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Metal Fatigue
In a dystopic world after nuclear war, the American city of Kennedy has walled itself off from the decline of the former USA. Determined to continue as a functioning metropolis, Kennedy strictly patrols its boundaries and struggles to maintain the semblance of a modern city. Now, 40 years after the end of the war, Kennedy is in crisis. Technologies are failing and replacements and repairs are not forthcoming. It is within this atmosphere of technological and social stagnation that news of a Re-United States of America emerges - a RUSA that wants Kennedy to rejoin. But not everybody in Kennedy agrees with re-assimilation, and a series of political assassinations and data thefts begin. As the deadline for reunification looms, Phil Roads, the investigator assigned to solve the killings and robberies, is under increasing pressure. Caught between murderous opposing forces, and with dangerous secrets emerging from his past, his own life and career are on the line.
458 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Sean Williams
277 books468 followers#1 New York Times bestselling Sean Williams lives with his family in Adelaide, South Australia. He’s written some books--forty-two at last count--including the Philip K. Dick-nominated Saturn Returns, several Star Wars novels and the Troubletwister series with Garth Nix. Twinmaker is a YA SF series that takes his love affair with the matter transmitter to a whole new level. You can find some related short stories over at Lightspeed Magazine and elsewhere. Thanks for reading.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 19, 2022
I'll fight anyone who claims Australia doesn't produce great SF.
Pistols at dawn on hill overlooking Sydney harbour. Flick knives at midnight in a squalid Melbourne back alley. Box-jellyfish-on-a-stick in a crocodile infested north Queensland swamp. You name the weapon, time and place and I'll be there, holding an oversized cosh (stuffed with the the entire works of Greg Egan) that I will use to strike the final blow.
It won't just be Greg Egan's tomes in the bag either. After reading Metal Fatigue I'll be slipping some Sean Williams into my aussie-scifi cosh too.
Williams is one of Australia's most successful writerly genre exports, with an impressive fifty books to his name, many of them in the Star Wars universe. He's been on the NYT bestseller list, has been nominated for a tonne of awards (including the Philip K. Dick and Locus awards) and has won a few too. As I'm not a Star Wars reader I hadn't encountered him until I saw Metal Fatigue listed on the Australian Literary Heritage Project - a group dedicated to ensuring that important Australian works are preserved and made available now that they are out of print.
I immediately ordered a used hardcover, and after reading it I can attest that Metal Fatigue deserves its spot on the ALHP list, and is a real standout in Australian SF.
If you're a fan of SF (yes!) and love a good post-apocalypse dystopia (double yes!) that is past its technological prime but still haunted by the high-tech demons of the past (hell double yes!!) then you're going to enjoy Williams' novel.
Metal Fatigue is set in the late 21st century, after a nuclear conflict has shattered cvilization. After a messy collapse (and uncontrolled military use of cybernetic enhancements) rogue supersoldiers stalked the wrecked world, killing thousands in berserker rages before they were stopped, and what remains of society now bans any such modifications.
A post-peak civ is a great scenario (used most memorably by Alastair Reynolds in his classic Chasm City) and Williams uses it well. The story is set in the walled American city of Kennedy, a metropolis that rode out the apocalypse behind physical and technological barriers that allowed it to largely avoid the chaos that shattered the rest of civilisation.
Kennedy was set up prior to the collapse as a model sustainable community with its own power sources, cutting edge recycling, and state-of-the-art manufacturing. The lucky few who were living there, and the even fewer allowed in after the collapse, have lived in isolation behind their walls, completely cut off from the world around them. Over the decades they have become insular, and fearful of the outside world, even as civilization has begun to rebuild.
As Williams' story begins, the city is debating whether to open up again, to become part of the recovering world outside, at the same time as a veteran police investigator - Phillip Roads - is pursuing a mysterious data thief who has been pillaging the city's systems and leaving almost no trace behind him.
Roads has his own secrets of course, and as he pursues his elusive prey his past begins to impact on both his job and his safety, and possibly the future of Kennedy too.
Williams tells a great yarn, and both Roads and his city are richly realized. Kennedy is a fascinating place, a crumbling relic of the world before the collapse, with a population who are both proud of their achievements and fearful of change. The smattering of high-tech stuff left over from the old world is super cool too, and the blend of decay and the cutting edge reminded me at times of Neuromancer, which is always a positive sign. The story builds well, and the blend of action and tension is perfect, with explosive actions scenes keeping the pace sprinting along to a pretty satisfying conclusion.
Overall this is a great read and I'm very much looking forward to reading more of Williams' work. Metal Fatigue definitely earns it's place as and Australian SF classic that should be preserved and kept available for readers.
So. After reading this review, I think we can both agree that Aussie Sci-fi rocks, right? Right!!? Say yes. You don't want to be jabbed with a weaponised box jellyfish, then beaned with heavy sack of hardcovers while you're down.
Four post-apocalyptic veteran cops with dark secrets (that must be concealed from anyone getting close to them) out of five.
Pistols at dawn on hill overlooking Sydney harbour. Flick knives at midnight in a squalid Melbourne back alley. Box-jellyfish-on-a-stick in a crocodile infested north Queensland swamp. You name the weapon, time and place and I'll be there, holding an oversized cosh (stuffed with the the entire works of Greg Egan) that I will use to strike the final blow.
It won't just be Greg Egan's tomes in the bag either. After reading Metal Fatigue I'll be slipping some Sean Williams into my aussie-scifi cosh too.
