A review by colossal
The Glorious Angels by Justina Robson
3.0
Ancient technology, really alien aliens, magic, telepathy, group minds, engineers as heroes, odd and varied social and governmental structures. Kitchen sink? No, there's no room!
This one defies summarizing, but I'll give it a go.
Glimshard is an ancient but technologically advanced city on an alien world. It's an hedonistic matriarchy ruled by a young and inexperienced Empress who in turn is mind-linked to seven other Empresses who together rule a loose Empire. The Empire is imperiled by various barbarian groups that would tear it down if they could, and there's a continuous effort to try and regain the lost technology of long ago in an effort to hold them at bay. The largest find of lost technology turns out to be in territory controlled by the Karoo, a bizarre alien species with an agenda of their own.
Into all of this we follow the Tralane and her two daughters, Isabeau and Minnabar, the last of a lineage of powerful Sircene mages and engineers. The story revolves around this family, their lovers and friends and how Glimshard deals with rapidly changing situation around the technology found in the Karoo-controlled territory.
The world-building is the star of this one. Everything is here and far too much to go into, even in summary. Unfortunately the world-building is so involved and comprehensive that the author kind of forgets to tell much of a story. Yes, stuff happens. The plot, as it is, moves along at a good pace, but very little is resolved by the end of the book, and some of the interesting plot lines are cut short almost off-camera. There's a particular couple of events that happen with Isabeau and Borze (a military commander for Glimshard) that were complete standout WTF moments and the book as a whole has far too many of those to be really satisfying.
Still, I rate it three stars. Despite some clumsy plotting and some truly obscure sentence-construction early on, the sheer density of ideas here is just wonderful to soak in. I can't help but see the wonderful book this might have been with a comprehensive edit.
This one defies summarizing, but I'll give it a go.
Glimshard is an ancient but technologically advanced city on an alien world. It's an hedonistic matriarchy ruled by a young and inexperienced Empress who in turn is mind-linked to seven other Empresses who together rule a loose Empire. The Empire is imperiled by various barbarian groups that would tear it down if they could, and there's a continuous effort to try and regain the lost technology of long ago in an effort to hold them at bay. The largest find of lost technology turns out to be in territory controlled by the Karoo, a bizarre alien species with an agenda of their own.
Into all of this we follow the Tralane and her two daughters, Isabeau and Minnabar, the last of a lineage of powerful Sircene mages and engineers. The story revolves around this family, their lovers and friends and how Glimshard deals with rapidly changing situation around the technology found in the Karoo-controlled territory.
The world-building is the star of this one. Everything is here and far too much to go into, even in summary. Unfortunately the world-building is so involved and comprehensive that the author kind of forgets to tell much of a story. Yes, stuff happens. The plot, as it is, moves along at a good pace, but very little is resolved by the end of the book, and some of the interesting plot lines are cut short almost off-camera. There's a particular couple of events that happen with Isabeau and Borze (a military commander for Glimshard) that were complete standout WTF moments and the book as a whole has far too many of those to be really satisfying.
Still, I rate it three stars. Despite some clumsy plotting and some truly obscure sentence-construction early on, the sheer density of ideas here is just wonderful to soak in. I can't help but see the wonderful book this might have been with a comprehensive edit.