Rating: 
Summary: An Intriguing SF Novel Of Ideas And Action
Review: Ken MacLeod is a skillful writer, one worth watching in the future. However, his literary execution falls far short of all the hoopla about him that I've read on the paperback cover. Unfortunately, there are many passages where it reads almost like your typical run-of-the-mill Star Trek novel. Somehow his deft prose and witty dialogue saves this from being a generic SF novel, yet I certainly was expecting more insight akin to the works of Arthur C. Clarke or Ursula K. LeGuin than Star Trek. Instead, MacLeod tries to blend space opera with nanotechnology and cyberpunk, and the result isn't a satisfactory mix. Yet if you're interested in some light SF reading, then do buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Haphazard mismash
Review: On the cover of the novel, Vernor Vinge is quoted as saying that it is a "novel of ideas". It certianly is that. The author tosses in all kinds of moralistic and scientific ideas and then sort of stirs them around until they look mostly consistent. Socialism, libertarianism, artificial intelligence, trans/post-humanism, and just what makes you you are all examined briefly. (Readers of Shirow's "Ghost In The Shell" might find one or two of the concepts familiar.) It is an interesting read, but for the moral discussion and implications... not for the science.
Rating: 
Summary: Anarchy, Genocide, and Philosophy
Review: Post-humans. Uploaded human minds inhabiting the robots and computer networks of a civilization in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Sneering at those still living in the "meat", they bombard the inner solar system with computer and "mind viruses." They brought on the Collapse, the destruction of man's computer-dependent civilization, and ushered in the age of the Solar Union, a socialist anarchy.But some in the Union have had enough of the post-human threat, namely the Cassini Division, self-appointed cold warriors manning their version of the Berlin Wall on Jupiter's moon, Callisto. They want to wipe out the Jovians once and for all with a cometary bombardment. And they aren't listening to any arguments from "appeasers" or those who think the Jovians are sentient and deserve to live or don't pose a threat. Ambiguity, irony, and philosophical debate make up a lot of this book, but it's not a dry tome unlike the many utopian and dystopian novels that supply several of Macleod's chapter headings. Macleod keeps the arguments short, the action coming, and shifts the scenery frequently from a pastoral London inhabited by the few die-hard capitalists to Callisto and, eventually, New Mars, man's sole outpost beyond our solar system. The narrator, Ellen May Ngewthu, is engaging, fun, witty, and hard-edged. She's given herself the job of wiping out the Jovian post-humans, and she's willing to go to a lot of trouble to finish the job. She gets into a lot of arguments in the book: about the virtue of socialist anarchy versus the capitalist anarchy of New Mars, the sentience of those beings with uploaded minds, and whether the universe has any moral rule other than doing whatever you can get away with. Macleod explores some of the implications in the ideas of Vernor Vinge's Singularity and copied, uploaded, and indentured minds familiar to readers of Phillip C. Jennings. This is a short book. The superscience isn't as astonishing as Peter Hamilton's work, but Macleod keeps his tale interesting and knows how to write a philosophical tale that moves. Readers of George Zebrowski and Charles Pellegrino's THE KILLING STAR should especially like this, another novel where genocide is shown to have an unplesantly rational aspect to it. This is the third book in a series. I haven't read the first two since this was the first published in America. But I had no trouble following the story or assimilating the background.