Williams is one of Australia's most successful writerly genre exports, with an impressive fifty books to his name, many of them in the Star Wars universe. He's been on the NYT bestseller list, has been nominated for a tonne of awards (including the Philip K. Dick and Locus awards) and has won a few too. As I'm not a Star Wars reader I hadn't encountered him until I saw Metal Fatigue listed on the Australian Literary Heritage Project - a group dedicated to ensuring that important Australian works are preserved and made available now that they are out of print.
I immediately ordered a used hardcover, and after reading it I can attest that Metal Fatigue deserves its spot on the ALHP list, and is a real standout in Australian SF.
If you're a fan of SF (yes!) and love a good post-apocalypse dystopia (double yes!) that is past its technological prime but still haunted by the high-tech demons of the past (hell double yes!!) then you're going to enjoy Williams' novel.
Metal Fatigue is set in the late 21st century, after a nuclear conflict has shattered cvilization. After a messy collapse (and uncontrolled military use of cybernetic enhancements) rogue supersoldiers stalked the wrecked world, killing thousands in berserker rages before they were stopped, and what remains of society now bans any such modifications.
A post-peak civ is a great scenario (used most memorably by Alastair Reynolds in his classic Chasm City) and Williams uses it well. The story is set in the walled American city of Kennedy, a metropolis that rode out the apocalypse behind physical and technological barriers that allowed it to largely avoid the chaos that shattered the rest of civilisation.
Kennedy was set up prior to the collapse as a model sustainable community with its own power sources, cutting edge recycling, and state-of-the-art manufacturing. The lucky few who were living there, and the even fewer allowed in after the collapse, have lived in isolation behind their walls, completely cut off from the world around them. Over the decades they have become insular, and fearful of the outside world, even as civilization has begun to rebuild.
As Williams' story begins, the city is debating whether to open up again, to become part of the recovering world outside, at the same time as a veteran police investigator - Phillip Roads - is pursuing a mysterious data thief who has been pillaging the city's systems and leaving almost no trace behind him.
Roads has his own secrets of course, and as he pursues his elusive prey his past begins to impact on both his job and his safety, and possibly the future of Kennedy too.
Williams tells a great yarn, and both Roads and his city are richly realized. Kennedy is a fascinating place, a crumbling relic of the world before the collapse, with a population who are both proud of their achievements and fearful of change. The smattering of high-tech stuff left over from the old world is super cool too, and the blend of decay and the cutting edge reminded me at times of Neuromancer, which is always a positive sign. The story builds well, and the blend of action and tension is perfect, with explosive actions scenes keeping the pace sprinting along to a pretty satisfying conclusion.
Overall this is a great read and I'm very much looking forward to reading more of Williams' work. Metal Fatigue definitely earns it's place as and Australian SF classic that should be preserved and kept available for readers.
So. After reading this review, I think we can both agree that Aussie Sci-fi rocks, right? Right!!? Say yes. You don't want to be jabbed with a weaponised box jellyfish, then beaned with heavy sack of hardcovers while you're down.
Four post-apocalyptic veteran cops with dark secrets (that must be concealed from anyone getting close to them) out of five.
September 9, 2018
This was a solid dystopian sci-fi that reminded me a lot of Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel.
Set in the lat 21st century in an isolated (by choice and governmental procedure) city of Kennedy, the local law enforcement are stymied by two new criminals; a thief who is targeting data pools and an assassin targeting council member in favour of reassimilation with the ReUnited States of America (RUSA).
The city is falling apart because they have got to the point were they have recycled everything they can and without an injection of new resources they are starting to go backwards.
Can our hero, Phillip Roads, find the crooks before the RUSA military rolls into town and takes over...
Set in the lat 21st century in an isolated (by choice and governmental procedure) city of Kennedy, the local law enforcement are stymied by two new criminals; a thief who is targeting data pools and an assassin targeting council member in favour of reassimilation with the ReUnited States of America (RUSA).
The city is falling apart because they have got to the point were they have recycled everything they can and without an injection of new resources they are starting to go backwards.
Can our hero, Phillip Roads, find the crooks before the RUSA military rolls into town and takes over...
September 14, 2020
Interesting book. Enjoyed the historical narrative that was woven about the war and dissolution of society after the war and the battle the city has faced to survive
Interesting sub plot on what it means to be human.
The detective sub plot wasn’t bad. Good interplay between the main characters. However I probably enjoyed the historical narrative that it wove just as much as the detective plot.
It would make for an interesting sequel (not sure if he has written one though)
Interesting sub plot on what it means to be human.
The detective sub plot wasn’t bad. Good interplay between the main characters. However I probably enjoyed the historical narrative that it wove just as much as the detective plot.
It would make for an interesting sequel (not sure if he has written one though)
September 20, 2023
I've actually had this book for a long time now, and I've reread it a few times. I don't do that for many books, however, this one has built a world that I can enter easily and often, and characters who are easy to enjoy. I'd love to see more books in this world.
October 16, 2022
I find it hard to maintain interest in who dunnits so this wasn’t for me. It is more of a hard-boiled detective novel than a sci-fi novel.
September 1, 2014
An interesting mashup of genres: noirish detective novel and post-apocalyptic sci-fi. 50 years after a limited nuclear war and the collapse of civilization, the self-isolated city of Kennedy is limping along. They've survived, but things are starting to get grim: there are only so many times you can recyle things and spare parts are getting increasingly harder to come by. Then one day, the Reunited States of America show up at their gates offering a chance for reassimilation and a new lease on life. It's an offer they really can't refuse, but one not everyone supports. While the local security force investigates a series of data thefts, pro-reassimilation officials start being assassinated. Fast paced, with an ineresting setup and plot, the novel works well and is a fun read.
December 10, 2010
Good fun, detective noir piece set after an apocalypse. I loved the concept of Kennedy, where the walls are high and recycling is king!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews