The Prefect
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| The Prefect | |
| Author | Alastair Reynolds |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
| Publication date | 2 April 2007 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 512 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-575-07716-6 |
| Preceded by | "A Spy in Europa" |
| Followed by | Chasm City |
The Prefect is a 2007 science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds ( ISBN 0-575-07716-6). It is the fifth novel set in the Revelation Space universe, although it takes place prior to the four previously released RS novels, though after some of the RS short stories.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The Prefect is set in the 25th century in the Glitter Band, the realm of thousands of orbital habitats surrounding the planet Yellowstone in the Epsilon Eridani system, and the height of human civilization at the time. Events take place prior to the advent of the Melding Plague that had already ruined the Glitter Band and caused a massive decline in Yellowstone civilization at the time of the other Revelation Space novels. Tom Dreyfus is the titular prefect, a member of a special investigations police force called the Panoply that is responsible for protecting the Glitter Band. A murder Dreyfus is investigating ends up leading to one revelation after another until nothing is as it had seemed.
[edit] Plot Setting
[edit] The Glitter Band
The novel offers a thoroughly in-depth study of future technology within the Revelation Space universe, due its unique setting in the time-line. Set a century before the devastating effects of the melding plague, the book is able to showcase the golden-age of mankind alluded to in earlier books. The Glitter Band consisting of ten-thousand orbital habitats with a population of 100-million, is seen only as the Rust Belt after the effects of the plague.
All habitats in the glitter band represent a different format of society, all linked by the common right to vote. A giant computer network runs thousands of polls everyday to decide the general actions of the Glitter Band as a whole. Most inhabitants have built in computer routines in their brains that make these decisions for them, making a conscious effort on only the most important polls.
Every habitat has a polling core, a giant computer that generates the polls and transmits the inhabitants’ votes. Each habitat votes on its own laws and punishments, the only universal crime being withholding someone’s right to vote or access to abstraction (a form of digital communication and virtual reality used throughout the glitter band).
The right to vote and access abstraction for each inhabitant is policed by the Glitter Bands’ security force, Panoply. Chasm City is policed independantly, and most habitats have their own security forces to curtail other crimes.
[edit] Panoply
Panoply is the police force for the Glitter Band. It exists in its own dedicated habitat, governed by an armed force of Prefects.
The prefect hierarchy:
- Cadet - Prefect in training.
- Prefect - Freshly graduated Prefect, but not yet qualified for assignments outside of Panoply
- Field Prefect - Prefects experienced enough to police the Glitter Band.
- Senior Prefect - Field Prefects that have shown themselves experienced enough to serve the administration of Panoply. Usually working from an office, they still retain field status.
- Supreme Prefect - The chief of the entire organisation. In the setting of the novel, this position is held by Jane Aumonier.
Panoply does not have the right to carry armed weaponry as standard, with the exception of whip-hounds, electronic whips that are used primarily in defence. If Panoply feels the need to use heavier weaponry, this must be voted on by the entire Glitter Band in an emergency poll before any action can be undertaken (although Panoply command ignores this limitation in the novel, and uses heavy weapons in spite of a vote against it). In this regard, Panoply can only exist if the populace is happy for them to proceed, which defuses much potential tension in this particular society. One issue the Prefects have to grapple with is that they can only enforce the right to vote and access to abstraction; they are not permitted to stop any other human rights violations. This eventually drives Prefect Gaffeny to assist Aurora, the antagonist, in her takeover bid.
