by commentators, guest bloggers, reviewers, and interviewees are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of Locus magazine or its staff. And there, at one level, you have it - like a system of three stars in motion, Raisa, Amon and Finn will weave complex, unpredictable paths through two decades and more, and their perturbations will ring down the centuries. That's the book. At another level of course we have only just begun. We will learn about the Hopelands - a chaotic, sprawling "family" ('Don't fall in love with my family!') which anybody can join, across time, space and cultures and which has its own centres, or 'hearths' everywhere, its own ways of doing things, even its own religion. We will also learn about the Brightbornes, a formidably eccentric clan whose house can't be found unless somebody shows you. Some magic there, surely, but it's matters of fact magic. The novel opens in 2011 London during the riots. The initial sections had shades of The Invisibles and Rivers of London, with their cool and stylish depiction of mysterious quasi-supernatural organisations. The main characters are introduced as adventurous youths and as avatars for the spiritual-familial organisations they belong to. Their meeting is quite brief then they split protagonist duties for much of the remaining narrative, which sprawls decades into the future. I enjoyed following Raisa and Amon (all the names in this book are great), both excellent characters with fascinating families. Raisa settles in Iceland, while Amon ends up on the island kingdom of Ava' u. Once the narrative reaches the future, a more whimsical Kim Stanley Robinson style prevails and both protagonists' lives are significantly shaped by climate change. There is limited focus on technology and more on human connections via family (of birth and/or choice), spiritual belief, co-operative projects, music, and culture. Hopeland is a wonderfully rich novel, full of vivid images and memorable moments. The fantastical elements are made wonderfully meaningful by their grounding in relationships, communities, and cultures. This book was a very weird experience for me. Because, I liked some of the themes. Many of the characters I found very compelling, and I was quite interested in seeing about whether they'd reconnect again, and how (although, to be candid, I found Amon himself to be a kind of a bore and kept hoping he'd be pushed aside for someone more interesting). The concept of the Hopeland family itself was fascinating and I loved it as a worldbuilding exercise in creating a different, but believable and perhaps functional, society that exists within our own. Similarly the exploration into different views of gender and sexuality and romance. So many elements I liked, I just... wanted those elements to be in a story I found much more interesting. I did not find the story as a whole interesting, even though some of the parts I did, I kept wishing those parts were explored in some completely different kind of plot. McDonald published Luna: New Moon, the first volume of a proposed science fiction duology, in 2015. [9] [13] [14] It explores the dangerous intrigue that surrounds the five powerful families who control industry on the Moon. [9] McDonald said of the novel in August 2014, "I’m still writing about developing economies, it’s just that this one happens to be on the Moon." [9] Before critics called the novel " Game of Thrones in space", [13] [15] [16] McDonald himself dubbed it " Game of Domes" and " Dallas in space". [9] Luna was optioned for development as a television series before its release. [15] [17] The sequel, Luna: Wolf Moon, was released in March 2017. [18] A third novel, Luna: Moon Rising, [19] was released in March 2019. [20] McDonald previously published the novelette "The Fifth Dragon", a prequel to Luna in the same setting, in the 2014 anthology Reach for Infinity. [9] [21] [22]

Ian McDonald (British author) - Wikipedia Ian McDonald (British author) - Wikipedia

In terms of concept, I loved the idea of this one. I wanted to fall deeply into a speculative fiction story mixed with a family epic. Yes, there is a future history here, too, but it's not the science fiction aspect that I loved most -- it was the amazingly optimistic view of humanity. Replete with deft, unforgettable character portraits, quite a few of which involve gender-fluid souls (you are not likely to pass by the outrageous Kimmie Pangaimotu, Amon’s Polynesian roommate), and several subsidiary love stories—Amon and Raisa may not be quite as perfect as Smoky Barnable and Daily Alice, but they come close—and many exciting set pieces of action, this novel elegantly walks the tightrope between comedy and tragedy, individualism and realpolitik. Its time frame—starting in the past and moving into out future—echoes that same interesting tactic from Delany’s Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, and in fact some other stylistic and thematic Delanyesque influence is at work here too. On display in this book is a familiar virtue of McDonald’s, seen in works such as River of Gods and Brasyl: the ability to depict a culture in both large and granular details across historical eras. But new to his quiver is the intense lyricism of the prose, the Crowleyesque feyness and sense of fatedness. Narrated in the present tense, the book manages to convey both an immersive immediacy of action and a sense of myth and fabulism. a b "Ian McDonald – Be My Enemy ( Everness Book Two) cover art and synopsis reveal". 25 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014 . Retrieved 3 October 2018– via Upcoming4.me.So... the story starts in London, in 2011, during the riots. It's not about the riots, but they certainly set a scene. Raisa meets Amon entirely accidentally - she's racing across roof tops, he's looking for a micro-gig he's meant to be playing at. He helps her win, she invites him to a party with her family, and... it basically goes from there. Occasionally together, often apart, Raisa and Amon live through the next several decades. And see, it's not like they become hugely important politicians or scientists or celebrities - this isn't the story of hugely significant people. It's a story of two people - and their families - living through the consequences of climate change and everything else in the world right now. They have their impact, it's true, and sometimes on a large scale, but more often in the pebble-and-avalanche way. It’s true, and more than true. It is the defining truth in his twenty-four years. It is why the doors in Meard Mews hadn’t answered to Crumble. It is why the rioters on Oxford Circus sniffed, growled and moved on; to bring him here, to this rooftop. And she won’t turn him away. The Grace will always favour the Graced. always, the Clarke shortlist has generated excellent structural and substantive analysis. As in previous years (2017 and 2022), in… It was a treat, a different type of treat even if it's a bit too obscure at time. The language is lyrical and complex, the storytelling hypnotic.

Hopeland by Ian McDonald - Books - Hachette Australia Hopeland by Ian McDonald - Books - Hachette Australia

As a novel it simply doesn’t quite work, a discussion of pacing seems almost besides the point. Overall it’s never quite clear why you should care. Paul Di Filippo has been writing professionally for over 30 years, and has published almost that number of books. He lives in Providence RI, with his mate of an even greater number of years, Deborah Newton. No shut up listen. A map line. Zero degrees eight minutes two point one two seconds west. Me in Streatham, him up in Muswell Hill. If we stray more than twenty metres off the line, it’s game over.’Eccentric and adventurous, this is equal parts a delightfully mad love story and a rich and picturesque family saga. The popping action sequences reinforce author Ian McDonald’s swift and distinctive writing style. The setting is vast, from London to Iceland to Polynesia, and Raisa’s journey provides a unique take on time travel and electromancy as she sets out to remake the universe. Perfect for fans of Stephen Baxter. We first follow Raisa, who wanders in a kind of distraught fugue across the globe until she ends up in Iceland. And there she will stay for the next twenty-two years, bearing Amon’s son and creating a new community and high-tech business that will come to have global reach and consequences. I remain intentionally vague, so as not to spoil your fun.