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The Sky Road (The Fall Revolution #4)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 491 ratings · 14 reviews

Centuries after the catastrophic Deliverance, humanity is again reaching into space. And Clovis, a young scholar working in the spaceship-construction yard, could make the difference between success and failure. For his mysterious new lover, Merrial, has seduced him into the idea of extrapolating the ship's future from the dark archives of the past.

A past in which, centuri...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published August 13th 2001 by Tor Science Fiction (first published 1999)

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Feb 21, 2011 Lis Carey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: f-sf

This is the second MacLeod book that I've read; the first was The Cassini Division. I picked up Cassini in hardcover almost immediately because so many people were raving about it, and it left me completely cold. A perfectly adequate book, as to plot, world-building, writing, etc., but absolutely nothing about it engaged me sufficiently to really overcome the fact that the protagonist is the villain of the piece, and she's not all that interesting a villain. I preferred to see her be defeated, b...more This is the second MacLeod book that I've read; the first was The Cassini Division. I picked up Cassini in hardcover almost immediately because so many people were raving about it, and it left me completely cold. A perfectly adequate book, as to plot, world-building, writing, etc., but absolutely nothing about it engaged me sufficiently to really overcome the fact that the protagonist is the villain of the piece, and she's not all that interesting a villain. I preferred to see her be defeated, but I never worked up any great concern even for that. It was only the New Mars section that really seemed to me to reward the effort of bothering to read it.

Given this reaction, it will probably surprise no one that I did not rush out to buy The Sky Road. I ignored it for months, and eventually picked it up at the library in a burst of idle curiosity about why MacLeod inspires such enthusiasm.

I can't say that I'm a convert, but I do rather wish I'd read The Sky Road first. Not only did I find it far more engaging and enjoyable than The Cassini Division; I think I'd have enjoyed The Cassini Division more if I'd read this first.

I'm a little hazy on MacLeod's future chronology, so I can't really say whether this book is set before or after Cassini, although my money would be on "before". A few centuries after the Deliverance, humanity is once again building a spaceship, its first attempt to return to space since the Deliverer turned all the satellites and habitats in Earth orbit and at the Lagrange sites into so much space junk in her attempt to remove one particular danger. A young scholar who hopes to research the life of the Deliverer is approached by a tinker who, after seducing him, tells him of her fears that near-Earth space may be filled with space junk, and recruits him to help get access to the Deliverer's files, which might answer the question. The scholar, Clovis, agrees, and he and the tinker, Merrial, head off to Glasgow to do a little not-quite-illegal research.

Over the next few days, his life and his worldview get pretty thoroughly smashed to bits. Nothing is as he believed it to be, including Merrial, and including himself.

I found Merrial, Clovis, and their world and their problems a lot more interesting and worth my reading time than Ellen May and hers. If that's not quite the ringing endorsement that those who better appreciate MacLeod's work would make, at least I'm more likely now to pick up another of his books, and see if his virtues as a writer become further clarified for me.
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Apr 16, 2010 Laura Rainbow Dragon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Clovis colha Gree is a historian. A scholar spending the summer term as a labourer in the space ship yard because he didn't quite manage to secure sponsorship for his continuing studies at the University. The staff of the ship yard work hard during the day and play just as hard at night, and it is in the town square, looking for a dance and a drink and perhaps a warm embrace for the night that Clovis first encounters the mysterious Merrial.

Merrial is a rare beauty, but more surprising than her l...more Clovis colha Gree is a historian. A scholar spending the summer term as a labourer in the space ship yard because he didn't quite manage to secure sponsorship for his continuing studies at the University. The staff of the ship yard work hard during the day and play just as hard at night, and it is in the town square, looking for a dance and a drink and perhaps a warm embrace for the night that Clovis first encounters the mysterious Merrial.

Merrial is a rare beauty, but more surprising than her looks is her easy confidence and her manner with Clovis, behaving more as if she had known him her entire life than as if they were strangers who had just met.

Clovis' friends are uneasy with his new acquaintance, and he soon learns why. Merrial is a tinker. An engineer. A member of an insular caste of people who work in a field in which the common folk fear to tread. Tolerated and, from a distance respected, because they are the children of the Deliverer, protected by her pronouncement: "When you take the cities, spare the scientists and engineers. Whatever they may have done in the past, you need them for the future," the tinkers do not often associate with the village locals, and Clovis is about to enter a new world and a new way of looking at it through his association with Merrial.

