Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Orbit (2021)
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: Mathematician Lakshmi Nayak receives a letter from her future self about faster-than-light travel. The equations work, and the letter itself seems to prove the possibility will someday be realized. But her paper on the topic is fiercely criticized, and she's warned away by a sinister Alliance agent. After defecting to the Union, she gets an unexpected offer: "I can build your ship." Shipbuilder John Grant learns of a secret project, which unknown to the world has been traveling to the stars for decades: Black Horizon. Biologist Emma Hazeldene works for Black Horizon on an alien world, Apis, whose life has clearly come from Earth, investigating rock formations that are thought to be an alien, crystal-like intelligence. But refugees exiled to a hard life in the wilds of Apis already know more than the scientists have ever suspected. Everything changes when the rocks wake up, with dire results. As secrets emerge and rival powers seize advantage, three worlds are shaken to their foundations�and all involved have to fight for their lives, and their futures. Science fiction legend Ken MacLeod begins a new space opera trilogy by imagining humankind on the precipice of discovery�the invention of faster-than-light travel unlocks a universe of new possibilities, and new dangers..… (more)
Media reviews
a compelling new alternate future ... three story lines, each labeled with a place and time to keep them distinct, gallop along ... the pleasures of the intrigue thriller, of First Contact, of the mysteries of ancient and godlike intelligences, of planetary pioneering, of socio-politico-economic
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speculation, of the possibilities of artificial intelligence, and of the various plot chases Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member pgmcc
I finished [Beyond The Hallowed Sky] last night. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book in this trilogy.
Ken's stories often, if not always, raise issues of a social or political nature, and [Beyond The Hallowed Sky] is no exception, but it is not as blatant as in some of his
The story involves AIs, the impossibility of Faster Than Light (FTL) travel, and alien technology. I like the characters and we can see their motivations and understand their actions in the context of their lives and environment.
Espionage is also involved in the story. Espionage in an age of AI proliferation.
Other topics making an appearance include climate change and political blocks using the management of stories in the media to influence the thoughts and actions of people in other political blocks.
Would I read more books by this author?
Yes, definitely.
Would I recommend this book?
Yes.
Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes intrigue and exploring the implications of real world trends in a near-future environment.
Has this book inspired me to do anything?
Yes. Hanker for the next volume in the trilogy.
Ken's stories often, if not always, raise issues of a social or political nature, and [Beyond The Hallowed Sky] is no exception, but it is not as blatant as in some of his
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books. This volume starts in the year 2067 and ends 2070. The world order involves three major political blocks: The Union, which is the current EU countries plus a few others, and, significantly, includes Scotland; The Alliance, which includes England and the USA amongst others; The Co-ordinated Countries, which includes Russia, China and some other countries.The story involves AIs, the impossibility of Faster Than Light (FTL) travel, and alien technology. I like the characters and we can see their motivations and understand their actions in the context of their lives and environment.
Espionage is also involved in the story. Espionage in an age of AI proliferation.
Other topics making an appearance include climate change and political blocks using the management of stories in the media to influence the thoughts and actions of people in other political blocks.
Would I read more books by this author?
Yes, definitely.
Would I recommend this book?
Yes.
Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes intrigue and exploring the implications of real world trends in a near-future environment.
Has this book inspired me to do anything?
Yes. Hanker for the next volume in the trilogy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
This book, first in a trilogy, was on my Christmas list, but it didn't arrive in time and landed on my doormat on New Year's Eve. I devoured it eagerly and I wasn't disappointed. (Well, I was disappointed by the fact that Macleod's publisher hasn't issued a first edition hardback, but that's just
I had wondered how much further Macleod could go in exploring radical politics in his novels; well, once more he brings us a new variation on an old theme. The book is set some fifty years into the future; the world here is split into three power blocs. There is the Alliance (basically, the Anglosphere plus India), the Union (the EU, including a unified Ireland and Scotland), and the Co-ordinated States (Russia and China). Each has its own universal and all pervasive AI that assists citizens and the government; and relations between the three states are cordial - rather enforced by the AIs - but highly competitive.
