"A good conclusion to this series"
Two centuries ago immortal cosmonauts Matt Cairns and
Grigory Volkov arrive at the Second Sphere planet Nova
Terra where over the eons, descendants of Earth include the
dinosaurs, the giant-squid, and various humanoids. They
learn from a dying god that non-terrestrial invaders are
coming. The two immortals approach the pending hostilities quite
differently. Grigory declares martial law and names
himself dictator. He orders development of defense systems
capable of destroying the attacking aliens. Matt goes on
the offensive seeking to intercept the invaders before they
arrive and cause havoc. Matt succeeds and meets the feral
force first. He quickly realizes that the Multipliers are
not only friendly and peaceful, but want to ally themselves
with the humans. The Multipliers are brilliant at
submolecular technology and can enter human bodies to
genetically reorganize cells converting everyone into
immortals while also implanting Multiplier racial memory.
The Bright Star Cultures are being created with only the
ancient gods objecting as they expected the two noisy
species to destroy each other. The gods manipulate Grigory
trying to cause a solar-pandemic final showdown. ENGINE CITY is a strong final entry to Ken MacLeod's
delightful "The Engines of Light" trilogy. The story line
is fast-paced and ties up loose ends from the two previous
novels through the final confrontation. Cairns and Volkov
stay in character so that the audience knows how each will
react to the crisis. Newcomers will be better suited
buying the previous novels (see COSMONAUT KEEP and DARK
LIGHT) as this finale is clearly for fans of this strong
futuristic deep outer space series. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 22, 2003
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