Cut to a time pre-Deliverance when one time revolutionary and current state leader Myra Godwin is preparing to attend the funeral of her ex-husband while simultaneously searching for a way to protect her small and failing workers' republic from the advancing hordes.

Ken MacLeod's The Sky Road swings effortlessly back and forth between the adventures of Clovis and Merrial, trying to assure the success of their future by uncovering the truth of their past, and that of Myra, struggling to atone for the sins of her own past and trying desperately to hang on to the remnants of her crumbling dream.

Just who are the tinkers? And who is the Deliverer? Why has her true story been hidden from the children of the future, and, if the future cannot remember the truth of the past, is it doomed to repeat it?

MacLeod has created two distinct and integral worlds in his visions of pre and post socio-technological collapse Earth. Both are fascinating paintings of alternative societies as well as dire warnings of our own possible futures. We have an exciting and dangerous path ahead of us, and The Sky Road asks some poignant questions concerning that path.

Part science fiction, part political intrigue and part social commentary, The Sky Road is an intelligent read, fascinating in scope and poetic in language. (less)

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May 21, 2012 Tom Nixon rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Sky Road is one of my favorite books. It may not scrape the top of my all-time list, if assembling such a list would be possible but it ranks right up there. First of all, it's Ken Macleod. Talk about a great writer- I just posted a review of The Cassini Division that pretty much detailed some of the many reasons why he's awesome. I'm not going to bother repeating myself again here. (Just to say again: for serious sci-fi fans, this guy is a MUST read at some point... for people who just like...more The Sky Road is one of my favorite books. It may not scrape the top of my all-time list, if assembling such a list would be possible but it ranks right up there. First of all, it's Ken Macleod. Talk about a great writer- I just posted a review of The Cassini Division that pretty much detailed some of the many reasons why he's awesome. I'm not going to bother repeating myself again here. (Just to say again: for serious sci-fi fans, this guy is a MUST read at some point... for people who just like interesting, well-written books- he's worth checking out.)

But back to the book: What Macleod did with his original 'Fall Revolution' series of 'The Star Fraction' (review forthcoming) 'The Stone Canal' (also forthcoming) and 'The Cassini Division' was to add a fourth novel, 'The Sky Road' which posits an alternate future based on one of the protagonists making a slightly different choice in 'The Stone Canal.' (I know I'm reading this books in a random, truly effed up order and for that I apologize. It's my own personal summer reading festival and I'm just grabbing and going!) That concept alone is kind of cool to me. Change one little thing and spin off a whole other book from it? Very 'Sound of Thunder.' I like it.

And the resulting book is excellent as well: roughly half is set in the far future, where a young scholar by the name of Clovis is working on humanity's first space ship in centuries when he meets his mysterious new lover Merrial who convinces him that in order to protect the ship, they need to seek answers in the past... where we find the other half of the book- Myra Godwin is facing the collapse of civilization as we know it, her rockets are redundant, her borders defenceeless and the West is too decadent and weak to help her as she confronts the terrible decisions she has to make. Decisions that Clovis and Merrial must work to uncover centuries later as Merrial's mysterious people 'the tinkers' know what Myra left behind in her files... (DUM-DUM-DUM!!!!!!!)

No more spoilers... you'll just have to read it for yourselves. I liked the structure of this novel. Alternating chapters between Myra's past and Clovis and Merrial's future keeps each side of the plot clear and easy to understand. Plus, it makes understanding the connections between them easier as well. But to me, the past makes for a much more compelling read than the future in this book. Myra Godwin is a tough, strong, powerful woman haunted by her past and forced into making a terrible decision- but it's the world that Macleod builds around her that I find to be all too believable somehow. Almost post-apocalyptic with the United States balkanized and torn asunder, Europe weak and powerless and a Sino-Soviet Union plowing eastward with nobody powerful enough to stop it. And Macleod leaves Myra's fate unknown at the end of the novel, despite the fact that she's hailed in Clovis and Merrial's time as 'The Deliverer'

Overall: Another great read from Ken Macleod... (just as a side note- I find that while it's helpful to read his Fall Revolution series in 'order' it's not necessarily a requirement. 'The Sky Road' stands alone just fine by itself as well as within the larger story of the series.) Characters are well drawn and compelling, the story is one that pulls you in and keeps the pages turning. Excellent stuff!
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Dec 09, 2012 Chris Martin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

I was in a continual state of confusion while reading The Sky Road, unsure of how it connected to the previous books. Events didn't quite match up. Afterwards I discovered from online reviews that it was an "alternate future" to events that happened after The Star Fraction. I thought this was pretty clever after realizing this. Part of me wishes I was warned of it so I could have relaxed and read it as it's own story, without thinking I was developing Alzheimer's.