There are multiple POV characters; whilst we start with a theoretical physicist, Lakshmi Nayak, located in London with family in India, we quickly add a number of other characters, in Scotland and - elsewhere. Lakshmi receives a letter, seemingly from her future self, that gives the theoretical basis of a faster-than-light drive, which everyone says is impossible and which she herself actually doubts. But her attempts to even find the flaws that she is convinced must be in the paper lead her to defect from the Alliance to the Union, setting off a train of events that have remarkable implications.
Along the way, we travel to a Union floating base in the atmosphere of Venus and see it through the eyes of an Alliance attaché who is not all he seems. We also spend some time with a Scottish family who work in shipbuilding and who were active in the "Cold Revolution" that made the Union, in particular, what it is today. The grass-root politics of the Union is shown in some detail, but Macleod refrains from telling us what is what and how we got there; the reader has to reconstruct events between now and the novel's future, and this is part of the attraction of the book.
A lot of the setting is probably broad wish-fulfilment on Macleod's part, at least when it comes to Scotland, though there are aspects of his Clydeside under the Union that I suspect he wouldn't personally welcome but expects would turn out that way (basically, the Faslane naval base being an English/Alliance enclave in Scotland). The way this affects the lives and decisions of people in the novel is quite telling.
Throughout, there are regular bursts of dry wit and some Easter eggs for those in the know. Now just a matter of waiting for the next book!
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the collector in me.)I had wondered how much further Macleod could go in exploring radical politics in his novels; well, once more he brings us a new variation on an old theme. The book is set some fifty years into the future; the world here is split into three power blocs. There is the Alliance (basically, the Anglosphere plus India), the Union (the EU, including a unified Ireland and Scotland), and the Co-ordinated States (Russia and China). Each has its own universal and all pervasive AI that assists citizens and the government; and relations between the three states are cordial - rather enforced by the AIs - but highly competitive.
There are multiple POV characters; whilst we start with a theoretical physicist, Lakshmi Nayak, located in London with family in India, we quickly add a number of other characters, in Scotland and - elsewhere. Lakshmi receives a letter, seemingly from her future self, that gives the theoretical basis of a faster-than-light drive, which everyone says is impossible and which she herself actually doubts. But her attempts to even find the flaws that she is convinced must be in the paper lead her to defect from the Alliance to the Union, setting off a train of events that have remarkable implications.
Along the way, we travel to a Union floating base in the atmosphere of Venus and see it through the eyes of an Alliance attaché who is not all he seems. We also spend some time with a Scottish family who work in shipbuilding and who were active in the "Cold Revolution" that made the Union, in particular, what it is today. The grass-root politics of the Union is shown in some detail, but Macleod refrains from telling us what is what and how we got there; the reader has to reconstruct events between now and the novel's future, and this is part of the attraction of the book.
A lot of the setting is probably broad wish-fulfilment on Macleod's part, at least when it comes to Scotland, though there are aspects of his Clydeside under the Union that I suspect he wouldn't personally welcome but expects would turn out that way (basically, the Faslane naval base being an English/Alliance enclave in Scotland). The way this affects the lives and decisions of people in the novel is quite telling.
Throughout, there are regular bursts of dry wit and some Easter eggs for those in the know. Now just a matter of waiting for the next book!
Show Less
LibraryThing member SChant
Some interesting SF ideas, but the jumping about between 3 different strands of story, each with multiple barely-differentiated characters, was quite confusing and ultimately counter-productive. I might pick up the next book, but it won't be a "must read" for me.
LibraryThing member Karlstar
A good, but not great near future scifi novel. In 2070, FTL travel has been discovered, while at the same time we have cloud colonies on Venus. With near instantaneous FTL, some countries have settled an Earth-like planet, to discover strange alien life, strange alien stone structures - and bees.
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The book is partly first contact, partly Earth-bound conflict between blocs. The conflict is mostly on Venus and Apis, the new planet. Good tech feel, good conflict, good action, but I still don't understand the title! Show Less
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021-11-23
Physical description
7.72 inches
ISBN
035651479X / 9780356514796