The AlgebraistIain M Banks
Orbit hardback, 534 pages
Review by Steven Blake (2004)
This year it’s Iain M Banks rather than plain old Iain, and it isn't a Culture novel. In fact it may not even be set in the same universe as the Culture novels.
The events of The Algebraist occur over 2000 years in the future, in a galaxy shattered by war. It isn’t just one of the ‛M’ Banks’ SF novels, it’s space opera, with a cosmic villain. No, not that no-mark Galactus, but one Luseferous (Geddit? Sounds like Lucifer? So lame it puts you off? Me too.) There's a touch of pantomime about Luseferous, with all the torture and mass-murder and so forth.
The protagonist is Fassin Taak. A ‛Slow Seer’ who works with the Dwellers of Nasqueron in Fassin’s solar system, which is called Ulubis. (I really do think that the names work against a lot of SF. They just seem so clumsy.) The Dwellers live on gas giants (like Nasqueron). As far as the fantastically long-lived Dwellers are concerned, humans don’t matter much. They prefer sport to cultivating an interest in ephemeral, ‛quick’ species like us. Fassin is searching the Dwellers’ libraries (and memories) and is close to a vital, ancient secret. Two space fleets chase this secret, one from Luseferous and the Beyonders (who sound like villains from a comic) and one sent by the Mercatoria to sort things out. The religious minded and militaristic Mercatoria are big fish for humans, and have banned artificial intelligence – hence no Culture here. The Mercatoria are very much in charge of the galaxy as far as humans are concerned, but they don’t matter to the Dwellers. Fassin has to go looking for the key that will save humanity. As you might predict early on, the climax is surprising.
There is more going on in The Algebraist, but there, basically, you have it. It’s all very well-written and could turn into a trilogy. But I’m not sure I’ll be reading . . .