Description:

From Publishers Weekly

Daniel's much praised Metaplanetary (2001) presented an awesome vision of the future in which the Met (a system of super-strong cables like spider webs) connects the inner planets and people can communicate instantly across impossible distances due to the presence of "grist" (a form of quantum nanotechnology that permeates the solar system). In this ambitious sequel, war breaks out between the inner planets, ruled over by the increasingly despotic Chairman Amés, and the outer planets, led by the maverick Federal Army commander Roger Sherman. Meanwhile, a large cast of characters, some of them human, some complex computer-programs, but most some combination of the two, live out their lives. This is large-scale space opera with an enormous cast, spectacular battle scenes and 11 appendices to help readers keep things straight. The novel doesn't work quite as well as Metaplanetary, in part because the space warfare becomes a bit repetitious and in part because, as the middle book in what will be at least a trilogy, the tale comes to no real conclusion. Nor is Daniel's work as intellectually challenging as that of such writers as Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter. Still, there's much to like here, particularly for fans of Golden Age great E.E. "Doc" Smith.
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From Booklist

Daniel's critically acclaimed Metaplanetary (2001) left readers dangling on the brink of an explosive civil war between the inner and the outer planets of the solar system. In the long-awaited sequel, Daniel returns to his brilliantly realized vision of evolving humanity in the thirty-first century, when planets are strung together by super-strong, kilometer-wide cables, and a ubiquitous nanotech-based substance called grist makes possible both sentient machinery and instantaneous interplanetary communication from Mercury to Pluto. As the action continues, Ames, the despotic leader of the inner planet collective known as the Met, renews his assault on all manner of semihuman and quasi-human life forms, while his chief rival, General Sherman, plots a counterattack with the added muscle of intelligent spacecraft. Daniel's inventiveness occasionally stretches credulity, as when showcasing the exploits of a sentient jeep or the matter-bending powers of Jill, an enigmatic being who is--literally--part grist, part ferret. Yet the story remains gripping throughout, and it is packed with enough ideas to leave readers hungering for another volume. Carl Hays
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