Rating: 
Summary: (3.5 stars) recommended, but not top-tier Smith work
Review: _Forge of the Elders_ has a lot going for it, but I can't say that it's really the best I've seen from Smith. He expands on a concept earlier explored in _Probability Broach_ and he pokes unsubtle fun at various statist ideas and people but he leaves the book on an unsatisfying note and misses a couple of interesting opportunities.First, I should say that I am a recent fan of LNS and, politically, I enjoy the preaching as much as any member of the choir. In addition, while this may come across as a negative review, I generally enjoyed _Forge_. That said, I was a little disappointed in a few ways. With regard to the political message of the book, I think Smith takes the easy way out by contriving such an obviously corrupt and stagnant socialist regime. Even the names were over the top: no state is ever going to be dumb enough to call itself "CountryX Soviet Socialist Republic". Even Ayn Rand, who wasn't exactly known for her subtlety, wasn't that heavy-handed. Where's the challenge in showing that a (literally named) KGB agent and his thuggish enforcers represent a corrupt system? In my view, the real challenge in libertarian fiction lays in taking a state that's similar to what the average person sees every day, maybe advance things to a somewhat uglier but still recognizable level of statism, and then tear it apart on the basis of what it claims to do well. For example, show that liberty and its requisite free market economy are actually better and more compassionate for people, *particularly* the poor or variously disadvantaged. Perhaps, take a character who is socialist because she worries that innocent children will fall through the cracks in a truly free society and convince her that Libertaria is a better world. In another area, there was plenty of evolutionary postulation in this book, both political and biological and I enjoyed it. However, Smith spends a lot of time exploring the notion that the older a species is (in terms of how long ago it achieved intelligence), the more it will tend toward a society of libertarian freedom. While there may be something to that idea, it would also interesting to explore how the increased *lifespan* of a species affects its libertarian tendency. This is something very applicable to the relatively near future on (our) Earth. I don't mean this a criticism of _Forge_ so much as just something I'd like to see in a future book and I was reminded of it since several of the species in _Forge_ were very long-lived. Finally, I agree with a few others that the final section had a certain tacked-on feel to it. Without going into spoiling detail, I'll just say that it read as though Smith decided to rehash the concept in the middle section, but more so. Overall, I liked _Forge_ and I recommend it. But those new to Smith will probably enjoy _Probability Broach_ and _Pallas_ more.
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