Belisarius is a quantum man, an engineered Homo quantus who fled the powerful insight of dangerously addictive quantum senses. He found a precarious balance as a con man, but when a client offers him untold wealth to move a squadron of warships across an enemy wormhole, he must embrace his birthright to even try. In fact, the job is so big that he'll need a crew built from all the new sub-branches of humanity. If he succeeds, he might trigger an interstellar war, but success might also point the way to the next step of Homo quantus evolution.
It was an interesting premise overall, with post humanism discussions and creepy religions. Lots going on here: complex worldbuilding. creative and unusual hard sci-fi concepts and bio-engineering of specialized human sub-species.
There are different post-human beings that were heavily genetically modified, like Homo Quantus, who are able to make astounding leaps of intellectual analysis by stepping away from their individuality, Homo eridanus (The Mongrels): engineered people adapted to live in the deep sea floor and the creepiest of all, Homo pupa (The Puppets): a type of slave species who were genetically modified to experience awe under pheromonal cues of their masters.
I gotta say some of the quantum philosophical passages about faith, existence and quantum calculations were boring to me. The part about Homo pupa and their blind worshipping was super disturbing, exploring the worst part of blind faith fanaticism.
A long con involving three dispirit divergent homo sub-species, a self described divine AI, a dishinged bomb maker, a delinquent geneticist, a dying con man, and a démodé fleet leapfrogging technology with an eleven year cycled paired time traveling wormhole.
Hard science fiction that starts as a slow read until the brain can wrap around the nuances, then it pops big time. I absolutely loved it.
Enough detailed science for the geek at heart to sift through; exquisite characters; the requisite divergence, subjugation and domination of the different factions; and cringingly: The Puppets.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
I'm really proud of how science fiction has developed. We've gone from very loose constructs of the dreams of Asimov to talking about quantum entanglement and Planck theory in so many ways. It's a great time to be a reader.
This book was not a challenge. If you are looking for a fun tale, a story as one reviewer put, an Oceans 11 like romp, it should have easy appeal.
My criticisms I'll lay bare early. There is a bit much of exposition, which was good--but I like a show don't tell more than tell. There was also a character who I thought would understand their role better but when they were put into that role, they seemed to fold like a wet napkin. It might have been proper but there wasn't any supporting evidence of it. Maybe that was a …
Thanks to Netgalley & co for an early read.
I'm really proud of how science fiction has developed. We've gone from very loose constructs of the dreams of Asimov to talking about quantum entanglement and Planck theory in so many ways. It's a great time to be a reader.
This book was not a challenge. If you are looking for a fun tale, a story as one reviewer put, an Oceans 11 like romp, it should have easy appeal.
My criticisms I'll lay bare early. There is a bit much of exposition, which was good--but I like a show don't tell more than tell. There was also a character who I thought would understand their role better but when they were put into that role, they seemed to fold like a wet napkin. It might have been proper but there wasn't any supporting evidence of it. Maybe that was a rub all along is most of the characters we learn about are pretty shallow--not in substance just in history so we don't get our hooks deep into their manifestations. Same could be said for the era the book resides in. I don't quite understand it, how it got there, or what it's really doing. It just does. It's like a pocket story in a galaxy that has far more to be explained and shared. Future books I hope?
That's really it though. Easy stuff to overlook.
You get dropped in fast, without knowing a whole lot. It's ok though, you'll get it later. Catching up is a part of the misdirection. Keeps you on your toes for details. Humanity has grown, split among so many lines. Humans though look to have done some further genetic works; a race that is more able to shunt themselves into aspects--savant and a quantum worker. A race that was built for deep pressures and piloting fighters. Also, a race that was built to adore their maker--which has had interesting and disturbing repercussions.
Slap politics on top of that a dash of technology from a race long gone, and a need from a faction to move new technology across a contested quadrant of space. What could happen?
I'm not going to give away any details--it's early enough for you to dive in and find your own way. I like the heist, the great con, the psychology of all these factions and fractures of humanity. All wrapped up in something that was really digestible while still being science-techy.
