400 Billion Stars

This is a highly imaginative novel. The first chapter is instantly enthralling. It draws you into the story with a mixture of high tech detail and immediate identification with the main character. From there things move with considerable pace into a world full of surprises. McAuley's background in biological research shows through very effectively in his assured depiction of wildlife on a world where nothing turns out to be as it at first appears. The setting for the story spans what feels like an entire ecosystem in a way that makes it almost tangibly alien. I have read only one other novel by this author (The Quiet War) which, I have to say, I did not enjoy as much. 400 Billion Stars is far more engaging and involves the reader more closely with the main characters. The arrival of humans, and one in particular, triggers a sequence of changes in the native fauna on a planet human leaders believe is key to a war they are in danger of losing. The plot is satisfyingly anti-establishment and anti-military. The author has ensured that the internal conflict in the mind of telepath Dorothy is realistically and sympathetically portrayed as she moves forward in both solving the riddle of the alien planet and towards her own self-realisation. Over the last 45 years I have seen a great deal of science fiction and I can say with the conviction of someone who also writes science fiction, this is a very enjoyable and compelling read.