Essential to understanding The Quiet War, you have to look at its setting. For that, I borrowed from Nostalgia for Infinity's review of the book.
The Overturn, a period of catastrophic political and climatic change which saw the deaths of hundreds of millions throughout the solar system, lies several centuries passed, yet its shadow still hangs over humanity. Earth's old nations have conglomerated into three international super-states under authoritarian and militaristic systems of rule, pursuing ecological doctrines and endeavouring to restore their planet to some of its former natural glories. Elsewhere in the solar system the loosely affiliated networks of democratic Outer colonies pursue their own agendas, be they posthumanism, scientific research, or the simple pursuit of pleasure.
The conflict and atrocities of the Overturn left many tensions between Earth and the Outers, but tensions also lie between their internal factions. On Earth, the super-states still squabble for power at every level. The most established players uneasily eye the Outer colonies, afraid that as the Outers continue to evolve and expand Earth will lose any ability to exert influence over them. Among the Outers the older and younger generations disagree about their future: the old are conservative, desiring controlled populations on already established colonies, whereas the young argue for change and expansion further out into the unknown.
The super-state of Greater Brazil is foremost among Earth's players in its interactions with the Outer colonies. A last effort towards peace has been initiated by Brazilian politicians and the representatives of a high-tech, horizontally-democratic Callistan colony. Together they are constructing a secure biome on the small moon's surface as a symbol of co-operation between two peoples. Yet among those sent to Callisto to oversee the project are bit players whose masters would prefer war to peaceful trade and co-operation, and conflict is easy to engineer between two groups of people who struggle to understand one another.
I wanted to like this one more, but I just couldn't. Which is a shame because McCauley can be a dynamite author some days. This book was not the product of those days.
The premise is that the Outers (residents of the outer Solar System (Jupiter, Saturn, etc.)) and the nations of Earth are verging on a war. To me it seems like a war between an eagle and a wolf - either can win but be greatly harmed in the process. Anyway, the book has a mutltitude of characters - Sri Hong owen, genetics wizard; Macey Minnot - eco systems designer; Cash Baker- pilot for the Greater Brazilian Air Force; Dave #8 - clone designed for espionage in the Outer System; Loc Ibrahim - diplomat and ambitious politician in Greater Brazil. The problem becomes the number of these characters and the fact a lot of them aren't nice, or even very interesting. Sri Hong Owen ranks down there with Mengele in my book for her ethics; Macey is passive to the point I want to hit her; Cash is all but a wind up soldier from his portrayal; Dave #8 is potentially interesting, but doesn't get a lot of screen time; Loc Ibrahim is a pretty thoroughly repulsive piece of work.
Worse, the book could have been better even with these issues. The Greater Brazilian Republic comes across as a bunch of mustache twirling bad guys, eager to loot the outer system of its treasures and data. This is a real shame, because there could have been war just by misunderstandings. Instead, it seems like Greater Brazil is actively evil with its intrigues and rigid patronage by the great families. There are noble elements, but they don't get any screen time.
What else? I honestly liked the setting. The damaged Earth is interesting and seemingly realistic. The Outers are interesting and apparently realistically conservative. The radical Greens of the EU and Greater Brazil seem about right, though terrifying.
The Overturn, a period of catastrophic political and climatic change which saw the deaths of hundreds of millions throughout the solar system, lies several centuries passed, yet its shadow still hangs over humanity. Earth's old nations have conglomerated into three international super-states under authoritarian and militaristic systems of rule, pursuing ecological doctrines and endeavouring to restore their planet to some of its former natural glories. Elsewhere in the solar system the loosely affiliated networks of democratic Outer colonies pursue their own agendas, be they posthumanism, scientific research, or the simple pursuit of pleasure.
The conflict and atrocities of the Overturn left many tensions between Earth and the Outers, but tensions also lie between their internal factions. On Earth, the super-states still squabble for power at every level. The most established players uneasily eye the Outer colonies, afraid that as the Outers continue to evolve and expand Earth will lose any ability to exert influence over them. Among the Outers the older and younger generations disagree about their future: the old are conservative, desiring controlled populations on already established colonies, whereas the young argue for change and expansion further out into the unknown.
The super-state of Greater Brazil is foremost among Earth's players in its interactions with the Outer colonies. A last effort towards peace has been initiated by Brazilian politicians and the representatives of a high-tech, horizontally-democratic Callistan colony. Together they are constructing a secure biome on the small moon's surface as a symbol of co-operation between two peoples. Yet among those sent to Callisto to oversee the project are bit players whose masters would prefer war to peaceful trade and co-operation, and conflict is easy to engineer between two groups of people who struggle to understand one another.
I wanted to like this one more, but I just couldn't. Which is a shame because McCauley can be a dynamite author some days. This book was not the product of those days.
The premise is that the Outers (residents of the outer Solar System (Jupiter, Saturn, etc.)) and the nations of Earth are verging on a war. To me it seems like a war between an eagle and a wolf - either can win but be greatly harmed in the process. Anyway, the book has a mutltitude of characters - Sri Hong owen, genetics wizard; Macey Minnot - eco systems designer; Cash Baker- pilot for the Greater Brazilian Air Force; Dave #8 - clone designed for espionage in the Outer System; Loc Ibrahim - diplomat and ambitious politician in Greater Brazil. The problem becomes the number of these characters and the fact a lot of them aren't nice, or even very interesting. Sri Hong Owen ranks down there with Mengele in my book for her ethics; Macey is passive to the point I want to hit her; Cash is all but a wind up soldier from his portrayal; Dave #8 is potentially interesting, but doesn't get a lot of screen time; Loc Ibrahim is a pretty thoroughly repulsive piece of work.
Worse, the book could have been better even with these issues. The Greater Brazilian Republic comes across as a bunch of mustache twirling bad guys, eager to loot the outer system of its treasures and data. This is a real shame, because there could have been war just by misunderstandings. Instead, it seems like Greater Brazil is actively evil with its intrigues and rigid patronage by the great families. There are noble elements, but they don't get any screen time.
What else? I honestly liked the setting. The damaged Earth is interesting and seemingly realistic. The Outers are interesting and apparently realistically conservative. The radical Greens of the EU and Greater Brazil seem about right, though terrifying.
