Games of Daze/Infomagic - Games of Daze (Summer 1995) (Disc 1 of 2).iso/x2ftp/books/misc/aristoi.rev

Text File | 1995-01-23 | 9KB | 161 lines

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Date: 22 September 1993, 10:29:50 EDT
From: David M. Chess                                 CHESS    at YKTVMV
To:   sf-reviews at presto.ig.com
Subject:  Review of Walter Jon Williams' "Aristoi"

Note : Except for possibly a clue as to whether or not the Bad Guys
       win, I don't think there are any serious spoilers in the
       following.   If even that clue bothers you, skip along!

Executive summary : An involving far-future ultra-tech novel with
   interesting characters, credible science that stays politely in the
   background of the story, and some unusual and noteworthy character
   development.  Slips into a bit too much physical fighting and
   blood-and-gore in the second half.  Recommended, especially for
   experienced sf readers (beginners may need a little help with
   some of the implicit tech).

Setting : Something like 1000 years after the destruction of Earth
   by runaway nanotech.  The survivors have built up a very civilized
   multi-planetary civilization (the Logarchy) in which only the Aristoi
   (selected by a series of tests which are, quite properly, only very
   vaguely described) are allowed to mess about with dangerous technologies
   like nanomachines and gravity generators.  Each of the Aristoi has his/her
   own set of solar systems to rule over (one effect of the tests seems to
   be to pick people who would make good, as in benevolent, absolute rulers).
   By no means a cyberpunk novel, but much of the c'punk ultra-tech is
   there: direct-to-brain virtual-reality (the "oneirochronon"), genetic
   engineering, implanted computers ("renos"), body alteration (including
   sex-change at will), etc.

Premise : One of the Aristoi is murdered, only Gabriel (our hero) knows
   that it's murder, and he doesn't trust any of the other Aristoi enough
   to enlist their aid.  So he goes after the bad guys (who are threatening
   the shared dataspace that is the basis for the whole society) himself,
   with a few trusted (non-Aristos) friends and lovers.

Story : Basically, the good guys go after the bad guys, find them, get
   into fights with them, and are changed in various ways in the course
   of the battles.  A classic plot, not particularly embellished with any
   novel twists or secondary themes.  To my mind at least, this is one of
   those books where the story isn't as important as the fascinating
   civilization it's taking place in, and the sympathetic characters that
   it's happening to.  The jewels are lovely; we won't worry too much
   about the design of the string they're on.

Characterization : Few cardboard cutouts here; the main characters are
   unique and well-developed individuals (with the possible exception of
   the main villain, who we don't really see enough of to confirm or
   deny Gabriel's guesses about his motivations).  One very interesting
   and thought-provoking line of development occurs: the two main
   good guy figures, as a result of their encounters with the bad guys,
   go from utterly self-assured demi-god types to somewhat self-doubting,
   hesitant, and generally bruised mere humans.  In most books, this would
   be officially stamped as a Good Thing, constituting a positive step
   in terms of being human, knowing yourself, and so on.  In a very
   refreshing twist, the characters *hate* having become more human!
   Fallibility, self-doubt, and internal conflicts are a royal pain, and
   they want to get rid of them as soon as possible.  A great quote
   I can't resist giving verbatim: "If Gabriel succeeded in his tasks,
   no one in the Logarchy would have to be human ever again."  I don't
   know how much psychological validity this ultimately has, but it's
   a compelling cold breeze of an idea.  Some of the minor characters
   also go through convincing and non-trivial development experiences.

Storytelling : Well-done throughout.  One experimental technique:
   parallel columns of text, meant to be read simultaneously, when there
   is action going on in both the physical and virtual worlds (or
   the exterior physical and interior mental).  Generally works well,
   with the exception of one three-page dose of it that was long enough
   to get seriously in the way (it works best when there's under a
   page of it, at least for me).

   I liked the first part, primarily set in the benign tech of the
   Logarchy, the best.  In the latter part of the book, the action
   takes place on a low-tech world, and there is quite a bit of
   physical fist-and-sword-fighting sorts of action.  This seemed
   rather out of place to me, at least in this quantity.  These people
   are wizards; you'd think they'd have prepared better before landing,
   and would have little tailored killer nanos ready, rather than having
   to disembowel people with swords when the going gets tough.  In
   general, I would have expected/liked the conflicts in the book to
   have been at a less physical level than "how can the three good
   guys kill or disable the five bad guys more or less simultaneously,
   without giving any of them a chance to either kill the captive good
   guy on the stretcher, or to call for reinforcements?".  A pursuit
   and battle within the Oneirochronon itself, for instance, would
   have been more interesting and fitting to me than people breaking
   various of each other's bones, ripping guts out with swords, and
   commenting inwardly on the "horrid smell of bowel".

   This is my only negative comment on the book, really: I think the
   story would have been improved by involving the interesting tech more
   in the conflicts, and having less swordplay and random physical
   violence.

   Aside from this, the storytelling is impeccable; the language is as
   rich as the civilization it describes, without being flowery.  The
   author plays agreeably with languages; many of the new words are from
   Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and I think I spotted some Sanskrit.  The
   action and dialogue are perfectly credible; Williams of course knows
   what he's doing.

Science : There's lots and lots of Neat Science here, but it's never
   obtrusive.  No long-winded discussions of how a particular piece of
   tech works.  There is faster-than-light travel and communication, but
   other than the key-root "tach" we don't care how it works.  There are
   very powerful computers (when you need a big computer, you point some
   nanotech at a moon or large asteriod, and it converts it into a
   molecular-level reno), but they are purely infrastructure; no
   self-aware Machine Intelligences obvious here.  The most original
   piece of tech in the book is psychological rather than physical:
   people have discovered ways to tame, train, and utilize the various
   "limited personalities" that exist in the mind.  These personalities
   (called "daimones") can be called up at will, left in charge of the
   physical body while the primary personality is busy in the oneiro-
   chronon or just resting, called in for conferences during crisis
   situations, and so on.  Each has its own very distinct character;
   some are male, some female, some neither.  In one interesting early
   subplot, we get to see someone struggling to call forth and tame his
   various daimones.  Other aspects of psychological tech (carefully
   designed symbols, postures, and gestures that convey various concepts
   and can be used for instance to dominate the unprepared opponent)
   are also fitted neatly into the story.  Williams may have thought
   up a couple of new cliches here; I wouldn't be surprised to see some
   of these ideas taken for granted (like "nano" and "tach" are now)
   in others' stories in the not-too-distant future.

Puzzle : Why are computers called "renos"?  Guesses around here include:

   a) The dominant metaphor for computing has shifted from the brain
      to the kidneys,
   b) When the first large-scale molecular computer was created, some
      pundit quipped that it had the processing power of Reno, Nevada,
      and the name stuck,
   c) It's an in-joke reference to the character in some Gibson (or was
      it Williams?) novel, named (I think) Reno, who ends up as a Ghost in
      the Net when his physical body is destroyed while he is deeply
      jacked-in.

   None of these are very convincing, though!  I suspect

   d) Williams liked the sound of the name.

Recommendation : Definitely a "buy" (or at least a "borrow").

%A Williams, Walter Jon
%T Aristoi
%I Tom Doherty Associates; TOR SF
%C New York
%D September 1992
%G ISBN 0-812-51409-2
%P 448 pp.
%O paperback, US$4.99

- -- -
David M. Chess                              Which orbital mind control
High Integrity Computing Lab                 lasers are you referring to?
IBM Watson Research
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