called The Star Fraction.

The novel is fast moving and clever throughout. The action is resolved intelligently: none of the characters really know what they're doing, or necessarily why. This results in some wonderful irony, and in a believable and honest plot. The villains have believable, even defensible, motives; and the heroes, while they are virtuous, may not be right. (Or, better, what is "right" is ambiguous.)

MacLeod's writing is also strong. He is a clear and elegant writer, with a great ear for clever brand names and other phrases, which subtly illuminate the nature of this future world. In this he is like Greg Egan and perhaps most of all Bruce Sterling. As with those two writers, MacLeod's near futures seem fully furnished, real. This is an excellent book, and all the more remarkable for being a first novel. Iain Banks' jacket quote says "this man's going to be a major writer": for my money, he already is.

I bought this book partly on the strength of the reviews on this site and the UK sister site (hmmmmmm), and the fact it kept appearing on my recommended list. However it did not live up to my (generally easily satisfied) expectations.
Let's be fair about this, some of the ideas and thought that evidently went into the creation of Star Fraction were impressive. It's the implementation that I've a problem with, and that made this book just another "also-ran".

The plot and character development felt rushed and erratic at times. At a few points I found myself wondering what was going to happen next, and asking myself if I really cared or not. It all felt a bit thin and two dimensional. Perhaps it was me, but I made an assumption that the length and detail at which the politics were explored would have some impact in the end-game. They didn't, unless I missed something blindingly obvious. Or perhaps that was the point - that the politics were irrelevant to the outcome (in which case, why bother with them at all).
I also thought that he failed to capture the 'feel' of north London, even allowing for the fact that it had become something of a splintered entity.

There were parts which reminded me of William Gibson, and a lot of the style was more than a little reminiscent of the great Iain M. Banks. I think that Ken would be better trying to concentrate on a style of his own and attempt to leave behind the large influence of other (and IMO, better) sci-fi authors.
I honestly believe this guy does have some talent, and this will flourish with a little more focus, but then ... what do I know.

So Mr. MacLeod, for your end of book report you get an average grade C, and a "Kenneth is capable of better".

First of all, I do recommend this book to everybody that enjoys some near-future what-if books that mixes politics, artificial intelligence possibilities, and loads of technology.

The good things about it would first be the ability to really shape a very interesting reality, very well built characters, many thought-provoking discussions, in the political, social and technological fields. In a way the story is very believable (maybe not in 40 years), and very fast paced.

Now the reason why I didn't rate it a 5 stars is that sometimes it becomes too "thick". Too many things happen without much explanation, and the author seems to be looking for that. I remember finishing the first chapter of the book and just thinking to myself "What? What is going on here?". Little by little you start to get used to the acronyms, the political system, and the pace of the book and then it becomes really interesting. Just be ready for this "shock" if you plan on reading it.

For now I'll move into a new book and then go back and read another of his Fall Revolution series books. Now that I know what he is talking about maybe it will be easier to finish the next one.

Those who like the safe, the normal, the everyday commonplace should not read this book, as it is certainly anything but. Macleod creates a world where the US/UN is the bad guy, where England is divvied up into many semi-autonomous city-states, each of which have their own idea of what the perfect society should be, and most of whom are at gun-point loggerheads with all the others, where the Net is pervasive and invasive, and may just be the locus of the real world power, a conscious AI, and where your ideas and assumptions about anarchy, communism, socialism, and capitalism will be stood on their head.

The main characters of Moh Kohn, mercenary extraordinary, Janice, bio-chemist, Jordan, programmer and rebeller against the purantistic creed of his birth society, and Catherin, idealist and Kohn's former lover, are well realized and interact with each other and the rapidly changing socio-political environment in believable manners.

The plot is very fast-paced, almost too much so. At the beginning of the book we are dropped into this wildly different future with very little explanation of where you are or what the overall world picture/history is or how it got that way. The casual reader who is not steeped in science fiction, in being able to accept things as they are presented, and hold his questions in abeyance will probably feel lost and confused. These items are really not explicated in cohesive detail till near the end of the book, with bits and pieces presented all along the way, as the reader is carried along pell-mell through this odd society with each twist and turn of the plot.

Stylistically, most of the prose is fairly prosaic, which gets the job done and is normally unobtrusive. Although there is a fair amount of techno-babble, there is very little use of British slang, always a problem for their American cousins to understand. However, the book is littered with typographical errors (the type that spell checkers won't pick up), and this definitely does cause some problems, as you try to determine if Macleod really wrote 'left' instead of 'let'. At a few places, Macleod inserts some sly insider references to other science fiction works and writers - which frequently caused me to have a laughing fit, as the irony used was beautiful.

