Kaethe

Perhaps I didn't like this more because the time spent drifting about the solar system slowed down the momentum. It is an espionage thriller in form, although too digressive to be thrilling. It's a future in which people live much longer, and most of the human settlements are beyond scarcity. Earth, by way of contrast, really sucks. Endemic poverty, disease, all the social ills humanity is heir to, and the sea levels did rise with predictably disastrous results.

There are lots of entertaining and thought-provoking ideas, some of which seemed logical and others impossible. What I really enjoyed was seeing what the various outposts were like. I got a deliciously strong sense of Mars, and a nice tour of other planets and moons, and that was all good. But despite the high body count, the motley counter-terrorist group was so laconic, it left the book a bit dull for me. Sure, you're good for 200 years you have a different sort of long view than someone who only lives 35 years, but it wasn't that. Or, at least, I didn't feel like it was that. For me it was an interesting tour  of space totally devoid of narrative urgency. Lots of pretty sites, though.

Library copy