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The Corporation Wars: Emergence
(Second Law Trilogy #3)
by
Ken MacLeod concludes the Corporation Wars trilogy in this action-packed science fiction adventure told against a backdrop of interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality, and an A.I revolution.
FIGHT FOR THE COMPANY, LIVE FOR THE PAY
And the ultimate pay-off is DH-17, an Earth-like planet hundreds of light years from human habitation.
Ruthless corporations vie over the prize ...more
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This was very entertaining, but I got lost about halfway through. All the double dealings of various corporations, law firms, quasi-governments felt a bit long-winded and confusing as to what was finally done. I really couldn't make out a lot of this, but the core story stood up.
My problem is that this trilogy is just one long book and should be published as such. In my case, I lost the thread after finishing the first two books and then waiting for the third to come out several months later.
And ...more
My problem is that this trilogy is just one long book and should be published as such. In my case, I lost the thread after finishing the first two books and then waiting for the third to come out several months later.
And ...more
I'm grateful to Orbit for an advance copy of this book.
Before I say anything about the book itself, just take a moment to admire that utterly gorgeous cover image by Bekki Guyatt. I know one shouldn't judge a book by the cover but sometimes it's hard not to...
It's a bit tricky reviewing anyway the third volume of a trilogy. Realistically, those who've read the earlier books are likely just to want to know "is it as good as the others?" the answer to which is, "yes, in fact slightly better". Thos ...more
Before I say anything about the book itself, just take a moment to admire that utterly gorgeous cover image by Bekki Guyatt. I know one shouldn't judge a book by the cover but sometimes it's hard not to...
It's a bit tricky reviewing anyway the third volume of a trilogy. Realistically, those who've read the earlier books are likely just to want to know "is it as good as the others?" the answer to which is, "yes, in fact slightly better". Thos ...more
I've read, and enjoyed, many books by Ken MacLeod but this series was the worst. It started with an interesting premise, what if robots gained consciousness, but then just nothing happened. 3 books and nothing happened. The books repeated themselves all the time (they went to train in the virtual environment, then rode their scooters and shot a few missiles then they downloaded back and trained in the virtual environment). The descriptions of everything was bad, a great example is a robot being
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Should have loved this book. So much potential.
Sadly, by the end I cared so little for the characters that I had to force myself to finish. I can barely bring myself to complete this review.
Real shame.
Sadly, by the end I cared so little for the characters that I had to force myself to finish. I can barely bring myself to complete this review.
Real shame.
On one level, Emergence, like its predecssors in Ken Macleod's Corporation Wars trilogy, is a member of the generation of science fiction which has grown out of gaming. like Neal Ascherson or Richard Morgan, it is a universe in which near-invulnerable warrios fight endless shoot-em up battles. Where Macleod wins out over the other authors is that the violence is not the actual subject matter, and what he is really doing is writing about contemporary political and economic issues with a dark wit,
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Emergence is the last in Macleod’s Corporation Wars trilogy, which I have struggled with from the outset. As in the second so again in this third instalment the lack of jeopardy inherent in characters being able to be “revived” in a simulation is admittedly somewhat lessened by the length of time spent in their mechanical avatars returning from which would by now mean substantial memory loss, yet it is never fully avoided. Here, too, not a little of the necessary background of the story is relat
...more
A pleasing conclusion to Ken MacLeod's study of what it is to be a civilization, and moreover, just what is meant by the clarion call to 'Freedom!', so often extolled as a virtue in itself.
We join the various factions in the exosun system to which elements of Earth's diaspora have fled.
On an icy rock, the newly selfaware robot Baser, suffers an brutal invasion by Space Nazis of the Reaction, who have been secreted as sleeper cells into the virtual intelligences tasked with taming the resources ...more
We join the various factions in the exosun system to which elements of Earth's diaspora have fled.
On an icy rock, the newly selfaware robot Baser, suffers an brutal invasion by Space Nazis of the Reaction, who have been secreted as sleeper cells into the virtual intelligences tasked with taming the resources ...more
I love Macleod’s take on politics & AI, his precise descriptions of the differing factions’ philosophies, his complete sketches of the personalities of machine intelligences. What I like less are his incomplete human characterizations and tendency towards complicated plots that stretch to the breaking point his ability as a writer.
This book came close to being a four-star, if only it had been more character-driven and less ex machina (if you’ll pardon the pun).
The series is still worth your ...more
This book came close to being a four-star, if only it had been more character-driven and less ex machina (if you’ll pardon the pun).
The series is still worth your ...more
Prime Ken MacLeod. I binge-read the trilogy and enjoyed it more for that. There are the usual doses of politics, economics and corporate law but these mostly come from the perspective of newly conscious robots, or freeboots, and are very witty. The reader never feels like they are getting lectured at. There are plenty of action scenes, and Ken had gotten even better at writing those. This trilogy seems to have flown underneath the radar a bit in the US and that's a shame.
The third and final book in this trilogy, I really enjoyed this run of books. Characterization was solid throughout the trilogy, and the conclusion was believeable and not predictable. I'm happy when a trilogy sticks the landing.
I think in a few years I may re-read this, as I think being familiar with the world of the books may heighten the enjoyment of the narrative.
I think in a few years I may re-read this, as I think being familiar with the world of the books may heighten the enjoyment of the narrative.
Great trilogy Classic and Modern Sci Fi combination
Read this trilogy in "real time" not as box set. Characters sustained my interest and stayed in my memory. Plot strong enough to keep me interested despite time lag between books. Go ahead and enjoy the full series as one read. Totally worth it
Read this trilogy in "real time" not as box set. Characters sustained my interest and stayed in my memory. Plot strong enough to keep me interested despite time lag between books. Go ahead and enjoy the full series as one read. Totally worth it
Recent Reads: The Corporation Wars - Emergence. Ken MacLeod's freebots face an existential threat from a resurgant neo-reactionary clique. Can there be a compromise between freedom and the future? Economics and AI, oh my.
Good series, lots of very far future, hard-ish but with some nano-tech/aliens that are a bit of a handwave (and it assumes strong AI). Lots of it is political/economical, despite featuring robot space battles.
Solid end to the series. Though I really want to read more about the Nephilim.
An enjoyable trilogy, with great ideas. Some of the political machinations were a little tedious and overly detailed.
Good ending to a solid trilogy. It really works as one work, so it's best to read them quickly one after the other, the better to remember all of the characters. I've yet to read a bad MacLeod book.
Entertaining and thoughtful. Not just a genre book with a good plot, though it is also that.
This kept me going. Interesting view of a post-human future in another star system. The newly sentient robots make the whole series worthwhile and I would have liked to see more of them.
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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
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
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Second Law Trilogy
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