The Quiet War

Haven't read scifi in a long time - very interesting take on solar system colonization and political & biotech trends.

In //The Quiet War//, Paul McAuley tells the story of a future war that develops between the governments on earth and the Outers, descendants of earthlings who have colonized other planets. The Outers have used genetic engineering to adapt to the environments on other worlds and are on the verge of expanding explosively throughout the interplanetary system. The societies that remain earth-bound fear this expansion and what it means for their existence and for the nature of humanity itself. McAuley is a masterful writer who describes strange new lifestyles, environments, and technologies in such a realistic manner that it seems surprising that they don't already exist. It is McAuley's background in biological research, with its scientific perspective and methods, that likely contributes to his ability to realistically depict the future he envisions. //The Quiet War// is a complex story that unfolds detail by detail, building inexorably toward violent conflict between the earthlings and the Outers. There will be many changes in the future, McAuley seems to be saying, but conflict and war will remain. Reviewed by Doug Robins

Rarely do you find someone who can do sweeping, epic hard science fiction and still manage to handle the complex characters and political intrigue that this book contains. It's refreshing to have the stunning ideas combined with tight plotting and thriller-esque page turning. A more fully-realized fictional world than The Caryatids, which also deals with ecological remediation and the rise of power, genetically-engineered familes on a ravaged earth. I'm surprised this book hasn't garnered more press or ratings love.

The Brazilian cargo ship dropped off bio-engineer Macy Minnot at Rainbow City on the Jupiter moon of Callisto. She will work on creating a lake for the Callistan city as an act of friendship between Brazil and the Outer planets. However, Macy realizes there are agents whose mission is to prevent the needed lake from being developed. Her exposure of the nefarious scheme costs her immensely as she can never safely go home to earth and has become a target of espionage agents and psyops propagandists who label her a Quisling supporting the enemy. There are many in Brazil and on the Outers that want war. Those seeking an honest peaceful solution to the crisis like Mary are called traitors and harassed. She is arrested on false charges but is freed on the Saturn moon Dione as war seems imminent. Professor Doctor Sri Hong-Owen leads the efforts to save earth following the massive ecological meltdown caused by global warming. Although not a member of the War Party, the scientist is allied with them. Macy meanwhile tries to tell the truth about her world, but the war drummers control the media; few listen to her until she meets Avernus who created the ecology that led to the Outer developments. Brazil sends its armada to conquer the Outers under a false charge while telling the masses this will be a cheap quiet war that will not touch them. This is an exciting military science fiction that obviously parallels and thus makes a strong condemnation of the Bush invasion of Iraq while also providing a more even handed look at the debate between economic development and the ecology. The story line has several other sub-plots though what happens to Macy and Sri are the prime focus of this excellent thriller. Although the Outer communities seem off kilter for early settlements in hostile environs, sub-genre fans except for the Cheney crowd will enjoy Paul McAuley's strong war in space saga. Harriet Klausner

The Quiet War is Space Opera that hits close to home and is surprisingly digestible with its pacing. I find many Space Opera's a bit overdone, but that is not the case here. In fact this is the first must-read Sci-fi book of the year. The Quiet War having already been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award is quite deserving. Earth and the outer separatist colonies have been at odds for the past 200 odd years. Earth is recovering from a planetary wide environmental collapse, which seems all too feasible presently. A Green fervor has taken hold of the people and the politics as they have repairing the planet, which leaves all of the power to the most wealthy families. The colonies exists as an egalitarian societies loosely connected, where debates run rampant and action is slow. However, the people of Earth and the colonies are diverting on more than just politics. The colonies are situated on moons around planets in our solar system where they have been changing themselves genetically for generations to adapt to these new environments and also lengthening their life spans to hundreds of years. Many now consider them a separate species and as the gap widens so does the trust each group has for the other. Earth's own attempts at toying with humanity's capabilities are quite startling, especially the creation of the people on the moon, which I wish were used a tad more. The Quiet War shows that no matter what side you are on, throwing yourself too much in any direction can take you further away from your goal as so much scheming is going on you never know when a favor will be called in. Nearly every character is a pawn in a greater game of chess. Just when you think you've reached the Queen a new piece swoops in to take position. Told from multiple points of view at a multitude of locales The Quiet War brings heaps of action and suspense. The characters are sometimes stuffy, but never uninteresting. The science is spot on and believable. This is my first exposure to McAuley's work, but he has definitely peaked my interest with his highly informed style and voice. The Quiet War is the best Space Opera I have read in years. I give The Quiet War 9.25 out of 10 Hats. I didn't find out until I finished, but there is a a sequel, Gardens of the Sun, scheduled for release by Pyr in 2010. That said The Quiet War does stand on its own but I for one would like to see what the future holds for some of these characters.