On the Steel Breeze is the second book in Alastair Reynolds’ space opera trilogy, “Poseidon’s Children.” The events of On the Steel Breeze take place 200 years after the events of Blue Remembered Earth, the first book in the trilogy. The ocean-dwelling transhumans of the United Aquatic Nations grow in power while hundreds of “holoships,” basically generational colonizing asteroids, head for new Earth-like planets. In another subplot, Chiku Akinya–who has cloned herself–finds herself the target of an evil artificial intelligence called Arachne. Being the middle book in a trilogy is always awkward. The story needs to progress, but not too much and not spoil the big build-up in the final volume. I flew through On Steel Breeze and now I’m impatient for the third and final volume to wrap all of these complicated plots up! GRADE: B+
Yet another author I haven’t yet gotten around to reading. Maybe one of these days,
Jeff, after reading the 500 pages of ON THE STEEL BREEZE I’m really eager to see how Alastair Reynolds concludes this trilogy.
George
How are you able to keep all of the threads of the plot in mind while you’re waiting for the third volume to come out? This sounds like a good one to read — I love good a space opera as much as anyone — but I just don’t seem to have the time to invest in long books any more, much less trilogies.
Steve, Alastair Reynolds cleverly recapitulates the plots when new characters are introduced (they have to be told what has happened) so readers can keep the plot threads straight. I only read long books in the Summer. Once I’m back to work at the end of August, I’m back to short books and short story collections.