The Affinities
By Robert Charles Wilson
(Tor, 320 pages)
Robert Charles Wilson’s latest describes a social network that has evolved into something even more invasive and threatening than Facebook and Google.
The premise is that the new science of social teleodynamics has come up with complex algorithms that sort humanity into “socionomic affinities.” These proto-ethnicities have, in turn, stepped in to provide a sense of security, belonging and identity in a secular, post-nationalist world that has also turned its back on the dysfunctional train wreck of genetic kinship and family.
Of course, things don’t work out quite as planned. Intra-affiliation competition is as much a product of the new world order as co-operation, and high-tech social bonding turns out to be no match for old-fashioned tribal hatred of the other.
As always, Wilson has grounded his speculations in a suspenseful story focused on real people coping with these changes. It’s a troubling vision of the future, made all the more so by the ambiguity at its heart: are the affinities a good thing? Is this progress, or regression to a more primitive state?
The Machine Awakes
By Adam Christophe
(Tor, 352 pages)
The Machine Awakes is the second instalment in Adam Christopher’s Spider Wars trilogy, telling a stand-alone story set in the same universe as last year’s TheBurning Dark.
As things begin it seems something’s stirring on the moons of Jupiter, and it’s not those pesky Spiders again. Meanwhile, things aren’t going well on Earth either, as the Fleet Admiral has just been assassinated after being overthrown in a coup. But which of the many conspiracies out there is responsible?
It’s up to the Fleet Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of all this, and Special Agent Von Kodiak is the man for the job. Expect a really entertaining space opera with all the fixings from a young writer who is hitting his stride.
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