The Stone Canal

"The Stone Canal" is a heady, turbulent prequel that jumps backward and forward through history to chart humanity's move off-planet. MacLeod's often dense and obtuse near-future political wrangling is intriguingly juxtaposed with some of the best technological extrapolation in the genre; MacLeod uses genre conventions (i.e. robots, androids, superhumans, extraplanetary colonies) to deconstruct the machinations of allegiance and the role of personal volition in society. "The Stone Canal" is arguably a better novel than the excellent "The Cassini Division," if a bit more difficult. Uniquely cerebral and unparalleled in its futuristic vision, "The Stone Canal" succeeds on many levels and epitomizes its author's rare and wonderful vantage.

This is fast-paced, political Sci Fi at it's very best. An edge-of-your-seat thriller that makes perfect sense within the confines of logic in it's own universe, and in which the action and ideas (Clones, Androids, and Nanites, oh my!) come at you non-stop and rapid-fire, although not without humor as well. It's like 'Dune' on acid in the way it potrays politics and the social effects of technology (with the regents replaced by an anarchistic state). If you are a fan of radical, cutting-edge Sci Fi (and enjoy books with lines like 'As the humans accept thier hospitality they listen to the robots expound their beliefs, and sing their songs...Ax calls them old android spirituals....') don't miss this one. A great and fascinating read!

The Stone Canal is Ken MacLeod's second novel. It is in the same future history as his first novel (The Star Fraction) and his third novel (The Cassini Division) but it can be read without difficulty on its own, and I found it to stand alone just fine. At a first brush, MacLeod reads like "Iain Banks meets Bruce Sterling". The novel's opening, with a somewhat smart-alecky "human- equivalent" robot briefing a confused newly-awakened man, and its structure, alternating chapters on different timelines, definitely echo some of Banks' work. (Note that Banks acknowledges MacLeod's help with Use of Weapons, in terms which suggest to me that he may have helped with that book's unusual structure.) The deeply political concerns, and central character's habit of talking at length about politics, as well as some of the technology and the attitude towards technology, reminded me of Sterling (and also, in a different way, Kim Stanley Robinson. Which is to say, at times this book is a bit talky.) But in the final analysis, The Stone Canal is a very original, very impressive novel. It's true SF, chock full of sense of wonder concepts, interested in new technology, in future politics, and in how technology affects politics (and human life in general).The novel opens with a man awakening in the desert of a Mars-like planet, accompanied by a "human-equivalent" robot. Soon we meet another robot, Dee Model, this one a "gynoid" (female android), who has escaped her owner (for whom she was a sex toy), and is proclaiming her autonomy. The man is soon revealed to be Jonathan Wilde, a legendary figure of political resistance among the inhabitants of New Mars, and the gynoid is based on a clone of Wilde's long-dead wife. The two encounter each other, and both end up in the hands of the "abolitionist" movement, which favors freeing intelligent robots from human slavery. Soon they are jointly involved in lawsuits brought by Dee Model's owner, who is Wilde's friend, long time rival, and apparent murderer, Dave Reid.This seems like plenty of background for a novel in itself, especially given the interesting environment of New Mars, with its single City, 5/6 of which is given over to "wild machines", and with the pervasive semi-VR technology, the grounds for speculation about the nature of human vs. machine intelligence, and the semi-anarchist political structure of the colony. But in parallel tracks we follow the early life, on roughly present-day Earth, of Jonathan Wilde, Dave Reid, and the two important women in their lives: Myra and Annette. Reid is a diehard Trotskyite socialist, and Wilde an anarchist and "space nut"; and the tension between their political views, as well as the tension resulting from their relationships with the two women, is followed over the decades. Both men become very powerful in the decaying near-future environment; as both in their ways push to open up space travel for people in general.The two timelines inev

This is a recommendation for all of the author's books. He has a very different twist to Sci-Fi than most other authors I've read. Much more personal, and grounded in a contemporary Scottish reality that makes his books seem a believable extension of our own times. All the while having elements like Artificial Intelligence, very exotic politics, nano-technology and competing providers (sellers) of nuclear deterrence to the micro-nations that make up the future Earth.I would, however, strongly recommend reading his books in sequence. While The Stone Canal is less dependent on The Star Fraction than the later books are dependent on these two, so that it can be read independently, I would still recommend reading the Star Fraction first.

This is a great book with a complex and intriguing history created by the author. Definitely read this before you read the Casinni Division things will make much more sense.