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librarian_of_trantor's review
3.0
Ultimately disappointing. The novel's pace was often plodding, travelogue like descriptions of the traffic on a city street, every item in the lucidor's breakfast, But I persevered because I was fascinated with the setting: a huge artificial world with a sun inside, the world ocean dotted with continents, "maps", that might represent long forgotten planets, and so far in the future that the sky holds only long lived red stars. And the final chapter "Legacy" was a weak ending.
archergal's review
4.0
A really nice adventure story that made me think of some of Jack Vance's work.
The "maps" of the title seem to refer to both gene maps (what makes an organism what it is) and a more figurative map, where instead of a paper or electronic representation of a place, it refers to an actual place. I thought of these maps as more continents or countries.
Anyway, Thorn, the lucidor (which I continually misread as "luchador" with interesting mental image results) is pursuing Remfrey He, a dangerous "philosopher." In this context, philosopher is more like the 17th/18th century practitioners of natural philosophy, a study of the physical environment and the creatures in it. Remfrey He is also basically a mad scientist. His story is complicated and I don't want to spend time talking about it here, but basically, he's a Bad Dude. The lucidor has captured and brought him in before, but due to some political maneuvering with a neighboring map, Remfrey He got released and is doing his mad scientist stuff for them. But since he's also only out for himself, he also skips out on the new map and runs off AGAIN. The lucidor is after him now, in more of a private capacity. This is the story of how all that plays out.
The world is set on a Dyson sphere. The maps are all on the surface of the sphere. The time period appears to be WAY into the future, after people have essentially risen to essentially become gods, and then went away again to some unspecified sort of place (uploaded? I wasn't clear.) The world they left behind has its own problems, including an invasion by some other sort of organism or set of genes that seems intent on remaking the world.
I appreciate books with older protagonists. The lucidor (that's mainly how he was referred to) had retired from his lawkeeping job. He took on the recapture of Remfrey He kind of as a favor to an old associate. I liked his character.
I think this is the first Paul McAuley book I've finished. I've started one or maybe two others, but got distracted by something else shiny. I enjoyed this one all the way through.
The "maps" of the title seem to refer to both gene maps (what makes an organism what it is) and a more figurative map, where instead of a paper or electronic representation of a place, it refers to an actual place. I thought of these maps as more continents or countries.
Anyway, Thorn, the lucidor (which I continually misread as "luchador" with interesting mental image results) is pursuing Remfrey He, a dangerous "philosopher." In this context, philosopher is more like the 17th/18th century practitioners of natural philosophy, a study of the physical environment and the creatures in it. Remfrey He is also basically a mad scientist. His story is complicated and I don't want to spend time talking about it here, but basically, he's a Bad Dude. The lucidor has captured and brought him in before, but due to some political maneuvering with a neighboring map, Remfrey He got released and is doing his mad scientist stuff for them. But since he's also only out for himself, he also skips out on the new map and runs off AGAIN. The lucidor is after him now, in more of a private capacity. This is the story of how all that plays out.
The world is set on a Dyson sphere. The maps are all on the surface of the sphere. The time period appears to be WAY into the future, after people have essentially risen to essentially become gods, and then went away again to some unspecified sort of place (uploaded? I wasn't clear.) The world they left behind has its own problems, including an invasion by some other sort of organism or set of genes that seems intent on remaking the world.
I appreciate books with older protagonists. The lucidor (that's mainly how he was referred to) had retired from his lawkeeping job. He took on the recapture of Remfrey He kind of as a favor to an old associate. I liked his character.
I think this is the first Paul McAuley book I've finished. I've started one or maybe two others, but got distracted by something else shiny. I enjoyed this one all the way through.
ninett's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book at first. I struggled to read the first chapter and had to have a few goes at it before I got into it. The language is very poetic, sentences long and twisty-turny. The storyline is a little bit like the Odyssey in that it follows a series of travels of the main character to various places - while he searches for someone else. The ending for me was a little bit disappointing because Remfrey didn't go out in a spectacular way, the Lucidor died with a whimper and didn't even get to kill Remfrey, the big bad guy that started the invasion wasn't vanquished (or we didn't see or know it if it was), and even the shatterling storyline went out with a dim blinker rather than a bang. Regardless, I enjoyed the ride itself and the unique and unusual world so much that the shortcomings of the plot haven't deterred me from giving it 4.5 stars.
randyrasa's review against another edition
3.0
While the world-building is magnificent, the other elements of the novel -- plot, characters, themes -- are less substantial or compelling. An enjoyable read.
randyrasa's review
3.0
While the world-building is magnificent, the other elements of the novel -- plot, characters, themes -- are less substantial or compelling. An enjoyable read.
erikbail's review
3.0
Was a slog. Some interesting concepts with the author attempting to argue the points of communism vs democracy but tied together by a meandering tale of the main character who as the story loves to point out, is old.
annarella's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent story, well written and engrossing.
