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From the product description: The year is 2388. Humanity has spread to the stars, but the far-flung Arc Systems chafe under the tight control of the Exarchs, post-human AIs whose domination of Faster-Than Light technology gives them unsurpassed power. Then the discovery of a vast hyperspatial labyrinth known as the Geodesica changes everything. |
I really enjoyed the "Orphans of Earth" trilogy by the same authors, and I was looking forward to reading some more of their work.
While Geodesica: Ascent lacks some of the grandness of Orphans of Earth, it is an interesting story, and really has the potential to go somewhere as future volumes come out.
The scenario starts out with a human population that has been taken over by the "Exarchy", a collection of super-human intelligences. We don't know really get all that clear an understanding of what exactly the exarchs are, or how exactly they came about -- but I'm hoping to learn those details as the story progresses. The exarchs are what make the story unique and different from your typical space saga. As the story unfolds, you get an interesting perspective of what humanity might evolve into. If a being evolves that transcends humanity -- does it still have the same emotions and motivations that "normal" humans have?
Things get going as a human ship brings an alien artifact into one of the colonies that is ruled by an exarch. This of course sets off all kinds of rivalries for who is going to control the artifact, and the mystery of what exactly the artifact is. As is typical of Sean Williams and Shange Dix, things start to get out of control very quickly and you get to see some good combat action without having to wait too long.
If you like this book, you'd probably also enjoy "The Golden Age" by John C. Wright, which also deals with post-human / super-human evolution.
This review Copyright (c) 2005 by Scott M. Baker -- please do not use or publish without permission