The War of the Maps by Paul McAuleyMy rating: 4.7 of 5 stars
On a giant artificial world surrounding an artificial sun, one man - a lucidor, a keeper of the peace, a policeman - is on the hunt. His target was responsible for an atrocity, but is too valuable to the government to be truly punished. Instead he has been sent to the front lines of the war, to use his unique talents on the enemy. So the lucidor has ignored orders, deserted from his job, left his home and thrown his life away, in order to finally claim justice.
Separated by massive seas, the various maps dotted on the surface of this world rarely contact each other. But something has begun to infiltrate the edges of the lucidor's map, something that genetically alters animals and plants and turns them into killers. Only the lucidor knows the depths to which his quarry will sink in order to survive, only the lucidor can capture him. The way is long and dangerous. The lucidor's government has set hunters after him. He has no friends, no resources, no plan.
But he does have a mission.
***** *** *******
The main character, a retired cop, is on a mission to finish some business, and nasty business at that. He's really want to finish the job that he was tasked with, and there's a bit of score to settle. He's on the trail of another bloke who has been involved in some interesting going-on and needs to be brought in. He is instantly likeable, and the story begins building nicely right from the start, both in character development and in the world building. Behind this is the fact that there is some sort of invasion going on across various parts of the world, where people and various creatures are being attacked/manipulated/modified by some sort of organism or something that is on the loose. There are plenty of references to ancient creators and world-builders that are now revered as deities, a fascinating idea. These concepts are left open throughout the entire book, but with plenty of clues to keep you hypothesizing, trying to work out the origins of the world and the people in it.
McAuley's world building is superb and he seems to be able to describe things with very few words, which I was quite impressed by. The characters are good, but it's really only main chap who is explored to any sort of depth. The secondary supporting members of the cast are likewise portrayed well, albeit to a lesser level of detail. The story's journey across the world is wonderfully captivating, there being many things of interest to see and marvel at. There a number of quite awesome spectacles along the way which are elements that I always look for in sci-fi, one example being the huge sea-going arks that were once used to explore that vast oceans that separate the various "maps" on the outer surface of this big construction. And the weird and wonderful beasts in these oceans are likewise pretty incredible. The ending didn't deliver a big final reveal like I initially thought it was going to and definitely leaves the way open to further exploration. However, don't take this to mean that it has an unsatisfactory conclusion. I hope McAuley decides to give us some more of this awesome world and it's story.
My attention was held easily while reading this, and I'd happily recommend this to anybody who is looking for a read with a wonderful balance of adventure and intrigue yet is relaxing enough to just chill with and escape reality for a while.
A nice surprise was this. Every so often you come across a book that turns out to be a pleasant slap in the face, one of those books that make you realize that maybe you keep your reading boundaries a bit too tight. This is one such book. After reading the synopsis, I had reservations about starting this book and initially had in the back of my mind that I'd end up not finishing it. I didn't really think that it sounded much like my sort of thing, but those thoughts disappeared after only a half-dozen or so pages. The basic idea of the story, set on some sort of huge artificial world in space somewhere was enough to grab my attention, and I was not left disappointed. I ended up totally absorbed in the story and actually purposely taking my time with it, basking in the escapism that it gave me.
The main character, a retired cop, is on a mission to finish some business, and nasty business at that. He's really want to finish the job that he was tasked with, and there's a bit of score to settle. He's on the trail of another bloke who has been involved in some interesting going-on and needs to be brought in. He is instantly likeable, and the story begins building nicely right from the start, both in character development and in the world building. Behind this is the fact that there is some sort of invasion going on across various parts of the world, where people and various creatures are being attacked/manipulated/modified by some sort of organism or something that is on the loose. There are plenty of references to ancient creators and world-builders that are now revered as deities, a fascinating idea. These concepts are left open throughout the entire book, but with plenty of clues to keep you hypothesizing, trying to work out the origins of the world and the people in it.
McAuley's world building is superb and he seems to be able to describe things with very few words, which I was quite impressed by. The characters are good, but it's really only main chap who is explored to any sort of depth. The secondary supporting members of the cast are likewise portrayed well, albeit to a lesser level of detail. The story's journey across the world is wonderfully captivating, there being many things of interest to see and marvel at. There a number of quite awesome spectacles along the way which are elements that I always look for in sci-fi, one example being the huge sea-going arks that were once used to explore that vast oceans that separate the various "maps" on the outer surface of this big construction. And the weird and wonderful beasts in these oceans are likewise pretty incredible. The ending didn't deliver a big final reveal like I initially thought it was going to and definitely leaves the way open to further exploration. However, don't take this to mean that it has an unsatisfactory conclusion. I hope McAuley decides to give us some more of this awesome world and it's story.
My attention was held easily while reading this, and I'd happily recommend this to anybody who is looking for a read with a wonderful balance of adventure and intrigue yet is relaxing enough to just chill with and escape reality for a while.
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