Brian Stableford launched an ambitious future history series with Inherit the Earth, to widespread praise. "Stableford has created in this novel a totally believable world, and wrapped it around a series of mysterious events, surprise revelations, double crosses, confused motivations, rumors, lies, plots, and counterplots. . . . Tightly controlled and suspenseful throughout," said Science Fiction Chronicle.
Library Journal said, "The ethical questions posed by the prospect of conquering the aging process underscore this fast-paced SF adventure, adding depth to a story that will appeal to fans of high-tech SF and conspiracy theories." This future world is a complex society obsessed with the technology of life extension and on the brink of creating true immortals.
Now, in Architects of Emortality, Stableford gives us a story set hundreds of years in the future, filled with people who can hope for 300-year lifespans and a fortunate few whose lives will be in the thousands of years. This society is on the edge of radical change, where people have the time to develop eccentric lifestyles and personal obsessions, a world sometimes reminiscent of the distant future of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time series. And there has been a series of murders that threaten the future stability of the world, murders executed by bioengineered flowers. Police officers Watson and Holmes investigate, but the central figure quickly becomes the amateur detective Oscar Wilde, a student of history who has taken on the persona of his namesake. And the question is not so much who the murderer is, but how and why.
Filled with memorable characters and powerful and striking images of the richly altered world of the future, Architects of Emortality is a satisfying and complete story that also adds depth and detail to the evolving series.
The futuristic biotech world of Stableford's acclaimed SF novella Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), expanded upon in last year's novel Inherit the Earth, provides the foundation for this sequel. After an ecological collapse brought on by biological warfare and a runaway greenhouse effect, nanotechnology is regrowing lost forests as well as offering near-immortality to those who can afford it. Although the United Nations calls itself a World Government, the true power rests with the MegaMall, a company produced by generations of multinational mergers and buyouts. On this cusp of a new world, someone is murdering the pioneering scientists of the New Human Race, and it's up to Detective Sgt. Charlotte Holmes and Inspector Hal Watson, of the U.N. Police, to stop the killing. Charlotte and Hal are assisted by Michael Lowenthal, a "special investigator" from the MegaMall, and Oscar Wilde, a legendary bioengineer of specialty flowers. Evidence indicates that the murderer, a mysterious young woman, is somehow related to a genetic engineer who calls himself Rappaccini (after a character in a Hawthorne story). As the team investigates the murders, they realize that Rappaccini's taut game of hide-and-seek is leading them to the truth behind a much darker secret. Stableford's skill at creating technologically overwhelmed future worlds is evident here. His narrative teems with vivid, believable descriptions of man-eating flowers, hundred-year-old artists and rampant genetic engineering. His talent for mystery is less sure, featuring characters whose roles blur unconvincingly as the plot picks up speed. Although the novel's ending is weakened by premature revelations of Rappaccini's motives, the scale and audacity of Stableford's vision is a wonder. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
