The Medusa Chronicles 9781473210196 Books
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The Medusa Chronicles 9781473210196 Books
The afterword notes a direct homage to Arthur C. Clarke's short "A Meeting with Medusa" but for me this this evocative novel drew more from Iain M. Banks' detailed world building and the centuries spanning ennui of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy than the late great SciFi Master.Our protagonist is Commander Howard Falcon, a character directly taken from Clarke, cyborg adventurist who after a full and active life tries to sit on the sidelines but is repeatedly drawn into conflicts as the necessary trusted 'third party' that both sides respect and will listen to. It is a role that incrementally grates on Falcon but each iteration of apparent Statesman is pressed upon him with increasing levels of coercion as conditions in the solar system become ever more inimical to human life and Falcon is forced to consider how his actions may have led to that.
Like in Banks' Culture novels, the technology that underpins Falcon's universe is generally deployed rather than explained. And for the most part it is not at the level of world shattering weaponry we usually find in a Reynolds story, but more human-level tech such as the various robotic bodies that carry Falcon through the centuries. There is also a nice backstory from the early days of NASA that sets the scene for the politics that drive the characters.
This is not an action-adventure novel in the traditional sense. It moves along at a reasonable pace, but it is the pace of one man living a long time while the world occasionally pivots on his shoulders, so there is a languid nature to the plot. Each chapter does not end on an obvious cliffhanger and for the time period spanned, the cast of characters is actually quite limited. All of which might suggest a boring read, but Reynolds and Baxter are experienced story tellers so "The Medusa Chronicles" never dips below the threshold of interesting. The characters are well drawn and the death of one - even though it was clearly going to happen chapters before the event - evoked a sense of loss.
If you like intelligent, thoughtful sci-fi that explores our moral compass and place in the universe and which slowly builds to a satisfying ending, then you will likely really enjoy "The Medusa Chronicles". I certainly did.
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The Medusa Chronicles 9781473210196 Books Reviews
So reads the dust jacket review by another author...and I'll agree that it truly is.
The story by Arthur C. Clarke on which this is based merits the label "classic." If you've not read that story, do seek, find and read first. Clarke's short fiction provided my effective introduction to the genre so very long ago. I don't read nearly as much in the genre as I used to.
I've read some by Baxter and not nearly as much by Reynolds. I got the distinct impression each tried as best he could to emulate Clarke's style. Homages abound both in the main plot and sub-plots. Towards the end it gets just a touch Stapledonian, but that's in keeping with the conflict that the protagonist Howard Falcon faces throughout the centuries, and possibly an homage to 2001 A Space Odyssey. Of course Jupiter figures mightily in the telling of the story.
One very minor quibble but a quibble nonetheless The story is set in an alternate timeline that occasionally jars the narrative. There are references to John Young (he of Gemini, Apollo and the Space Shuttle) being the first human to have walked on Mars. And Baxter had to have contributed a sub-sub-plot that reminded me more of his novels Voyage and Titan.
Although the book started a bit slowly and was taking place in an alternative history it eventually became an awe-inducing adventure ride into future realms of science. Oh yeah, I liked it!
It is actually a sequel to Arthur C Clarke's award winning novella, "A Meeting With Medusa", but you don't really need to read this story. In addition to the sentient Medusae within Jupiter's upper atmosphere we also encounter sentient chimps, sentient Machines, and another sentient race within Jupiter.
The reluctant hero of this book is Howard Falcon, who due to a tragic accident is a cyborg. This story chronicles his long life and his attempts to mediate the conflict between Man and Machines. And to top it off the book has a great and very satisfying ending.
The afterword notes a direct homage to Arthur C. Clarke's short "A Meeting with Medusa" but for me this this evocative novel drew more from Iain M. Banks' detailed world building and the centuries spanning ennui of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy than the late great SciFi Master.
Our protagonist is Commander Howard Falcon, a character directly taken from Clarke, cyborg adventurist who after a full and active life tries to sit on the sidelines but is repeatedly drawn into conflicts as the necessary trusted 'third party' that both sides respect and will listen to. It is a role that incrementally grates on Falcon but each iteration of apparent Statesman is pressed upon him with increasing levels of coercion as conditions in the solar system become ever more inimical to human life and Falcon is forced to consider how his actions may have led to that.
Like in Banks' Culture novels, the technology that underpins Falcon's universe is generally deployed rather than explained. And for the most part it is not at the level of world shattering weaponry we usually find in a Reynolds story, but more human-level tech such as the various robotic bodies that carry Falcon through the centuries. There is also a nice backstory from the early days of NASA that sets the scene for the politics that drive the characters.
This is not an action-adventure novel in the traditional sense. It moves along at a reasonable pace, but it is the pace of one man living a long time while the world occasionally pivots on his shoulders, so there is a languid nature to the plot. Each chapter does not end on an obvious cliffhanger and for the time period spanned, the cast of characters is actually quite limited. All of which might suggest a boring read, but Reynolds and Baxter are experienced story tellers so "The Medusa Chronicles" never dips below the threshold of interesting. The characters are well drawn and the death of one - even though it was clearly going to happen chapters before the event - evoked a sense of loss.
If you like intelligent, thoughtful sci-fi that explores our moral compass and place in the universe and which slowly builds to a satisfying ending, then you will likely really enjoy "The Medusa Chronicles". I certainly did.
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