The Cassini Division (Fall Revolution) - Hardcover

MacLeod, Ken

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312870442 ISBN 13: 9780312870447

Publisher: Tor Books, 1999

Synopsis

In the twenty-fourth century, where the elite Cassini Division of the Solar Union defends humankind from the post-humans, superior beings descended from humans transformed by technology, Cassini leader Ellen May Ngewthu gathers a force to finally defeat the enemy. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

A rare but successful fusion of hard SF, space opera and serious political speculation, this is the third novel from MacLeod, who's Scottish, but his first to be published in the U.S. The story takes place in a 24th-century Sol system still recovering from a near-catastrophic clash between humanity and post-humanity, the latter a society of godlike, possibly insane former humans who have uploaded themselves into computers and set up their own civilization on Jupiter. At the center of the narrative stands Ellen May Ngwethu, commander of the spaceship Terrible Beauty and an officer in the Cassini Division. This semiautonomous military organization operates as Earth's frontline defense against the dangerous and enigmatic post-humans. Society on Earth, based on a unique combination of socialist and anarchist beliefs, has achieved a high degree of environmentally responsible prosperity in recent years, but the post-humans on Jupiter are an ever-increasing threat. As the forces of the Cassini Division prepare to destroy the post-humans without warning, Ngwethu finds herself on a dangerous mission through a wormhole to reestablish contact with another potential enemy, the long-lost, libertarian-capitalist interstellar colony of New Mars. Despite heavy doses of political theory, MacLeod generally manages to keep the first half of his novel moving at acceptable speed, aided by solid prose, a strong protagonist and some fascinating bits of high tech. The latter half of the tale, which features a battle in space, complete with comets used as superweapons, is more lively. This is an enjoyable and ambitious novel, and hopefully presages the American publication of MacLeod's earlier work. (July) FYI: MacLeod's first two novels, The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal, each received the Prometheus Award from the Libertarian Futurist Society.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Third novel, but first to reach these shores, from Scotland resident MacLeod. In the 24th century, Ellen May Ngwethu's Cassini Division patrols space around Jupiter, preventing excursions by the Jovians. In past centuries, you see, post-humans who transformed themselves with nanotechnology went crazy and almost destroyed human technical civilization with computer viruses, diseases, and mind-controlling memes. The surviving post-humans took up residence inside Jupiter, while the new, socialist-anarchist Solar Union developed virus-proof, non-electronic nanotechnological Babbage computers. Others, slaves of the post-humans, escaped the conflict through a wormhole to New Mars. Here, first-person narrator Ellen profoundly distrusts the Jovians and also suspects that the capitalist-anarchist New Martians possess downloaded copies of post-humans who, if woken, could pose the same threat as the Jovians (they live a thousand times as fast as humans and so have progressed unimaginably far). Ellen needs to control the wormhole, which was created by the post-humans from physics described by I. K. Malley. She grabs Malley from his tiny enclave on Earth, but he refuses to help her wipe the Jovians out without first attempting to communicate with them. The beautiful, ethereal Jovians respond through a consensus construct, providing information and reassurances. Ellen isn't convinced, though, and proceeds with her plans to bombard Jupiter with comets before taking her ship though the wormhole to New Mars. The New Martians are contemptuously confident that they can handle the Jovians, and they propose to go back through the wormhole to trade with them! So, if the comets strike and Ellen is wrong, an entire advanced civilization will die. But if the comets are diverted, and she's right, the Jovians will destroy humanity and enslave the survivors. Deliciously ironic, brilliantly imagined, MacLeod's witty and intelligent yarn packs a tremendous wallop. More, please! -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

As an agent of the elite Cassini Division, Ellen May Ngewthu conceives of a bold plan to stop the incursions of godlike posthumans, whose arrogance nearly destroyed humankind and whose existence still threatens the safety of the Solar Union. Set in the 24th century, MacLeod's third novel features nonstop action and a tough-as-nails protagonist. Large libraries should consider this title for their old-style sf adventure fans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312870442
• ISBN 13: 9780312870447
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256