I'll be honest and admit that I have not finished reading this book yet. Usually I wait until I'm done before I post a review, but at this point I may need to set it aside to continue my reading and reviewing of Sean Williams' Books of the Cataclysm series. Here's what I've gleaned out of The Quiet War, so far.
The Quiet War has been praised as "complex, multiylayered, and impressively realised," all descriptives which I feel are accurate. The main story is summarized as:
Twenty-third century Earth, ravaged by climate change, looks backwards to the holy ideal of a pre-industrial Eden. Political power has been grabbed by a few powerful families and their green saints. Millions of people are imprisoned in teeming cities; millions more labour on Pharaonic projects to rebuild ruined ecosystems. On the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, the Outers, descendants of refugees from Earth's repressive regimes, have constructed a wild variety of self-sufficient cities and settlements: scientific utopias crammed with exuberant creations of the genetic arts; the last outposts of every kind of democratic tradition. The fragile detente between the Outer cities and the dynasties of Earth is threatened by the ambitions of the rising generation of Outers, who want to break free of their cosy, inward-looking pocket paradises, colonise the rest of the Solar System, and drive human evolution in a hundred new directions. On Earth, many demand pre-emptive action against the Outers before it's too late; others want to exploit the talents of their scientists and gene wizards.Amid campaigns for peace and reconciliation, political machinations, crude displays of military might, and espionage by cunningly wrought agents, the two branches of humanity edge towards war . ..
I will admit, the book is interesting. This is a far different world from ours in some ways, such as cloned children being trained for all manners of warfare, to a worldwide religion centered on Gaia, the earth spirit. In other ways, it is very familiar, such as scheming politicians, power hungry military leaders, and the clash of various belief systems.
All of the cultures and technologies are obviously well thought out and detailed on McAuley's part and any fan of science fiction should enjoy discovering the world he has created here. Within the first handful of chapters, you've learned the details of a training regiment that turns children into supersoldiers, delved into the psychologically and physically torturous procedure that turns a man into the ultimate cyborg-pilot, and seen the first maneuverings in a covert war. It does provide a fascinating and sometimes disturbing glimpse of a potential future.
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But what it hasn't been able to do so far is engage me emotionally. Each chapter introduces a new character, a new scenario, and new potential conflict, but then all these are left behind in exchange for a new set of characters, new environment, etc. Admittedly, I'm still in the first third of the story, but at the same time, if by this point I feel no compulsion to keep reading, I'm not going to force myself to. The overall style in this book also adds to its sense of distance from the story, as it, at times, almost feels like I'm futuristic student reading about the 23rd century in preparation for a history test the next day. For me, this kept something of a mental wall between me and any sense of immersion, which is what I enjoy most when reading.
I've no doubt others may find The Quiet War enjoyable and satisfying. There are many cups of tea out there, and this one isn't quite mine.
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