I liked Myra's back story, about...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Rena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: series, own

Whoops. It turns out this is the last book in a series and I read it first. I enjoyed it, but I think I will not read the first books, since I already know how the story ends. Not a bad book though I would most likely recommend reading them in order so the maybe the beginning will not seem as confusing as it did for me. You can still understand everything going on without reading the first ones, but it is probably better to read them in order.

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Sep 09, 2012 Aaron Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, 6-science-fiction

My least favorite of any of them. The Myra back history was pretty interesting, since you know her slightly from before, and some of the details... The future society just seemed weird. I also didn't really see how this could be a sequel to The Stone Canal. Who supposedly met Jay-Dub and Meg when they came out in this version of the future? It just doesn't connect very much with the earlier works. The future half of the book, that is.

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Sep 06, 2008 Priya rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: SciFi fans, those who are still hanging on to notions of socialism being a good thing

MacLeod also has a way with words, similar to but possibly not as witty as, his Scots counterpart Banks. MacLeod's world is also more dystopian, more dour, and more overtly political. If we were talking of cities, Banks's world would possibly be London or Edinburgh, while MacLeod would be Manchester or Glasgow.
Oh, I should mention that this is part of a series and, unless you've read the earlier books, you are likely to be confused about where all this is coming from/heading. This particular on...more

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Jun 24, 2008 Isis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

As with MacLeod's The Execution Channel I often felt as though I was just missing the greater significance of things, but I think this is a slightly more accessible book. I love creative possible future histories, and now that communism and socialism have more or less faded into political non-currency, this particular view was refreshing. The clever juxtaposition of Luddism and technology brought a great touch of humor.

It took me a while to get used to the format of alternating first-person and...more

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Sep 23, 2010 Craig J. added it

The Sky Road (Fall Revolution) by Ken MacLeod (2001)

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Dec 01, 2009 Lorin Rivers added it

The Sky Road (Fall Revolution) by Ken MacLeod (2001)

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Mar 13, 2008 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Any and all of the Fall Revolution books are hard to read. That's not to say they aren't awesomely great books, because without fail they are. What I mean is that you will be challenged by Macleod politically. His story structure is very hard to accept at first but in the end is very rewarding.

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Dec 08, 2007 Luke rated it 3 of 5 stars

My least favorite of the Fall Revolution books, but still very worth reading. I view it as an alternate conclusion to the series (the other one being The Cassini Division.)

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May 28, 2012 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

A solid ending to the series (4th book in a series of four). MacLeod mixes SF with "future politics" in a way that remains interesting.

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Aug 23, 2008 bluetyson added it · review of another edition

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May 18, 2013 Juho Juutilainen rated it 3 of 5 stars

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May 18, 2013 Jamie Revell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

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Shelves: aauw-2013

May 11, 2013 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Shelves: science-fiction, started-unfinished

May 06, 2013 Xanthene marked it as to-read

May 05, 2013 Stuart Mason rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 04, 2013 Jarkko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 04, 2013 Jarkko rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 03, 2013 Appoloin rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 02, 2013 Chuck Adams marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-buy

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About Ken MacLeod

Ken MacLeod is an award-winning Scottish science fiction writer.

His novels have won the Prometheus Award and the BSFA award, and been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He lives near Edinburgh, Scotland.

MacLeod graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics.

His novels often explore socialist, c...more

More about Ken MacLeod...

Books by Ken MacLeod

The Star Fraction (The Fall Revolution, #1)

The Cassini Division (The Fall Revolution, #3)

Learning the World: A Scientific Romance

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Quotes from The Sky Road

“Whatever the truth about the Deliverer, she will remain in my mind as she was shown on that statue, and all the other statues and murals, songs and stories: riding, at the head of her own swift cavalry, with a growing migration behind her and a decadent, vulnerable, defenceless and rich continent ahead; and, floating bravely above her head and above her army, the black flag on which nothing is written.” — 1 person liked it

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The Sky Road (The Fall Revolution #4)

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