I actually read this a couple of years back, but having picked up Tony Ballantyne’s second book, Capacity, I found there were just a few too many references I was scratching my brain over. I’m sure you don’t need to know what conversation Eva Rye had with the Watcher to enjoy the second volume – but it was annoying me, so I did a rare thing these days and reread a book!

Second time ‘round it was still good. There are three plot strands, each about 100 years apart. In the late 21st Century, Eva Rye is fighting against the busybodies of the all-seeing Social Care to be allowed to live – and die – her own way. Constantine Storey, in the 22nd Century, is a corporate ‘ghost’, hidden from the ubiquitous sensors that record everyone’s every movement. And Herb Kirkham is a spoilt 23rd Century rich kid, who happens to have just destroyed a planet by mistake.

The links between the threads aren’t hugely obvious, and it’s almost refreshing when they don’t all pull together completely. The story is really about the Watcher, a mystical AI which may or may not (1) exist, (2) be guiding humankind, and (3) actually be on our side! And then there’s the threat out in the stars…

I liked the concepts. The AIs, the personality constructs – people who think they’re people, but are actually copies of ‘atomics’ within a processing system. Shades of the Matrix, natch. And the self-replicating, city-building VNMs are clever and creepy at the same time.

The only slight downside I found was differing levels of interest in the characters. I found Herb pretty unlikable, at least at first, and his sections seemed a little more dull than the others. It was easiest to warm to Eva, closest to our time and dealing with emotional issues more than galaxy-spanning rogue computers.

Still. Well worth a read if you like this kind of thing, and I’m already a fair bit through the first sequel, which is proving even better so far!