1987 SF, third of its trilogy. With a new Hegemon established, Silence
Leigh is finally ready to make another try at reaching Earth.
After the wonder of discovering celestial harmonies in the first
book, and the smaller-scale but enjoyable caper story of the second,
this one feels a little directionless. It's not bad: Scott's always an
engaging writer and I like these people. But (apart from some workings
of harmonic magic) there's an awful lot of how to negotiate the
workings of an unfamiliar mass transit system, and not so very much
sensawunda.
I do get it—this world of electronic technology is utterly alien to
the world that Silence and others have grown up in, and things that
the locals find trivial are hard for our heroes through unfamiliarity
as well as the lack of usual resources. But it seems that allies are
easily made, and easily used, and there's more time spent in exploring
this new world than in doing anything about it.
That sounds as though the book was a disappointment, and that's not
quite right: by contrast with the fine earlier volumes it's something
of a let-down, but taken in itself it's still solid. I'm happy with
the ending to these characters' stories, and with the high points
along the path that gets them there. It's just that I know Scott,
unlike many other authors, could have done better; and if she had, it
would have been glorious.
(I gather recent editions are significantly revised and I may try to
find one.)