Many years ago I first read Aurora Rising under a different title, and I thought it was a police procedural. Re-reading years later, I will revise my opinion: this is as much of a science fiction adventure as anything Alaistair Reynolds has ever written. The setting is the Glitterband, a cluster of 10,000+ habitats all running a common polling algorithm for democracy. Each little habitat gets to choose how they live, with some choosing tyranny (without limits), while others proud of their diligence about policy.
When a threat arises (from a rogue AI), Prefect Dreyfus
starts chasing down leads and discovers ties to the past, including those of
his deputies as well as his previous actions during a previous crisis.
The characters are great, though some of the technology
seems deliberately set in some weird steampunk. (Search engines are called
Search Turbines, and when they can crash in ways that actually destroy the
hardware they’re running on). Encryption of privileged information is done via
biochemistry, with an injection or some form of medicine that over time enables
you to read the documents that were Encrypted.
I love how the reveals work --- you see the current
situation and then only later discover how it came about. I enjoyed the gradual
introduction of the previous crisis, as well as the ultimate solution.
Alastair Reynolds is always worth reading, and in this,
re-reading. Recommended!
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