A rich mixture of cyber-punk and politics, a rather terrifying view of a possible future, and strong action make this a page turning mind-enhancing trip through the land of a fantastic and all too relevant tomorrow.

I believe that I originally found Ken MaCleod's "Cosmonaut Keep" on the bookshelf at a store and found the description for it to be extraordinarily interesting. That being said, I decided to research and find out what the authors first book was. Upon discovering the Fall Revolution Sequence did not have to be read in any particular order, I decided to order and read the Star Fraction before the others, just to put my own sense of order to it.

Upon beginning this book, I found that a sense of order to the book itself was to some extent difficult to discern. Bear in mind that in several sequences I found the author's style to actually be very exciting and captivating, which lends to the idea that his later books will be very exciting. For a huge portion of the book though, I found his writing style to be somewhat cryptic, plodding and convoluted in the set up of the action sequences. This book is replete with varying political and social views that at times will leave your head spinning as to which direction the book is taking you.

Overall, this novel for me was a worthwhile read, just not overly compelling. At some point in time, after some further reflection, I will pick up the next book, "The Stone Canal" and read it. The conclusion to this one just doesn't compel me to do so at this time.

The premise: MINOR SPOILERS

This tome is about a dismal future of the early 2040's after a brief third world war, the US/UN has taken hegemony over a balkanized world. The Fall Revolution Sequence itself is an attempt to put an end to this new world order and reunify fragmented nations.

A key player in the Fall Revolution is an extremely interesting character by the name of Moh Kohn. His father Josh Kohn was the one who wrote many of the revolutionary programs that runs the computers of this society, which play a key part in the society. Moh Kohn himself is a security mercenary, living in a commune who believes in many of the communist ideas. Through chance, he meets with Janis Taine, who is a scientist working on memory enhancing drugs. This meeting is what basically begins the Fall Revolution. {ssintrepid}

I thought I was going to be let down because this is the first book in "The Fall Revolution" series and I was reading it last, Ken happily proved me wrong. I like this as much as The Stone Canal, and that is saying alot. Ken's writing is so concise and vibriant. Each sentance flies off the page smacking you right up side the head. This is the reason I read SF (not sci-fi), and authors like MacLeod are the reason SF is on the rise. Start with this book and then read the whole series, you'll be happy you did!! Now I just have to wait for Cydonia: The Web to be published domestically...

Fast-paced and a fun read. All of the usual cyberpunk elements are there, with the addition of some complicated socialist politics. Long on action, short on characterization. Several different cultures that aren't explored in depth. Major historic events, any one of which would probably be a book in itself, that seem more like backdrop than real things happening to large numbers of people. (A major change in America happens just like that.) Like a lot of cyberpunk, the treatment of computers and AI is a bit too magical for my taste. But certainly good enough for an action movie - err, book.

But unless you're familiar with leftist politics, especially British leftist politics, many of those pages will be Wikipedia pages. I don't consider that a drawback - it is a sign of a book that is very much connected to the real world and has much to say that you have not considered before. However, even with the Web at my disposal, Banks and Macleod's fondness for blimps mystifies me.

More seriously, I don't know of anything else quite like this, and it should not be missed. I recommend you follow it with The Stone Canal, and reserve judgment on the politics until you have read both. I would have given this 4.5 stars, but Amazon made me choose between 4 and 5.

This novel, why mimicking finer cyberpunk fair, becomes overburdened with far-fetched unlikeable characters with an overly heightened political sensibility... Also, the story is muddled and overly contrived, an interesting idea poorly executed. In the end, the novel becomes tedious drudgery with little relief.

I sincerely hope the author's finer works are more refined and mature, but I think I'm throwing in the towel on Mr. McCleod.

In the near future, the U.S./U.N. sits in space, ready to rain down destruction on anyone who they see as a threat while Europe has balkanized to the point where England has become dozens of countries, at war with one another and with the rest of the world. The former socialist government still claims that it is the legal authority, but its major ally is a computer artificial intelligence that has been manipulating the world for decades.

Moh Kohn, follower of Trotsky and son of the programmer who created what became an artificial intelligence, works as a communist security guard, protecting property from the ecological wacks and other 'barbarians.' When he steps over the mercenary line, he is forced to run with a beautiful scientist and joins up with Jordan, a disaffected Christian programmer who wants to preach the truth and make a mint manipulating the market.

Author Ken MacLeod's vision of future communism looks a lot like Robert Heinlein's capitalism. He brings a definite European slant (Americans aren't used to being the badguys in science fiction), but his world is compelling.

THE STAR FRACTION is MacLeod's first novel. I look forward to his future efforts where, the world fully created, he'll be able to add the same level depth to the human characters as he does to his world.