Rating:
Summary: Anarchy, Genocide, and Philosophy
Review: Post-humans. Uploaded human minds inhabiting the robots and computer networks of a civilization in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Sneering at those still living in the "meat", they bombard the inner solar system with computer and "mind viruses." They brought on the Collapse, the destruction of man's computer-dependent civilization, and ushered in the age of the Solar Union, a socialist anarchy. But some in the Union have had enough of the post-human threat, namely the Cassini Division, self-appointed cold warriors manning their version of the Berlin Wall on Jupiter's moon, Callisto. They want to wipe out the Jovians once and for all with a cometary bombardment. And they aren't listening to any arguments from "appeasers" or those who think the Jovians are sentient and deserve to live or don't pose a threat. Ambiguity, irony, and philosophical debate make up a lot of this book, but it's not a dry tome unlike the many utopian and dystopian novels that supply several of Macleod's chapter headings. Macleod keeps the arguments short, the action coming, and shifts the scenery frequently from a pastoral London inhabited by the few die-hard capitalists to Callisto and, eventually, New Mars, man's sole outpost beyond our solar system. The narrator, Ellen May Ngewthu, is engaging, fun, witty, and hard-edged. She's given herself the job of wiping out the Jovian post-humans, and she's willing to go to a lot of trouble to finish the job. She gets into a lot of arguments in the book: about the virtue of socialist anarchy versus the capitalist anarchy of New Mars, the sentience of those beings with uploaded minds, and whether the universe has any moral rule other than doing whatever you can get away with. Macleod explores some of the implications in the ideas of Vernor Vinge's Singularity and copied, uploaded, and indentured minds familiar to readers of Phillip C. Jennings. This is a short book. The superscience isn't as astonishing as Peter Hamilton's work, but Macleod keeps his tale interesting and knows how to write a philosophical tale that moves. Readers of George Zebrowski and Charles Pellegrino's THE KILLING STAR should especially like this, another novel where genocide is shown to have an unplesantly rational aspect to it. This is the third book in a series. I haven't read the first two since this was the first published in America. But I had no trouble following the story or assimilating the background.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Predictable and somewhat silly. Although it does have some interesting ideas, one doesn't finish the book caring at all about the characters or plot. The first scene is indicative of the book's problems. Its an absurd and fairly boring portrait of a low-tech Earth (England has been converted to some kind of reservation) supervised by high-tech super-socialists who live in outer space. The author tries to give us action, excitement, and compelling characters, but it all falls flat.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow - Boring - Lacks Creativity
Review: The Cassini Division "doesnt" read like Iain M Banks or Vernor Vinge despite what a few [...] reviewers have claimed. Banks creates exotic locations/charactes better - while Vinge has no trouble mapping out scope and a "sense of wonder." This book seemed more like a "bad" novel from Stephen Baxer or Charles Sheffield - authors who "can" write brilliantly at times. So why did I bother with this book knowing that it has recieved poor reviews? If you read the back cover, the premise for the novel is actually quite interesting. A soldier and leader of the Cassini Division has to stop God-Like beings who disintegrated Ganymede. These beings punched a wormhole into Jovian space and are bombarding the inner solar system with powerfull data viruses. While some of the science and technical parts of the Cassini Division are interesting, the details were always glossed over. And it takes a good 100 pages before the science is really mentioned anyway. Ken Macleod doesnt put much emphasis on the military aspect of the lead character - Ellen May Ngewthu. All she really does throughout the novel is converse with other characters about how humanity "must" commit mass genocide against the superior beings. Now I have no problems with the "morality" issue that some reviewers complained about, but it is here, that the Cassini Division failed to impress me. The characters act and talk as if they are telling the "reader" about ethics and the implications of genocide. It makes for some very childish dialog throughout the later pages of the book. PRO: The Concepts are interesting. And the political backdrop for the novel has above average depth - C. J. Cherryh, Jack Vance, and Lois McMaster Bujold are still better at politics and sociology however. CON: The Concepts are not given the attention they need. The book starts slow and doest pick up till after 100 pages into it. The character dialog is horrible. The interaction with the Jovians lacks imagination. And the Cassini Division has a very predictable ending. RECOMENDATION: Skip this book and "maybe" look for it at the library.
Rating:
Summary: Superb political sf.
