Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable and original
Review: "The Cassini Division" put an intriguing new spin on science fiction. Yes, the amazing technology and barely recognizable Earth are all here; but first and foremost, this is a novel of ideas. It is really a political thriller cloaked in science fiction clothes.This book is intelligent and well though out. While I don't agree with many of Macleod's politco-economic philosophies, he is obviously well read in political theory and makes his points compellingly. As I have said, this is not your typical SF, but it is an intelligent, witty book that will make you thank even as it entertains you.
Rating:
Summary: Short & sweet, fast & funny, but a weak, pat ending
Review: -----------------------------------------------------------
Rating: "A" -- a fresh look at future politics, married to solid hard-sf
extrapolation. Short & sweet, fast & funny, but with an appalling
protagonist and a weak, pat ending. Even so, highly recommended. This isn't a preview-type review. *SPOILER ALERT*
You really shouldn't read past here if you
haven't read the book. And much of what follows won't make sense
if you do. S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
*
*
* "A brilliant novel of ideas" -- front-cover blurb by Vernor Vinge. The central anarcho-socialist idea -- the "True Knowledge" -- is,
well.... "Might Makes Right". Ugh. I've always thought the best way
to judge a person's character is to watch how they treat someone
who has no power over them -- think back to good & bad bosses
you've had. Fortunately, the "comrades" don't seem to apply this
principle in their everyday lives. But the protagonist, Ellen May
Ngewthu, is an appalling individual, a close analog to Gen. Curtis
"Bomb 'em back to the Stone Age" LeMay. Unlike LeMay, she has
the freedom to act, and completely destroys the "post-human"
Jovian civilization for the offense of hijacking a third-party
spaceship. Even the crudest SF carnography trots out a stronger casus
belli to trigger mass genocide (at least for human aggressors). Ellen has a remarkable ability to dehumanize her opponents --
bluntly, she's a violently paranoid racist. Even after personal contact
with legally-human "robots" on New Mars has, kind of sort of, made
her accept them as "part of *us*, whereas the Jovians --
'You mean you would contemplate a union -- with *them*?'...." ".... Time for Plan B," Ellen decides, disregarding a direct order from
the Solar Council delegate -- Plan B being genocide by comet
bombardment. Worked, too. And the Jovies *were* baddies, through
& through, in the pat, weak & rather disappointing ending. Feh. Post-socialism (or anarcho-socialism) in MacLeod's Solar Union
adopts the form, but little content, from present-day socialism and
communism -- irony? (At least, I hope the character who says that
Lenin was "just misunderstood" is intended as irony.) The Union
economy isn't described in enough detail to judge whether it might
actually work (though with enough to succeed as a fictional device).
Perhaps there's more detail elsewhere -- this is the first MacLeod
book I've read (but it won't be the last). MacLeod has clearly read his Vinge -- though, curiously, the Union's
policy is to avoid a Vingean singularity at almost any cost, and to
destroy any culture that reaches it. For a more convincing (IMO)
snapshot of a successful democratic anarchy, read Vinge's "The
Ungoverned." Another sfnal predecessor that likely influenced
MacLeod is Ursula K. LeGuin's wonderful "The Dispossessed" and
related works. And read Hans Moravec's recent "Robots" for another
view of the coming post-human era. Humans as aliens: the MacLeod future history has encountered no
aliens, so they've made their own -- the "fast folk" or post-humans
are the most dramatic example, but all three societies here -- the
post-socialists, the anarcho-capitalists and the fast folk -- are quite
different from today's cultures, and quite strange to each other, a
welcome relief from the more usual "futures" that are today with
tailfins stuck on. And it's a pleasure to read a lean, non-bloated
novel. Not that there aren't some future-anachronisms here: helicopters,
elevator attendants(!), brass-&-steel(!) mechanical computers....
Memo to MacLeod: brush up on your Drexlerian molecular rod-logic
nanocomputers. Or if those won't work -- DNA-based
biocomputation. Or if you *have* to go macro-mechanical, you'd
use lightweight composites & light metals -- inertia in the gear
trains, y'know? And anyway -- how likely is it that non-networked
electronic computers would be crippled -- or taken over -- by "radio
viruses" from Jupiter? Tin Ear Dept: ".... I weren't that worried. Had you lot figured.... Just
gosh-darn lucky...." (p. 168, US hc ed). Umm. Mebbe this rancher
emigrated to Texas from the lil ol' UK? Enough of this grumbling & nit-picking -- I had a great time reading
"Cassini Division", which you might not have guessed, I just
realized, from reading this far. I found myself deliberately slowing
down to savor the book, something I last did for Phyllis Gotlieb's
lapidary "Flesh & Gold". And it makes you think. A definite keeper,
highly recommended despite the appalling genocidal "heroine." Hey, it could be worse. Consider, for example, Barnes'
"Kaleidoscope Century", or Barton's "When Heaven Fell." At least
Ellen has self-doubts... Happy reading!
