A little more than a year ago, I read the first volume of M. R. Carey’s “Pandominion” series, Infinity Gate (you can read my review here). Now there’s volume two in the series, Echo of Worlds. Carey presents a Universe at war–genocidal war. Two galactic empires are battling each other: the machine run the Ansurrection and the human Pandominion. Things look dire for human civilization because the intelligent machine civilization has technology vastly superior to that of us puny humans.
While billions of machines and humans battle it out across hundreds of planets, a group of mis-fits stand a slim chance of saving both colossal empires.
Let’s start with Hadiz Tambuwal, a brilliant scientist who currently exists only as an uploaded person–mostly she resides a a portable box. Hadiz’s best friend is Rupshe, “a massively powerful untethered AI,” friendly and protective to humans. Most of the planning and strategy of Echo of Worlds come from Hadiz and Rupshe.
Next comes two soldiers in Iron Man suits. The human Essien Nkanika deals with massive guilt. My favorite character is the feline Moon Sostenti, with her irreverent comments and constant anger. She’s a born killer. Finally we have Paz, a young female “lagomorph.” Paz lost about 25% of her brain in an explosion and has to deal with significant effects from her injuries. Paz’s AI companion, Dulcie, an ex-spy for the Ansurrection, is the most enigmatic character of the team.
Carey sets up a series of missions that might turn the tide of the war…if they were successful. Needless to say, there’s a lot of failed missions in Echo of Worlds. But Carey saves some surprises for the last part of this novel. Echo of Worlds is perfect for Summer Reading! GRADE: B+
So, today’s space opera, as opposed to retro space opera…I can see the appeal.
Still not grabbing me.
Jeff, I have more variety in books next week that might strike your fancy!
Some of the concepts sound amusing, although the sample on Amazon doesn’t do much for me. At least it isn’t another STAR WARS knockoff. 512 pages sounds like a trudge, though. I can sympathise with Paz. I’ve lost 25 percent of my brain to the media’s 24/7 barrage of snake-oil ads (the newest and worst has loathsome Mike Huckabee shilling a “sleep supplement”), clueless political coverage, internet trolling, and moronic reality shows. The remaining 75 percent is likely to be gone by the end of the year.
Fred, the woman who delivers our daily newspaper just told me she listened to all 93 minutes of Trump’s speech Thursday night! Shocking!
Wow, that’s …really bad. Jackie was hysterically laughing about “the late, great Hannibal Lecter,” as if Trump thinks he was a real person.
Jeff, Trump’s obsession with Hannibal Lecter and sharks should give people pause…
I really enjoyed Mike Carey”s comics work (Lucifer, Hellblazer, The Unwritten), but I have not read any of his novels. Ann, on the other hand, has read most of them. Not this duology, yet, though they’re waiting for her. She’s currently reading the second of two novels he wrote under the Adam Blake pseudonym — The Dead Sea Cypher and The Demon Code. She reports they take Da Vinci Code type ideas into typically fun Carey places, and is sorry there aren’t more.
Jeff, in a recent interview in LOCUS, Mike Carey says he’s writing a third novel about the “Pandominion” right now set in the aftermath of the events of ECHO OF WORLDS. Carey is a prolific writer!
Off my radar!