No sé si es porque voy cumpliendo años o por las muchas lecturas que ya llevo a mis espaldas, o quizá por una combinación de estos y otros factores, pero cada vez me encuentro más libros que me dejan totalmente indiferente, como este Beyond the Reach of Earth. El primer libro de la trilogía, Beyond the Hallowed Sky ya me decepcionó un tanto, pero es que esta segunda entrega no logra alzar el vuelo en ningún momento.


Ken MacLeod se dedica a cerrar tramas y asuntos pendientes del primer libro, pero poco más. Hay seis puntos de vista en el libro, pero ninguno es especialmente atractivo, lo cual es una pena, porque tanto cambio indudablemente ralentiza el ritmo de la lectura. La trama de espionaje continúa y la interacción entre las IAs y los alienígenas es quizá lo más atractivo del libro, pero sin llegar en ningún momento a cambiar el pulso del lector. Hay enfrentamientos entre facciones y algunas revelaciones, pero es todo monótono e insípido. La “mega conspiración” que mantuvo en secreto el viaje FTL se disuelve como un azucarillo y ahora todos los gobiernos y las facciones deberán actuar con las cartas a la vista.

La aparición del multiverso sumado a la posibilidad de viaje más rápido que la luz y, por lo tanto, viaje en el tiempo hace que el autor no se tenga que calentar mucho la cabeza en cuanto a resolución de conflictos, porque siempre puede escoger el universo que más le convenga. Me parece un truco demasiado barato y fácil para una trama de ciencia ficción.

Se trata de una novela de futuro cercano pero resulta tan difícil creer en sus premisas y exige tanta suspensión de la incredulidad que no puedo decir que merezca la pena leerla.

I've always liked Ken MacLeod, and after not reading much of his over the last ten years, fell quite hard for the first book in this trilogy, It did a good job at that moment of expansion, when we discover FTL, and had a nice rug pull to show that it had actually been invented in secret fifty years before. Throw that together with the thought that if propulsion and heat shielding don't matter then a submarine makes an excellent spaceship, coupled with the (obviously patriotic Scottish thought) about where they make the best submarines. It was packed, concise, and politically astute in that cuddly communist way I expect from MacLeod.

So I was a little bit disappointed by Beyond The Reach of Earth. Not so much for usual middle-book reasons, though there are moments where balls are thrown way in the air one assumes to catch in the next book - though they are actually some of the best bits. My problem stemmed from quite how well Beyond The Hallowed Sky actually set up its myriad plot strands. And starting this I realised that perhaps it set up too many. The first book was admittedly disparate but had at its heart the scrappy submarine engineers and their pet scientist. That story feels almost over now, they got their spaceship to work, they achieved wonders and are now zipping all over the place. Instead, we shuffle into more of a first-contact mode, and a political drama - though more office politics than the big P politics I expect from MacLeod.

It is still enjoyable and tight. A solution to its bittiness might have been an expansion of the book but I don't think that would have helped. It is a natural effect of the story, characters who I saw as whiny kids in the first book now take centre stage, and there is a machine/artificial intelligence subplot which also feels like one storyline too far. One of the things I enjoyed about the first novel was how it potentially worked as a standalone, yes it set up lots of intriguing storylines but it ended openly but quite naturally with an "all these stars are yours" kind of moment. This has broadened the storylines whilst narrowing the focus, instead of being about the future of humanity, it now seems to be about the future of these characters. I'll come back because I am interested (and there are, as mentioned above) balls to be caught, but it didn't blow me away like the first one.

Beyond the Reach of Earth should be everything I love — it felt very like Larry Niven, who I grew up on, but with a communist society in a space opera and the Fermi paradox — but I struggled with it. I’ve given the book 4 stars because I think that might be as much about me as it is the book. I’m very conscious, though, that I was hindered by not having read the first in this series; it took a while to get into, especially with quite so much info in the prequel summary; it was a very dense infodump.

I did, however, enjoy the peeks at the political goings on in Eurocommunist Scotland and the ways in which at least one faction had learned about FTL travel. I also liked the ways in which the storylines were tied up in the end. I’m not sure that I’ll go back and read the prequel, which I would probably have enjoyed more, but I’m more likely to pick up the sequel.

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

Warning - there are spoilers here for Book 1 in this trilogy, Beyond the Hallowed Sky, which I'd strongly advise you to read first. (If you haven't read it, or are hazy about the details, there is a helpful precis in Book 2, but the first book is so much fun, you really ought to read it).

