SOJALS rating:

Very good (4/5)

I first read this in November 1999.

Julia Amalfi is almost two hundred years old, her life extended by nanotechnology within her body. She fled from Earth as the alien Erinye invasion of the mother planet succeeded in unleashing a global storm of destruction. Julia, a few friends and a powerful artificial intelligence succeeded in colonising the planet Midgard and she's spent her life in a benevolent but increasingly out of touch dictatorship of the planet.

Rising against Amalfi are a motley assortment of rebels loosely allied with the Rigorists, a fanatical Maoist religious group.

Dan Cardnale, once an old comrade of Julia, leads the rebels and manages the alliance with the Rigorists, but now he seems to be not quite up to the job. He's made too many bad compromises and risks the destruction of the rebels' hopes.

Antonio Ugen Perin is his right-hand man but now Tonio sees that it's time for him to take over if there is to any hope of salvaging a humane solution from the mess.

Cariola, the artificial intelligence no longer knows whom to trust and is implementing her own plans. With her limited understanding of humanity, and herself, she is compounding error with grievous error.

Finally, a powerful and technologically-advanced starship is on its way from Earth, and no-one knows whether it contains humans or the terrifying Erinye.

This is extremely good. I shall read more of J. R. Dunn. The book is very well written, with real excitement and emotional power, and the pace accelerates as the plot unfolds.

What's it got? nanotechnology, life-extension, artificial intelligence, aliens, colony worlds orphaned by the destruction of Earth civilisation, military engagements and immense hope for office clerks.