2018 science fiction, first of a planned series. On the generation
ship Olympia, life is stratified into the Executives and everyone
else. Oichi Angelis is an everyone else, but one with a hidden asset.
But this isn't a story about the workers rising up and throwing
off the decadent aristocrats; it's much more interesting than that.
There are factions among the Executives, and more factions among the
revolutionaries, and some of those factions cross the obvious dividing
line. And there seem (somehow?) to be outsiders trying to influence
things, too.
But really, much of the point of the book is Medusa, the
artificially intelligent space-armour that Oichi, thanks to some
illicit implants, is able to bond with. Which is both good and bad for
the story: there's a fascinating study of human-machine collaboration
here, but it rarely seems as though Oichi is in danger, what with her
total control of the enemy's communications network, and the fact that
nobody seems to be able to think of a way to kill anyone other than
throwing them out of an airlock – and see above re "artificially
intelligent space-armour", which can catch and save the victim. Well,
there's one incident of attempted poisoning, but it's easily averted.
Tension is further defused by the non-linear narrative; Oichi's voice
(which is remarkably full of modern slang for someone who's never had
contact with Earth) tends to describe how a series of events came out,
well before we learn about why it happened or what the stakes were.
There isn't really any diegetic justification for this, and I'd rather
have read it in order without the Had-I-But-Known foreshadowing.
On the other hand the good stuff is very good, with a plot made of
deceptions layered inside deceptions, unexpected friendships and
redemptions, a feel for the ship and its artificially constrained
society, and well-observed people who clearly think they're doing the
right thing even when they're blatantly grabbing power and doing down
their (real or imagined) rivals.
Mind you, when I read of a ship called Olympia and a sister ship
called Titania, I can't help wondering whether there was once a
Majestia too.
I may well nominate this for a Hugo Award. A sequel, Medusa in the
Graveyard, is planned for 2019, but the book stands well on its own.
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