Blue Remembered Earth

For a change, I read an Alastair Reynolds novel not set in the Revelation Space universe: Blue Remembered Earth is the first of his Poseidon's Children books. The setting has humanity still confined to the Solar System but I don't see why it couldn't be in the same universe, just earlier in time. The title started to sound ominous to me as it seemed Earth was just fine in the book. I was expecting something apocalyptic to happen.

Blue Remembered Earth is kind of a mystery novel: its plot consists of a pair of sibling protagonists chasing after a series of clues left by their grandmother Eunice. Similarly to Reynolds's earlier novel House of Suns, it is also a family saga. The siblings Geoffrey and Sunday are of the filthy rich Akinya family. However, both of them have chosen not to engage with the corporate business and do not enjoy the benefits of the family's wealth. Sunday is an artist living on the Moon while Geoffrey studies elephants at the Akinya estate in Africa.

Geoffrey and Sunday are both well characterized, atypically to Reynolds and science fiction literature in general. I liked the story too. It was satisfying to have mysteries solved and questions given answers. It's a very solid book. It will be interesting to see were the trilogy goes from here because I sure have no idea.

I wonder if Andy Weir was influenced by this novel when writing Artemis. Africa is similarly a leading power in space colonization. The setting is highly optimistic as well. Earth's polar caps melted and chaos ensued but somehow humankind pulled through more unified than ever. There are no wars nor violence.

That is due to the Mechanism, an autonomous surveillance system that is able to stop anyone on their tracks thanks to the implants everyone has. The Mechanism is also capable of preventing accidents if there are smart devices around for it to control. The Mechanism is not omniscient nor quite omnipresent but it is enough so. You'd think people were bothered by such an extreme measure but if it works, it works. I guess when it's present since one's birth, it's as normal as anything too.

An element of advanced transhumanism in the novel comes from United Aquatic Nations: people who have been genetically altered to be able to live in water. Curiously enough, a couple of the Revelation Space short stories had this too. I wonder if the name of the series/trilogy refers to these aquatic people or just humanity in general. Space travel for purely aquatic species is so problematic due to having lug a heavy mass of water around.

Also: I read Blue Remembered Earth in its original English version and noticed that Reynolds used the flashlight instead of the British torch that was in his earlier novels.