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Down the mean streets of a
future Denver a man must go, in this Chandleresque tale of corporate and
political scheming and murder. Fantasy bestseller Modesitt (the
Spellsong Cycle) returns to his SF setting of a federated post-U.S.
North America ("the Commonocracy") run by large companies
("multilaterals") as much as by governments. Jonat deVrai, ex-Marine
colonel, tries to navigate among the corporate clients who seek his
product placement ad analyses. When the Centre for Societal Research
asks for a similar report on a political campaign, deVrai becomes part
of an elaborate plot to further corporate controls over the indentured
Martian colonies. Having quit the Marines to stop being used as company
muscle, deVrai turns the tables on the executives who try to exploit
him, with the help of a law-enforcement AI, Central Four, and "her"
humanoid clone bodies, known as cydroids. DeVrai's campaign, as befits a
noir hero, has personal costs, leaving him to care for his orphaned
niece and nephew. It also comes with benefits, as Central Four's
principal cydroid, Paula Athene, grows to self-awareness, independence
and romantic attraction. Modesitt strives for emotional rather than
intellectual satisfaction. His future has much eye-pleasing chrome, but
it lacks infrastructure, making the book seem more contemporary
techno-thriller than SF (parents queuing up in hydrogen-powered cars to
pick up their kids after school). -- Publishers Weekly |