Review: The Cassini Division is easily one of the best books I read last year. Ken MacLeod's work represents an all too rare element of science fiction, the thoughtful, left-leaning, political novel set somewhere other than the United States. His work is informed by an impressive understanding of left-wing fringe politics and the political theories of anarchism. In The Cassini Division an on-line version of the protagonist Jon Wilde has travelled back through the Malley Mile wormhole to Earth with his computer companion, Meg to discover an earth transformed through the consequences of longevity and whose technology has been transformed out of all recognition as a consequence of computer viruses spawned by the "fast folk"-computer nerds who uploaded themselves and now live at an accelerated rate of evolution within the envelope of the planet Jupiter. Jon Wilde and Meg are themselves downloaded into flesh on reaching Earth and spend much of the novel looking for ways to get back through the Malley Mile to the human colony they have left behind in the hope that they can integrate the two cultures of Earth and New Mars. The snag is that the technology to remake the connection lies with the fast folk, whose last major project was to bombard earth with computer viruses and trigger the collapse of computered society. Earth now runs its computations through Babbage engines and avoids the use of radio waves. Orbiting around Jupiter, the last residence of the fast folk, is the Cassini Division, a space force with the self-appointed mission to protect earth. If the above sounds like the ingredients of a cheap thriller, that is because they are, but Ken MacLeod, as the masterful writer he is, manages to avoid most of the pitfalls and the novel is both exciting and politically thought provoking. In The Cassini Division we get to see an anarcho-socialist society in action complete with conscientious objectors who live in small, capitalist enclaves. The socialism which earth has adopted assumes and in fact relies on the expectation that every citizen will apoint him or herself to the role which in their personal view most assists society at a particular moment: this can involve simply serving refreshments in an airport canteen as one is passing through, or choosing to take part in one of the political forum which attempt to run the planet. The issue at stake in The Cassini Division is whether or not the representatives of earth will attempt communication with the fast folk of Jupiter in order to find the route through the Malley Mile, or whether the Cassini Division, the self-appointed guardians of earth will go ahead with their secret plot to destroy the fast folk. Much of the novel is taken up by the attempts of most of the protagonists to convince Ellen May Ngwethu of the Cassini Division that she is paranoid and about to commit genocide. Ellen knows she is about to commit genocide, as like the protagonists in Xenocide she believes the human race cannot tolerate any species potentially superior to human beings. McLeod's protagonists truly believe themselves to be morally correct and to be acting in the best interests of their society but his work contains a very simple and powerful moral message, crucial to, but rarely associated with anarchism: you are responsible for your own actions and for their consequences.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting concepts, but needs some more work
Review: The Cassini Division reads like an abridgment of a longer, better, more gripping novel. MacLeod almost seems in a rush to communicate his ideas, not realizing that he is instead shortchanging them. For example, he dedicates much of this short novel to the interactions among the socialist, anarchic Solar Union, the capitalist New Mars, and the posthuman Jupiter. He confronts his protagonist with valid ethical questions regarding her own motivations and her mission to destroy the Jovians. However, then MacLeod decides suddenly to resolve the tangible conflict, forgetting completely all concerns of moral ambiguity. Overall, the plotting suffers from unsupported developments and twists, such as the physicist Malley's sudden decision to cast his lot in with the elite military of the Utopian society he abhors and from which he has exiled himself for decades. The best reason to read the Cassini Division is the political theory, which begs further development. In MacLeod's universe, is it really possible for the Jovians' radio and video transmissions to infect passive observers so easily with mental viruses, or is it a cover story to explain censorship on the part of the Solar Union, as Malley seems to hint once in the beginning? MacLeod leaves such possibilities completely unexplored. For a much more developed treatment of the collision between a successful socialist anarchy and a capitalist state, do yourself a favor and read LeGuin's The Dispossessed.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting concepts, but needs some more work
Review: The Cassini Division reads like an abridgment of a longer, better, more gripping novel. MacLeod almost seems in a rush to communicate his ideas, not realizing that he is instead shortchanging them. For example, he dedicates much of this short novel to the interactions among the socialist, anarchic Solar Union, the capitalist New Mars, and the posthuman Jupiter. He confronts his protagonist with valid ethical questions regarding her own motivations and her mission to destroy the Jovians. However, then MacLeod decides suddenly to resolve the tangible conflict, forgetting completely all concerns of moral ambiguity. Overall, the plotting suffers from unsupported developments and twists, such as the physicist Malley's sudden decision to cast his lot in with the elite military of the Utopian society he abhors and from which he has exiled himself for decades. The best reason to read the Cassini Division is the political theory, which begs further development. In MacLeod's universe, is it really possible for the Jovians' radio and video transmissions to infect passive observers so easily with mental viruses, or is it a cover story to explain censorship on the part of the Solar Union, as Malley seems to hint once in the beginning? MacLeod leaves such possibilities completely unexplored. For a much more developed treatment of the collision between a successful socialist anarchy and a capitalist state, do yourself a favor and read LeGuin's The Dispossessed.
Rating: 
Summary: one bad investment
Review: The premise sounded interesting but in reading all that I saw was a mishmash of social and political babbling that let me quite cold. The cast of characters left me unfeeling for tem or their society and wondering exactly why I wasted my money on the book.
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