In a clever sequel to Beyond the Hallowed Sky, MacLeod returns to his near future world (the book is largely set in the 2070s) dominated by three blocs - the Alliance (Anglosphere including rump UK), the Union (ex EU, including Scotland) and the Co-ord (Russia and China). The Union is particularly interesting, embodying a post-Revolution society and therefore viewed with especial suspicion by the other two (this is hilariously illustrated in some spoof tabloid headlines that crop up towards the end of the book).

MacLeod is very good, as we've seen in other books, at plausible just-over-the-horizon politics and societal development - indeed his portrayal of societies and their relationship with their citizens is one of the things I always look forward to. As a subject it's as fascinating and important as the future tech in these books. Or perhaps I should say that unlike many SF writers he appreciates the interplay between both: the societies influenced by the tech, the path of the tech driven by the science, and all deeply enmeshed with strong, relatable characters who just belong in their background.

Above and beyond that, this book has a deeply satisfying, ramified plot involving espionage, slightly scary AI (I really want to know more about Iskander, the universal intercase to the Union's predictive/ assistive AI which attempts to preempt the needs of its citizens - but also, it's hinted, serves other goals besides) and a more than slightly scary robot. For me, all that made Beyond the Reach of Earth very enjoyable to read.

A spirited rendition of The Internationale didn't go amiss either, performed here when some Union settlers arrive on the newly discovered planet Apis, albeit escorted by the perfidious Alliance English who have shuttled them there for obscure reasons in their FTL spacecraft. And indeed the settlers bring their own distinct approach to Apis, refusing to fall into the "homesteader" mode urged by their hosts. Politics are never far beneath the surface here, whether the politics of superpower deterrence, threatened by the discovery of FTL travel and restored by the strangest of means, politics between the constituent entities of the "economic democracy", the Union, which come into play when the state gets its own FTL craft though the ingenuity of a small shipbuilding firm and a causal loop, or the attempts by the various powers to deal with the enigmatic Fermi, aliens of unimaginable power who occupy outcrops of rock on Earth, Venus... and Apis.

And if aliens incarnated in rocks shaping the future of humanity sounds familiar to you, it's an idea that MacLeod himself has fun with, some of his characters spotting the parallel to a certain bestselling SF series of the late 20th century. (This being Book 2 of 3 we don't get to find out how close a parallel that will turn out being).

In summary, this is smart, well-written SF, great fun to read and every bit as good as Beyond the Hallowed Sky. It's a middle volume of a trilogy that builds on the first, rather than just marking time waiting for the conclusion - which nevertheless I'm really looking forward to. I'd recommend.

Ken Mcleod’s first novel in this series set out a variation of his Caledonian futurism, as ever grounded in politics. An independent Scotland is part of a post-Brexit Europe, England is part of an alliance with America and so on... part one ended with the discovery of alien life, and a FTL drive. Part two (this book) picks up immediately after this, and even though I had read Beyond the Hallowed Sky (part one) the first fifty pages or so are a dense re-immersion in Mcleod’s world. From then on in, the plot takes off: we get to know more about the enigmatic alien lifeforms hidden in rocks, and more about how the FTL drive was kept hidden for decades. Mcleod’s brilliant idea from part one, that submarines could also be spaceships, is further elaborated. There’s more time with the best character, the robotic spy from the British Council. In the middle part of what is a trilogy the emphasis is on elaboration rather than completion, but the second half of the novel melds action and ideas really well while setting up the concluding part. Do read Beyond the Hallowed Sky first, as this will really make no sense unless you have, but it’s a pleasure to spend some time with these characters and worlds.

This book and indeed it's predecessor, Beyond the Hallowed Sky, which I read directly beforehand in preparation, did not resonate with me. That fact is more of a reflection of varying tastes, rather than a criticism. I am very much drawn to character-rich books; Ken MacLeod's writing style, meanwhile, is very much concentrated on plot and world-building. I still don't feel like I "know" the characters.

Taking a step back and looking at the book objectively, there is much for readers to enjoy. The plot picks up directly from the end of Beyond the Hallowed Sky (and a highly appreciated summary of book 1 is included as a preface). Here we follow the characters as they fully explore the possibilities of faster than light travel and the new worlds revealed. The world-building is suitably expanded.

If you enjoyed book 1 you'll love this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review