Pete Tillman
(review written 10-99)
Rating: 
Summary: Clouded with politics
Review: A friend bought all of MacLeod's books because some people in rec.arts.sf.written said good things about this author. He gave them all to me with the comment that he couldn't get into any of them. I read STAR FRACTION, and thought it was barely passable, though not nearly as good as it could have been. The most interesting character was a gun; the gun didn't get enough lines. I started Cassini Division and Stone Canal, but couldn't get more than about 30-40 pages into either one. The worst problem with all these books is the absolutely absurd politics. Who would think that the name of Leon Trotsky would even be familiar to ordinary people 100 years from now? Even worse, who would think that Trotskyism could be a viable political view in the future? --Nobody but a British Red, and that's apparently what MacLeod is. It's a pity, but MacLeod's political diatribes badly get in the way of the story. And no, he's not a new Vernor Vinge or Iain Banks, despite what the publisher's flacks would have you think. I've read Vinge and Banks; MacLeod can't be confused with either one of those talented writers.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: A novel of ideas? Yes, I suppose, because this book does contain a mishmash of poorly-conceived and ill-developed ideas. The most startling one to me was that genocide is A-OK, as long as it's done by the right people to further socialism. If I hadn't already been put off this book by the complete lack of character development and the flimsy "plot", I would have been when the author hauled out that gem. To the extent there was a plot, it followed the time-tested formula of "it's time for X to happen so it will," regardless of the characters. I wish I had used the time I spent with this book to do something more enjoyable, like clean up those oil spots on my garage floor.
Rating:
Summary: Politics and science form a powerful future.
Review: A very interesting book, which I found very readable and entertaining. The socialist future created by the author was in fact rather a nice switch from the endless tales of "Imperial rule" or "Democracy for all", which have been so over done. The characters are well drawn, and the plot moves along fairly well, but the conclusion left me a bit cold. It was not trite, but the twist was a bit flat. A recommended read.
Rating: 
Summary: A cyberpunk space-opera novel of ideas
Review: All the comparisons are accurate. "The Cassini Division" has a little bit of everything -- fast action, snappy dialogue, evocative descriptions, speculation on the nature of consciousness, and enough trippy political-economic speculation to entertain (or annoy) Vernor Vinge and Iain Banks fans. MacLeod's ruthless but amiable characters are as fun and crazy as Bruce Sterling's, but they're deeper thinkers; I'm not sure I buy into their "true knowledge" ideology any more than I buy into Vinge's anarcho-capitalism, but MacLeod makes it at least as plausible -- sure, it's socialism, but as Ellen May Ngwethu points out, it's socialism based on a very pessimistic view of human nature. (This is not your grandmother's Marxism.) But "The Cassini Divison" isn't really about politics, it's about people, technology, and cool stuff -- what hard SF is all about. I'm glad I've just moved to England so I don't have to wait for the rest of his books to be published in the States (which they will be -- count on it).
Rating:
Summary: Ideas That Push The Envelope Of Possibilities!
Review: Ellen May Ngwethu is the central character in this sequel to THE STONE CANAL, and this novel begins many years later. Ellen is a member of the Jupiter system based 'Cassini Division', their purpose is to destroy any posthuman life they encounter, primarily around the planet Jupiter. In the beginning of this novel Ellen travels to Earth as the commander of the fusion ship 'Terrible Beauty' to enlist the help of Dr. I.K. Malley, the physicist who knows more about the wormhole near Jupiter than anyone else, connecting our solar system to where New Mars is located, thousands of light years distant. The Cassini Division would like to travel through the wormhole to New Mars so they would be able to search for and destroy any posthumans found there. There is debate as to whether or not the posthumans are conscious at all, and Macleod illustrates a racism here that one day may actually take place to our detriment and shame: is posthuman life conscious or just a computer program emulation of consciousness? Also discussed is the question of identity when a mind is uploaded into a computer, is the person the same as the original, or just a copy, with the original alive or dead giving added debate. This is a very complex topic and Macleod touches on it briefly as he presents to us a far ranging philosophical view of what it means to be human in this future he has spun, several hundred years from now, a future after the 'Singularity' in which science and technology has very nearly totally transformed life as we know it and how we live, great reading indeed. Plot and character development were good, and this novel is full of many interesting ideas, not necessarily original, including nano-fabrication of food and almost anything else, mind viruses, wormholes (most unlikely part of the book), anti-aging pills for eternal youth, mind back-ups in computers (with it's ensuing questions of identity), cloning, artificial people, smart suits (the book is worth reading just for this). The book was a page turner for me, and I loved it's no-nonsense forward looking philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: Great rollicking fun.
Review: Fast paced packed with interesting if often half baked ideas. By the end of the book one finds oneself rooting for the zealot/heroine in her ruthless plans. Enjoyable light reading.
Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly unique and interesting story
Review: I can't really compare Ken MacLeod to any other science fiction author I know -- the scope of the world as he describes it and the depth of his imagining is really delightful. A good read that will raise political and technological questions in the reader's mind. This book also asks that wonderful question so well posed by science fiction: what is a human being? Compelling and wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Yow! Read this!
Review: I don't usually go for political SF, but wow, Ken MacLeod has really got something going here... It's enthralling. I find it a bit odd that his _third_ book is the one being first published in the US... Go to the trouble of getting his UK-only books, The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal. They're well worth the read. Cassini Division picks up right after The Stone Canal, and might not make as much sense without it... Either way, it's a great read. And it's Banksie's Mate Ken, the guy who convinced him to rewrite Use of Weapons. 8)
| 
