I was not preaching,said Salasso.I was conveying the results of a scientific investigation.
It was pretty clear by the time I was halfway through the first book that I was going to enjoy this series, so I wound up reading all three back to back. (I bought the first because it was nominated for a Hugo and sounded interesting; I'm glad in retrospect that I didn't go looking for other reviews, since many reviewers completely savage this series.)
Cosmonaut Keep
: a near-alternate-future BOFH becomes embroiled in a data-smuggling plan, revealing information about space exploration that both world governments were trying to keep quiet; meanwhile, his far-alternate-future descendants work to rediscover the FTL technology they need to start trading between the worlds of their civilisation without help from aliens.
ISBN 1841490679. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.
Dark Light
: the traders arrive on a new world, with Entertaining Consequences.
Stone and his society of hang-glider-manufacturing primitives: nicely done.
Good musical bit in the middle; I wonder if he's got a tune in mind for A Lass in Rawley's Toun
?
ISBN 1841491098. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.
Engine City
: more along the same lines; immortality, revolution, and fractal aliens.
ISBN 1841492035. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.
General impressions: neat universe with lots of interesting, unconventional details, and plenty of potential for telling other stories should MacLeod decide to revisit it (please!). Brilliant aliens. I would have said that even if it'd just had the saurs — for that matter, even if it'd just had Salasso — but then there are the Multipliers, and of course the gods...
The third is darker and more political than the first two, which put me off a bit, but it's still good stuff.
MacLeod consistently manages to avoid taking himself too seriously, and it's frequently laugh-out-loud funny (Guerrilla ontology!
).
I'll buying more of his work...