Spin Control - SFBA Book Club

Paperback, 456 pages

English language

Published June 2006 by Bantam Spectra.

ISBN:: 978-0-553-38214-3
OCLC Number:: 225657898
ASIN:: 0553382144
Goodreads:: 174943

(1 review)

In this stunning follow-up to the critically acclaimed novel Spin State, Chris Moriarty depicts a grim future in which the final frontier may well be extinction. For as far-flung planets are terraformed and Earth’s age-old conflicts are contracted out to AIs, humanity is losing the only war that counts: the war for survival.

Call Arkady a clone with a conscience. Or call him a traitor. A member of the space-faring Syndicates, Arkady has defected to Israel with a hot commodity: a genetic weapon powerful enough to wipe out humanity. But Israel’s not buying it. They’re selling it—and Arkady—to the highest bidder.

As the auction heats up, the Artificial Life Emancipation Front sends in Major Catherine Li. Already drummed out of the Peacekeepers for “war crimes,” Li has now literally hooked up with an AI who has lived many lifetimes and shunted through many bodies. And while they each have their …

In this stunning follow-up to the critically acclaimed novel Spin State, Chris Moriarty depicts a grim future in which the final frontier may well be extinction. For as far-flung planets are terraformed and Earth’s age-old conflicts are contracted out to AIs, humanity is losing the only war that counts: the war for survival.

Call Arkady a clone with a conscience. Or call him a traitor. A member of the space-faring Syndicates, Arkady has defected to Israel with a hot commodity: a genetic weapon powerful enough to wipe out humanity. But Israel’s not buying it. They’re selling it—and Arkady—to the highest bidder.

As the auction heats up, the Artificial Life Emancipation Front sends in Major Catherine Li. Already drummed out of the Peacekeepers for “war crimes,” Li has now literally hooked up with an AI who has lived many lifetimes and shunted through many bodies. And while they each have their own definition of victory, together they have only one chance at survival. . . .

3 editions

Tilde Lowengrimm reviewed Spin Control by Chris Moriarty

Complex multi-agent systems: the novel

5 stars

I've read this how many times, but it's always been juuust long enough that I forget exactly where things are going and get fully caught up in the back and forth. What a slam dunk of an incredibly ambitious novel. Moriarty asks the reader to invest their attention in a whole bundle of deep topics, but she pays back that trust with a strong, intense story which uses all the pieces she's set out on the board. Truly a novel for autists first. Some authors make infodumping about their pet topics into tedious recitation, but you can feel Moriarty's curiosity shining through her characters. An excellent piece I'll certainly be coming back to just as soon as I forget exactly what the twist at the end is.

Lists

Philip K. Dick Award