The Algebraist
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| Author | Iain M. Banks |
|---|---|
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Orbit |
| Released | 2004 |
| Media Type | |
| Pages | 368 |
| 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.
In 2005 the novel gained a nomination for a Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The book largely focusses 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 (both aHumans and rHumans, prepped and un-prepped) 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 sublight travel.
The Dwellers, a hyper-advanced (and ancient) post-civilisation, lead an almost anarchic existence, based on kudos (see also: Whuffie). 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 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. The Mercatoria (a complex governing hierarchy, combining many species with semi-feudal overtones) orders Taak to trace the dweller list and the transform that they hope will reveal the Dwellers' secret interstellar portals. Meanwhile 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.)
Fassin deduces that the Dweller wormholes lie at the very centres of the gas giants themselves, where the space-time curvature becomes flat (as wormholes require). He works this out from finding some alien algebra hidden in an image. The answer comes to zero, which at first makes him suspect a joke.
Meanwhile the Archimandrite Luseferous has ordered his fleet to approach the gas giant Nasqueron and to ask the Dwellers for Seer Taak. The Dwellers refuse, causing him to order humans to be shot out of his ship's gun ports into the gas giant, to which the Dwellers affect indifference.
[edit] Literary significance and criticism
The Algebraist reads like a Culture novel in reverse, expressing the point of view of a civilisation lower down the path of technological and social progress. In this it resembles Inversions. 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.
[edit] Bibliography
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
| Iain M. Banks books |
|---|
| Consider Phlebas • The Player of Games • Use of Weapons • The State of the Art • Against a Dark Background • Feersum Endjinn • Excession • Inversions • Look to Windward • The Algebraist |
