The Algebraist
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| The Algebraist | |
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| Author | Iain M. Banks |
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| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Orbit |
| Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 534 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-84149-155-1 |
| Preceded by | Raw Spirit |
| Followed by | The Steep Approach to Garbadale |
The Algebraist, a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first appeared in print in 2004. It was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2005.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The book largely focuses on the Dwellers, a species of gas-giant inhabitants. It covers in passing their reactions to invasion, assisted and witnessed by a human xeno-ethnologist.
[edit] Plot summary
The action of the novel takes place in 4034 A.D. With the assistance of other species, humans have spread across the galaxy. In centre-stage Banks portrays the human Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers. The Beyonders have cut the system of Nasqueron's star (Ulubis) off from the rest of Mercatoria civilisation by destroying its portal, and the local Mercatoria adherents await the delivery of a wormhole connection from a neighbouring system via sub-lightspeed travel.
The Dwellers, a hyper-advanced (and ancient) post-civilisation, lead an almost anarchic existence based on kudos, and inhabit the majority of gas-giant planets in the galaxy. Dweller defence against exceptional threats comes via a largely-secret defence 'club' that operates defensive machinery when attacked (reminiscent of the AI cabals described in some Culture novels such as Excession).
The Mercatoria (a complex governing hierarchy, combining many species with semi-feudal overtones) orders Taak to enter the Dweller-inhabited gas-giant Nasqueron to trace the "Dweller List" of coordinates, and the mathematical transform, that they hope will reveal the Dwellers' secret interstellar portals. Meanwhile, the Archimandrite Luseferous of the Starveling Cult, in loose alliance with the Beyonders, sets out to invade the Ulubis system from the Cluster Epiphany Five Disconnect, to possess the secrets of the Dweller portals for themselves. A Mercatoria fleet hurries to defend Ulubis against the Starveling Cult ships and their Beyonder allies.
The Dweller society, which tries not to get involved with "Quick" species such as those of the Mercatoria, generally hides the existence of its portals. ("The Quick" designates all species of sentient beings who experience life at around the speed human beings experience it, in contrast to "Slow" species, who experience life at a much slower temporal rate. Dweller individuals live for millions of years, and the species has existed for billions.)
Having learnt that the coordinates list merely listed all Dweller-inhabited planets, and that the transform equation sums to zero, Taak deduces that the Dweller wormholes lie at the very centres of the gas-giants themselves, where the space-time curvature becomes flat (as the wormhole technology requires). Although certain elements of the Dwellers try to stop him, he succeeds in escaping with this information.
Meanwhile the Archimandrite Luseferous, attempting to force the Dwellers to his will, so angers them that they unleash devastating anti-matter weapons on his fleet's largest ship. With a Mercatoria battle-group soon arriving in the system, the remains of his fleet beat a hasty retreat.
The novel ends with the location of the Dweller portals having been made public, though what changes this will mean for the Quick and the Slow remain to be seen.
[edit] Literary significance and criticism
It follows the interaction between different but predominantly feudal human civilisations, the Nasqueron Dwellers, and artificial intelligences.
The central theme of the Culture novels - interference by 'progressive' societies in more 'primitive' societies - becomes an issue here too, as does the influence of interstellar travel mechanisms in shaping space-faring civilisations and the mutual adaptation of artificial intelligences and biological species.
The Algebraist introduces a fictional religion called "The Truth", similar to Nick Bostrom's simulation argument. Banks' following novel Matter, incidentally, takes the opposite side of the same argument.
[edit] Release details
- First edition hardcover: The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks, London: Orbit, 2004 ISBN 1-84149-155-1 (UK)
- Night Shade Books published the novel in the U.S. in September 2005. (ISBN 1-59780-026-0)
[edit] External links
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