In the universe of this series (_A Million Open Doors_, _Earth Made of Glass_ are the first two books), the Earth had long ago sent out slow colony ships. Many of these colonies were organized around some central principle, whether it be a form of government or a culture that someone wished preserved. Recently, a form of instantaneous interstellar travel was developed, and these colony worlds were gradually brought into contact with each other and the Earth. The series explores the ups and downs (and believe me, there are downs) of Giraut who comes from one of these colonies set up around a particularly rather flamboyant culture.
By the time we reach this point in the series, Giraut and friends are called to Earth to head off a decision that would drive a rather serious wedge between Earth and all its colonies. Some on Earth wants to use the stored personalities of countless people to, rather than resurrect them, entertain themselves. This conflict is really just an enabling device, however, so that Barnes can show us his vision of a future Earth. Technology and artificial intelligence has allowed the people of Earth to, if they want, avoid any labor. With this, the aim of much of the population is simply to entertain themselves, generally in the form of virtual reality where you can literally tune in and drop out permanently, your life sustained artificially while you live in a world constructed entirely to your liking. The stored personalities would simply become another character in these personal worlds, devoured by a population continually in search of something different. Outside of this, the culture has essentially deconstructed itself. Life has become a ritualistic exercise by people unwilling to instill in it any meaning. With centuries of recorded art to draw on, people have ceased to create anything new themselves. As one conversation goes:
"[...]All art is nothing but chopped up pieces of old art appliers
to other old art, obviously. So since nobody wants to do the old art --
I mean, there's no audience for it at all, and the only people who
would look at old art if you made it would be people looking to slice
it up for their own art -- well, then. If we're going to make art we
have to keep old art alive without having anyone stuck with the job of
making more old art."
"But if you just now made it, how is it old?"
"Have you ever seen a pencil drawing of a head in profile?"
"Of course."
"Well, there's nothing new about it, is there? I mean, Leonardo or
any Renaissance artist could have done one, they did lots of them,
didn't they? So there's nothing new. It's the same idea one more time.
So the moment it's made, it's old, because it can't be new."
Into this context, we not only have Giraut, but the stored personality that is sharing his body until a new body can be grown for him. This personality, younger and less experienced than Giraut, falls for a girl from Earth who, while a social dilettante, isn't terribly fulfilled by her state of affairs. This relationship is set against the backdrop of both the vapidity of the culture and the surrounding plot elements of your usual intrigue, fights and a little something else. It is the emotional core of the book and the reason for its strength. The books threatens often to support my initial fears for it, but the plots and relationship all do eventually reach a confluence and an ultimately very satisfying conclusion. This may be the best book I've read in the last eight months or a year. I still don't have the resolution to read _Kaleidoscope Century_ from what I've heard of it, but Barnes is on my "to buy" list as long as he keeps producing books like this one.
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Last updated 3/23/02