[REVIEW] Resurgence
May. 7th, 2004 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldCharles Sheffield died a year and a half ago. That's unfortunate, since that means that the Heritage universe is never going to be completed beyond its fifth book, Resurgence, which set up an interesting new arena for the protagonists.
First, some background.
At a point four thousand years or so in the future, humanity is scattered across the Orion Arm of our galaxy. The first millennium or so of human expansion was predictably slow, using sublight starships making multigenerational trips across interstellar space. Fortunately, the colonists at Eta Cassiopeiae come up with a superluminal drive, allowing ships to access a Bose Network of points in space where an equipped ship could transit to another node. Curiously enough, near Aldebaran at about the same time happened upon the first non-human artifact ever encountered, a vast network of space elevators and orbital rings around the habitable world later known as Cocoon. As humanity expands, it finds more megascale constructions built by the civilization known as the Builders. Some of these artifacts do comprehensible things; some of these artifacts are dangerous; some of these artifacts remain completely beyond anyone's comprehension. Three millennia later, humanity has developed to the point of becoming one of the three major clades, or civilizations, in the Orion Arm. The Cecropian Federation, founded by a race of blind insectoid giants, is the Fourth Alliance's competitor, while the space of the Zardalu Communion--once an empire dominated by land-cephalopods with a fearsome reputation who became extinct following their subjects' rebellion--is less organized.
The previous books centered on the adventures of a mixed group of adventurers who've been brought into contact with the Builder artifacts. The Builders expert Darya Lang, coming from one of the richest worlds of the Fourth Alliance, cooperates with idealist troubleshooter Hans Rebka, the Fourth Alliance administrator Julian Graves, adventurer Louis Nenda and his alien entourage, and the embodied computer, E. Crimson Tally, were involved in exploring the mysteries of the Builders, their intentions, and the consequences. The previous book in the series saw all Builder artifacts vanish entirely from the Orion Arm, leaving Lang bereft.
Resurgence takes place several years later, when an assembly of clade governments reassembles the intrepid cast in the context of a rescue mission mounted to the Sagittarius Arm. A ship of aliens from the Sagittarius Arm--the Marglotta--has arrived in the Orion Arm, its pilot and entire complement mysteriously dead. Messages have survived, though, asking the Orion Arm clades for help since it seems that someone is systematically turning out the stars in their part of the galaxy.
This book is space opera, to be sure. Space opera's an entertaining genre, actually, so long as it's scientifically consistent and at least superficially plausible. Since Sheffield was a scientist, Resurgence doesn't suffer on these grounds. The Marglotta homeworld is described in excellent detail. There are problems with the book's writing, including stilted dialogue and an often amateurish plotting. I'm still a fan, though; more importantly, I'm not placing excessive burdens on Resurgence. I simply enjoyed the entire experience of reading it, and I regret that Sheffield will never be able to continue the series.
First, some background.
At a point four thousand years or so in the future, humanity is scattered across the Orion Arm of our galaxy. The first millennium or so of human expansion was predictably slow, using sublight starships making multigenerational trips across interstellar space. Fortunately, the colonists at Eta Cassiopeiae come up with a superluminal drive, allowing ships to access a Bose Network of points in space where an equipped ship could transit to another node. Curiously enough, near Aldebaran at about the same time happened upon the first non-human artifact ever encountered, a vast network of space elevators and orbital rings around the habitable world later known as Cocoon. As humanity expands, it finds more megascale constructions built by the civilization known as the Builders. Some of these artifacts do comprehensible things; some of these artifacts are dangerous; some of these artifacts remain completely beyond anyone's comprehension. Three millennia later, humanity has developed to the point of becoming one of the three major clades, or civilizations, in the Orion Arm. The Cecropian Federation, founded by a race of blind insectoid giants, is the Fourth Alliance's competitor, while the space of the Zardalu Communion--once an empire dominated by land-cephalopods with a fearsome reputation who became extinct following their subjects' rebellion--is less organized.
The previous books centered on the adventures of a mixed group of adventurers who've been brought into contact with the Builder artifacts. The Builders expert Darya Lang, coming from one of the richest worlds of the Fourth Alliance, cooperates with idealist troubleshooter Hans Rebka, the Fourth Alliance administrator Julian Graves, adventurer Louis Nenda and his alien entourage, and the embodied computer, E. Crimson Tally, were involved in exploring the mysteries of the Builders, their intentions, and the consequences. The previous book in the series saw all Builder artifacts vanish entirely from the Orion Arm, leaving Lang bereft.
Resurgence takes place several years later, when an assembly of clade governments reassembles the intrepid cast in the context of a rescue mission mounted to the Sagittarius Arm. A ship of aliens from the Sagittarius Arm--the Marglotta--has arrived in the Orion Arm, its pilot and entire complement mysteriously dead. Messages have survived, though, asking the Orion Arm clades for help since it seems that someone is systematically turning out the stars in their part of the galaxy.
This book is space opera, to be sure. Space opera's an entertaining genre, actually, so long as it's scientifically consistent and at least superficially plausible. Since Sheffield was a scientist, Resurgence doesn't suffer on these grounds. The Marglotta homeworld is described in excellent detail. There are problems with the book's writing, including stilted dialogue and an often amateurish plotting. I'm still a fan, though; more importantly, I'm not placing excessive burdens on Resurgence. I simply enjoyed the entire experience of reading it, and I regret that Sheffield will never be able to continue the series.
