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60degreesn's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable near future world that refracts present thru political economy & layers of conspiracy theories.
mcfade28's review against another edition
3.0
This book did a few things well and a few things badly. Starting with the good... This is a very mild sci fi novel set in the near future in Scotland.
We follow the main character Ryan over the period of about 10 years,starting when he is a teenager, and we drop into this life every few years. The first section deals with what really is a defining event in Ryan's life- a run in with a UFO, and a subsequent dream about aliens. The book does a good job building intrigue throughout the story as we and Ryan try to rationalise the encounter, and his subsequent meetings with a suspected "Man In Black" Jamie Baxter. Ryan himself is a flawed and well developed character and I felt he was realistic throughout.
The near-future world he inhabits is very interesting. When Ryan is a teen, we get the sense there has been some terrible event that has resulted in a lot of poverty. Although everybody seems technologically rich, with very advanced phones etc, they also need to eat nettle soup from the back garden, and meat and coffee have seemingly become rare commodities. The author did a great job in making me genuinely interested about this world but unfortunately fell short in giving much info about what happened, and what changed between then and our subsequent meetings with Ryan over the next few years.
This leads me into the larger downside of this novel, the ending. Similar to the above sparcely developed world, we also didn't get much explanation into the "supernatural" events towards the end. The whole story felt it was building up to a reveal we never received. There were a few hints but I think the author could have done with spelling everything out a lot more. I think it could be that I just wasn't compatible with the author's less is more approach, but either way I left the book feeling let down.
3.5 stars for me, but it really could have been a 4/4.5 if it had been more clearly explained.
We follow the main character Ryan over the period of about 10 years,starting when he is a teenager, and we drop into this life every few years. The first section deals with what really is a defining event in Ryan's life- a run in with a UFO, and a subsequent dream about aliens. The book does a good job building intrigue throughout the story as we and Ryan try to rationalise the encounter, and his subsequent meetings with a suspected "Man In Black" Jamie Baxter. Ryan himself is a flawed and well developed character and I felt he was realistic throughout.
The near-future world he inhabits is very interesting. When Ryan is a teen, we get the sense there has been some terrible event that has resulted in a lot of poverty. Although everybody seems technologically rich, with very advanced phones etc, they also need to eat nettle soup from the back garden, and meat and coffee have seemingly become rare commodities. The author did a great job in making me genuinely interested about this world but unfortunately fell short in giving much info about what happened, and what changed between then and our subsequent meetings with Ryan over the next few years.
This leads me into the larger downside of this novel, the ending. Similar to the above sparcely developed world, we also didn't get much explanation into the "supernatural" events towards the end. The whole story felt it was building up to a reveal we never received. There were a few hints but I think the author could have done with spelling everything out a lot more. I think it could be that I just wasn't compatible with the author's less is more approach, but either way I left the book feeling let down.
3.5 stars for me, but it really could have been a 4/4.5 if it had been more clearly explained.
blogan27's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
andrew61's review against another edition
3.0
I am not usually a Sci fi fan but I saw Val MacDermid talking to the author on an edition of Artsnight and was sufficiently intrigued about the idea of speculative fiction based in the everyday that I hunted down this book.
The story is set in near future Glasgow and two sixth form boys revising for exams take a break in the fog laden hills. What then appears to be an extra terrestrial encounter occurs and the consequence has an impact on the rest of Ryan's life. The book then moves forward chapter by chapter with Ryan and his friend Callum growing up and having relationships against the background of conspiracies about government, big business and technologies , with a hint of underground revolutionaries thrown in and a mysterious official who repeatedle enters Ryans life in various guises.
I enjoyed the book and the writing was very engaging with a background very reminiscent of Iain Banks novels as opposed to Iain M Banks. Thus the characters were well drawn and I enjoyed their story and development with much focus on the domestic nature of relationships , jealousy and loyalty , with a fascinating imagination of stalking in the future in the prologue . I would have given it 4 stars but at times I was confused with the technologies to the extent that it did get in the way a bit of my enjoyment but I still liked it enough to find more by the author.
