The Quiet War Series

Author: Paul Mcauley

The British Boom has been all about reinventing older forms of science fiction, making them fit for the new century, and no-one has done that better than Paul McAuley. The four novels that make up this sequence cover the rise and eventual fall of human civilization across the solar system. Moreover, they make us see the various worlds and moons of the system not as harsh, monochrome, austere worlds but as places of colour and interest, just the sorts of places we might choose to live. The Quiet War (2008) tells of the peace protests and efforts to prevent an escalating war between the independent colonists scattered across the outer system, and the authoritarian regimes left behind on Earth. The sequel, Gardens of the Sun (2009) takes up the story immediately after the first volume as the colonists pick up the pieces and start to rebuild their worlds, while some of the more extreme societies set off for the stars. The third volume, In the Mouth of the Whale (2012), is set thousands of years later when those who fled the war have long since reached Fomalhaut, but they have not lost the human penchant for slavery and war. The final volume, Evening's Empires (2013), is set 1,500 years further forward in time and returns us to the solar system where a mysterious message has been received from Fomalhaut, but where our descendants have lost the energy and the will to sustain the variety of human habitation across the system.Why it's on the list: Paul McAuley is undoubtedly one of the finest exponents of the new hard sf, and taken together these four books provide a tour of our future in space that is absolutely convincing at every turn. This is hard sf at its very best.

Books in The Quiet War Series (3)

Gardens Of The Sun

In The Mouth Of The Whale

Evening's Empires