On the Steel Breeze
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''On the Steel Breeze'' is a science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds, which was first published by
Gollancz Gollancz may refer to: * Gollancz (surname), a Polish-Jewish surname * Victor Gollancz Ltd, a former British publishing house, now used as an imprint by the Orion Publishing Group See also * Gołańcz Gołańcz (german: Gollantsch) is a town ...
on 26 September 2013. It is the second part of Reynolds' future history ''Poseidon's Children'' trilogy, following his 2012 novel ''
Blue Remembered Earth ''Blue Remembered Earth'' is a science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds, first published by Gollancz on 19 January 2012. It describes the efforts of two adult siblings to solve a mystery in the pseudo-utopian 2160s. The novel is ...
''. ''On the Steel Breeze'' was followed on 30 April 2015 by the concluding novel of the trilogy, ''
Poseidon's Wake ''Poseidon's Wake'' is a science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. It forms the conclusion of Reynolds' ''Poseidon's Children'' future history trilogy, which follows the expansion of humanity and its transhuman descendants into th ...
''.


Plot summary

''On the Steel Breeze'' is set in the
24th century Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
, 200 years after the events of ''Blue Remembered Earth''. It depicts a massive interstellar colonization effort, involving hundreds of immense
generation ship A generation ship, or generation starship, is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels at sub-light speed. Since such a ship might require hundreds to thousands of years to reach nearby stars, the original occupants of a gene ...
s known as "holoships" carrying millions of humans to extrasolar planets. The holoships are propelled to relativistic velocities by engines based on exotic "Chibesa physics", but are in danger of overshooting their target planets due to a lack of fuel for deceleration. Meanwhile, the ocean-dwelling transhumans of the United Aquatic Nations have become one of Earth's pre-eminent powers, and the colonization of Venus is underway. The novel's main characters are two clones of Chiku Akinya, the daughter of one of the main characters of ''Blue Remembered Earth''. The original Chiku had herself cloned centuries before to allow her to experience three different lifestyles. One clone, Chiku Yellow, remained on Earth, while the second, Chiku Green, embarked on a holoship heading for the alien planet of Crucible, which is home to a mysterious structure known as the Mandala. A third clone, Chiku Red, was lost attempting to find her famous great-grandmother Eunice Akinya in deep space. Chiku Green faces a series of revelations after a strange accident kills hundreds aboard her holoship, while Chiku Yellow is haunted by a cybernetic "ghost", leading her to seek out a powerful transhuman on Venus.


Reception

Michael Flett of GeekChocolate.co.uk described ''On the Steel Breeze'' as "satisfying and rounded" with "fascinating" protagonists, though he stated that the plot "occasionally drags". SciFiEmpire.net also gave the novel a positive review, praising Reynolds' ability to "combine previously divergent storylines into one epic conclusion". Alex Good of the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' praised the book, saying that "few SF writers merge rousing adventure with advanced futuristic technology as skilfully as Alastair Reynolds". Paul Kincaid of SFSite.com wrote that although " 'On the Steel Breeze''is far from being the best novel Reynolds has written... tdisplays many of his real strengths as a writer of large-scale science fiction...and there is more than enough intrigue to ensure we come back for the next volume."


References


External links


Sample chapters of the novel
via Gollancz
2012 ''Wired'' interview with Reynolds
{{Alastair Reynolds British science fiction novels 2013 British novels Fiction set in the 24th century Future history Novels by Alastair Reynolds Victor Gollancz Ltd books Fiction set on Hyperion (moon)