I was fascinated by the amazing world building and the well crafted plot.
The cast of characters is well thought and interesting.
One small issue: it was a bit repetitive at times but this didn't reduce the enjoyment.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I was fascinated by the amazing world building and the well crafted plot.
The cast of characters is well thought and interesting.
One small issue: it was a bit repetitive at times but this didn't reduce the enjoyment.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
mullane45's review against another edition
2.0
This wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and in the end, wasn’t worth the effort.
War of the Maps is set in the far, far future on a Dyson Sphere (an artificial world built around a dying sun to better harvest its energy), although McAuley does a poor job of establishing this facet of his setting, and ultimately it’s to no end. This could have been set on any old planet, anywhere, without really changing anything. It’s a wasted opportunity.
Its main influence seems to be Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, as a lone hero (our sole POV) rides through a world in its sunset years, in pursuit of a nemesis, encountering fractured groups of people - some kind, some not - and ancient technology along the way. Unlike King, though, McAuley never brings any of it to life; there’s no personality here. Instead he gets bogged down in repetitive descriptions of the landscape and reiterating the one-or-two traits that his main characters exhibit.
McAuley also seems to have a loathing for punctuation (aside from the humble comma) which means a lot of very long, plodding sentences. I got used to it after a while, but it contributes to making it feel like a bit of a slog.
There are other elements to the story - some people, for ill-defined reasons, have what amounts to mild superpowers; a mysterious plague is changing the wildlife into strange and dangerous new forms; there are arcane beings that may relate to the myths about how this world was created; and even politics, as our hero comes from a communist state, but has ventured out into a world of capitalism - but none of these are developed to any real satisfaction. And the central cat-and-mouse chase between our hero and his nemesis never comes alive, which leaves… not a lot.
The episodic nature of the story inevitably means that some bits work better than others, and there are times when I was having some fun with this, and enjoying the intermittently evocative world, but the climax takes a long time to arrive, and is underwhelming when it does. McAuley is also not adept at set-pieces, so there’s no enjoyable action to punctuate the increasingly lumbering prose and story.
Late on, McAuley drops a memorable quote from the great M John Harrison’s Kefahuchi Tract series (I’d be amazed if it was a coincidence). “Sparks. Sparks in everything”, goes the phrase. It’s an ironic one to borrow, given how little spark there is here.
War of the Maps is set in the far, far future on a Dyson Sphere (an artificial world built around a dying sun to better harvest its energy), although McAuley does a poor job of establishing this facet of his setting, and ultimately it’s to no end. This could have been set on any old planet, anywhere, without really changing anything. It’s a wasted opportunity.
Its main influence seems to be Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, as a lone hero (our sole POV) rides through a world in its sunset years, in pursuit of a nemesis, encountering fractured groups of people - some kind, some not - and ancient technology along the way. Unlike King, though, McAuley never brings any of it to life; there’s no personality here. Instead he gets bogged down in repetitive descriptions of the landscape and reiterating the one-or-two traits that his main characters exhibit.
McAuley also seems to have a loathing for punctuation (aside from the humble comma) which means a lot of very long, plodding sentences. I got used to it after a while, but it contributes to making it feel like a bit of a slog.
There are other elements to the story - some people, for ill-defined reasons, have what amounts to mild superpowers; a mysterious plague is changing the wildlife into strange and dangerous new forms; there are arcane beings that may relate to the myths about how this world was created; and even politics, as our hero comes from a communist state, but has ventured out into a world of capitalism - but none of these are developed to any real satisfaction. And the central cat-and-mouse chase between our hero and his nemesis never comes alive, which leaves… not a lot.
The episodic nature of the story inevitably means that some bits work better than others, and there are times when I was having some fun with this, and enjoying the intermittently evocative world, but the climax takes a long time to arrive, and is underwhelming when it does. McAuley is also not adept at set-pieces, so there’s no enjoyable action to punctuate the increasingly lumbering prose and story.
Late on, McAuley drops a memorable quote from the great M John Harrison’s Kefahuchi Tract series (I’d be amazed if it was a coincidence). “Sparks. Sparks in everything”, goes the phrase. It’s an ironic one to borrow, given how little spark there is here.
cybergoths's review
5.0
This is a fascinating SF story, with lovely world building. Set on a Dyson Sphere deep in the future, the remnants of humanity live on 'maps' set in a huge ocean. The creators of the sphere have left, and their successors as well, and the technology is far beyond the abilities of the present inhabitants who are maintaining life at a level seen in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries with some recovered technological artefacts. There are godlings and shatterlings of the intelligences which built and controlled the maps in hidden places, more rumour than fact. The maps we see in the story used to trade with each other, but no longer because of a war. Some humans exhibit gifts; effectively psionic powers.