The story is set in near future Glasgow and two sixth form boys revising for exams take a break in the fog laden hills. What then appears to be an extra terrestrial encounter occurs and the consequence has an impact on the rest of Ryan's life. The book then moves forward chapter by chapter with Ryan and his friend Callum growing up and having relationships against the background of conspiracies about government, big business and technologies , with a hint of underground revolutionaries thrown in and a mysterious official who repeatedle enters Ryans life in various guises.
I enjoyed the book and the writing was very engaging with a background very reminiscent of Iain Banks novels as opposed to Iain M Banks. Thus the characters were well drawn and I enjoyed their story and development with much focus on the domestic nature of relationships , jealousy and loyalty , with a fascinating imagination of stalking in the future in the prologue . I would have given it 4 stars but at times I was confused with the technologies to the extent that it did get in the way a bit of my enjoyment but I still liked it enough to find more by the author.
fivemack's review
3.0
This is clearly a distant prequel to the _Cosmonaut Keep_ series. It's effectively the bildungsroman part of many of Ken Macleod's books, in which the protagonist goes through early adulthood in a newly socialist utopia, expanded to novel length. Interesting approach to the Men in Black. But it really doesn't feel as if it's doing anything Ken hasn't done before, which is a bit sad for the writer of the incredibly inventive Fall Revolution or the joyful Learning the World.
gerhard's review
4.0
Thoughtful, slow-burning and filled with a deeply-felt and ultimately transcendent humanism, this is the sort of SF novel that diehard genre fans go nuts for, but which is equally likely to leave non-fans rather nonplussed.
Non-fans will also be wrong-footed by the rather clumsy attempt of the publisher to market this as a UFO conspiracy thriller. Well, it is, but it ain’t. You know, one of those...
Along with China Mieville and Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken MacLeod is one of the most politically astute SF writers at work in the field today. This is perhaps MacLeod’s most quiet and subtle taken on Big Brother to date. And all written in a rather thick Scots accent that takes some getting used to.
A key comment is made quite late in the book: “The discretion of the watcher versus the privacy of the watched was just another arms race; this one, I could see, would run and run.”
Disturbingly, nothing that MacLeod writes about here in terms of technology or politics seems that unlikely or even that far-fetched. Is our increasingly inter-connected, virtual world playing into the hand of totalitarian conglomerates with their fingers hoveringly menacingly on the ‘off’ switch?
MacLeod says no, and argues that ultimately it is our responsibility to ensure this does not happen, in our lifetime or in that of our descendants:
“You must rely on reason and science,” she said, “and be guided by a likewise rational ethic of human concern. You must do your utmost as individuals to improve your understanding, ability and compassion. As a species, you must maintain and extend your presence in space, and from that vantage do what you can to repair the Earth. Whether or not you succeed, you must never give up.”
This is perhaps the closest that MacLeod has come to formulating a personal manifesto, a sort of literary bumper sticker that can be added onto the engine of genre. A superbly reflective, low-key and effective novel by a true master at the top his game.
Non-fans will also be wrong-footed by the rather clumsy attempt of the publisher to market this as a UFO conspiracy thriller. Well, it is, but it ain’t. You know, one of those...
Along with China Mieville and Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken MacLeod is one of the most politically astute SF writers at work in the field today. This is perhaps MacLeod’s most quiet and subtle taken on Big Brother to date. And all written in a rather thick Scots accent that takes some getting used to.
A key comment is made quite late in the book: “The discretion of the watcher versus the privacy of the watched was just another arms race; this one, I could see, would run and run.”
Disturbingly, nothing that MacLeod writes about here in terms of technology or politics seems that unlikely or even that far-fetched. Is our increasingly inter-connected, virtual world playing into the hand of totalitarian conglomerates with their fingers hoveringly menacingly on the ‘off’ switch?
MacLeod says no, and argues that ultimately it is our responsibility to ensure this does not happen, in our lifetime or in that of our descendants:
“You must rely on reason and science,” she said, “and be guided by a likewise rational ethic of human concern. You must do your utmost as individuals to improve your understanding, ability and compassion. As a species, you must maintain and extend your presence in space, and from that vantage do what you can to repair the Earth. Whether or not you succeed, you must never give up.”
This is perhaps the closest that MacLeod has come to formulating a personal manifesto, a sort of literary bumper sticker that can be added onto the engine of genre. A superbly reflective, low-key and effective novel by a true master at the top his game.