2021 SF, third of its series. Fergus is just trying to settle back
down with more family than he thought he had, but this time he's not
even surprised when he gets involved in world-saving…
And yes, he does pretty much stumble on the alien remnant that
he's uniquely well-equipped to deal with, but Palmer deals with this
by hanging a lamp on it: people in the story also comment on how
strange and inexplicable it is, and the weird alien tech in his guts
may well have something to do with it. The plot soon moves on to a
travelogue, as other remnants need to be found and recovered and
(somehow?) destroyed, before they can all tune into each other and…
well, that would be bad.
What this means in practice is that Palmer, who'd just discovered in
herself a wish to do more international travel when 2020 happened,
writes a series of vignettes of different places on an Earth
recovering from climate catastrophe – and, gloriously in this day when
dystopia is the In Thing, it seems that most of it is not a bad place
to live for most people most of the time.
The Arctic Union Shuttleport was in the southwestern Nuuk region of
the main island of Kalaallit Nunaat, set back from the
canyon-riddled coastline on smoother inland tundra, once upon a time
covered in invincible-seeming glaciers. Instead, now there were vast
fields of solar panels with programmable reflectivity, those not
needed for power consumption turned to white to bounce some of the
sun's heat back out of the atmosphere. It was a small measure among
many, and less controversial than the vast flotillas of white
hexagons, two meters wide each and four meters apart, stretching
across the ocean all the way to the Nunavut territories of the
Union, taking the place of missing ice to bounce warming ultraviolet
light back off the water's surface.
At the same time Fergus is up against multiple opponents, with
different levels of funding and tradecraft, and the sister he didn't
know he had has come along for the ride. He's tried to be sufficient
to himself, but it turns out that having actual friends is both
difficult to get used to and a hard habit to break.
He stopped under a tree and, in the shelter of its small canopy,
quickly shed his hat and outer jacket, stuffing them in his pack out
of sight. Despite the exertion, he shivered a bit in the stiff wind
coming down the hill and glowered at Isla as she tucked away her own
red jacket and pulled out a yellow one instead. At his look, she
smirked back at him.
"You just happened to have two different-colored jackets with you?"
he asked.
"Sure. Isn't that like Skullduggery 101?" she said. "I bought it in
the ferry station while ye were taking yer sweet time in the loo.
See, it's got the logo of their hoverslam team, the Magmatiks, on
it. I totally blend."
This a lovely book, an effective blending of high-tension adventure
with solid personalities and world-building. The writing style is
enjoyable too; this is the first book for a while in which I've marked
multiple passages for possible inclusion in the review. I make my
usual suggestion about starting at the beginning of the series, but I
think a new reader wouldn't be lost. Just generally excellent.
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