The protagonist is a former law enforcement officer from the Free State, a country which is a form of working communist/socialist state which rebelled several hundred years ago. He retired after his wife, an engineer, died and - illegally - returns to action to track down and bring back to justice the criminal who he had tracked down in his biggest case, Remfry He. Remfry has a gift; he has a silver tongue talent which allows him to control people, is extremely intelligent and sociopathic. He has been released by a faction in the government who want to appease the neighbouring state of Patua. Other people oppose that, and the lucidor, our protagonist, is contacted and set on the trail of his nemesis.
The reason that Remfry He has been released is because it is believed that he can help against the invasion, based on his previous activities. Progressively, a new form of life from another place is invading the map, converting and assimilating life including that of humanity. You can see McAuley's background as a biologist coming out in this. Remfry has been released to help the war effort against that activity. Needless to say, he is playing his own game.
The protagonist is pretty much always call 'the lucidor' in the story. We do know his name, but he is an embodiment of the role that he committed his life too. He is stubborn to a fault, and set on bring Remfry He back to justice or dying in the attempt. It's an interesting stylist approach, to continually refer to him by his role, as it defines how we see him throughout, except when we see little flashbacks to his love and loss of his wife. Knowing what has happened in McAuley's recent past with the death of his own wife, it made me wonder if sometimes he sees himself as 'the author', in a similar manner, and we are seeing a window into his loss?
The story is a slow paced travelogue of the lucidor's journey and encounters across the maps as he doggedly tries to complete his self-appointed mission. I really enjoyed it; it's in a more classic science-fiction style than some of his previous works and a fulfilling read.
The protagonist is a former law enforcement officer from the Free State, a country which is a form of working communist/socialist state which rebelled several hundred years ago. He retired after his wife, an engineer, died and - illegally - returns to action to track down and bring back to justice the criminal who he had tracked down in his biggest case, Remfry He. Remfry has a gift; he has a silver tongue talent which allows him to control people, is extremely intelligent and sociopathic. He has been released by a faction in the government who want to appease the neighbouring state of Patua. Other people oppose that, and the lucidor, our protagonist, is contacted and set on the trail of his nemesis.
The reason that Remfry He has been released is because it is believed that he can help against the invasion, based on his previous activities. Progressively, a new form of life from another place is invading the map, converting and assimilating life including that of humanity. You can see McAuley's background as a biologist coming out in this. Remfry has been released to help the war effort against that activity. Needless to say, he is playing his own game.
The protagonist is pretty much always call 'the lucidor' in the story. We do know his name, but he is an embodiment of the role that he committed his life too. He is stubborn to a fault, and set on bring Remfry He back to justice or dying in the attempt. It's an interesting stylist approach, to continually refer to him by his role, as it defines how we see him throughout, except when we see little flashbacks to his love and loss of his wife. Knowing what has happened in McAuley's recent past with the death of his own wife, it made me wonder if sometimes he sees himself as 'the author', in a similar manner, and we are seeing a window into his loss?
The story is a slow paced travelogue of the lucidor's journey and encounters across the maps as he doggedly tries to complete his self-appointed mission. I really enjoyed it; it's in a more classic science-fiction style than some of his previous works and a fulfilling read.
andrewspink's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
This was the first book I have read by Paul McAuley, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I read a review somewhere that said he was the most imaginative sci-fi author in Britain today, and whilst there might be other contenders for that title (Peter Hamilton, perhaps?) it certainly sounded worth giving him a try. I was not disappointed. <i>War of the maps</i> is very imaginative and it also has a good plot and well-developed character to boot. I particularly enjoyed his use of ant biology in the plot.
McAuley quotes Terry Pratchett at one point ("Or have things so degenerated in your sandy scourhole of a country that you think you live on a flat plate riding on the back of a turtle, or some such nonsense?"), which is certainly enough to put him in my good books as well as a passing reference to a famous evolutionary biologist ("but I soon learned that there are more kinds of beetles than there are people in the entire kingdom. The creator gods had a particular ,liking for them, it seems", which refers to J.B.S. Haldane's remarks about God having an "inordinate fondness for beetles").
This was the first book by Paul McAuley that I read; it will not be my last one.
McAuley quotes Terry Pratchett at one point ("Or have things so degenerated in your sandy scourhole of a country that you think you live on a flat plate riding on the back of a turtle, or some such nonsense?"), which is certainly enough to put him in my good books as well as a passing reference to a famous evolutionary biologist ("but I soon learned that there are more kinds of beetles than there are people in the entire kingdom. The creator gods had a particular ,liking for them, it seems", which refers to J.B.S. Haldane's remarks about God having an "inordinate fondness for beetles").
This was the first book by Paul McAuley that I read; it will not be my last one.