The Peace War

Vinge is a master craftsman. The first few chapters are among the best constructed I've ever read – how he manages to start three separate narrative threads and timelines, slowly weaves them together in just the right tempo and level of explicitness so that the reader has the first revelatory "aha" moment just before the timelines actually converge, switching imperceptibly between mystery and suspense to keep us hooked, how all of this is mirrored in the spatial setup of the plot, and how it makes us feel empowered as readers – this is truly great storytelling.

But Vinge is also a libertarian in love with hacker culture, and this suffuses the rest story of the story to a degree that makes it a little flat and boring. Good (individuals, hackers, small-time heroes) and evil (state authority, bureaucrats, big-time posers) are little to easy to discern, and apart from one or two protagonists torn between loyalties there's not a lot of psychological depth on offer.

Nonetheless, a fun read – and a good reminder of how cyber- and counter-culture were deeply connected in the early 1980s through a shared libertarian ethos.

A solid sci-fi with good stakes, realistic characters, and a story that develops at just the right pace to keep you turning pages.

Now for light spoilers.

I had seen some reviews mentioning racism and sexism in this book, so I went into it with that in mind. Vinge definitely draws a lot of attention to the race and gender of the characters in the book, but I honestly appreciated that the young genius was a black Spanish-speaking kid. There were two strong female characters as well. Vinge is far from perfect in his treatment of these minorities, but he puts them in positions of authority, respect, and value and other characters react to this. Of course it's not a great look that the black kid is a thief and the female government agent is shrugged off or uses her gender to infiltrate a group with less suspicion. But there is redemption too and the existence of these characters as more than stereotypes is something I appreciate when reading a slightly older sci-fi novel. His comments on the treatment of women in the society didn't seem like praise for their second-rate citizenship, especially since Allison defies this hierarchy by finishing out the novel as a leader in gathering intelligence from the old world and Della Lu continually outsmarts and outshines her male colleagues and antagonists, even potentially sacrificing herself by realizing who the true "good guys" are just in time.

As for a review of the novel in general, I love hard sci-fi and enjoyed it. The Peace Authority was an empathetic antagonist with good intentions. The post "apocalypse" setting with its mixture of high tech and medieval, while not a new concept, was an interesting world to experience. The fact that the underdogs had managed to develop more advanced technology with less resources, while the Authority relied on the technology from the time they took over but with wider access to it created a nice tension where it truly felt like either side could come out victorious.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.