Archform: Beauty
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Most readers recognize L. E. Modesitt, Jr., as the author of a favorite fantasy series, be it The Magic of Recluce or The Spellsong Cycle. It's always a special treat when he turns his hand again to science fiction and Archform: Beauty is no exception.
Four centuries in the future, the world is rich--nanomachines watch the health of the wealthy and manufacture food and gadgets for everybody--but no Utopia, as we see in the lives of five very different people. A singing teacher suffers for her music and fights bureaucracy and apathy. A news researcher delivers the essential background details but can't help looking deeper and wondering about the real story behind the grim incidents that make the headlines. A police investigator, assigned to study trends, begins to see a truly sinister pattern behind a series of seemingly unrelated crimes and deaths. A politician aids his constituents, fights the good fight, and tries to get reelected without compromising his principles. A ruthless businessman strives to make his family powerful, wealthy, and independent.
Theirs is a society where technology takes care of everyone's basic needs but leaves most people struggling to extract a meaningful life from a world crowded with wonders but empty of commitment and human connection. Alternating the voices and experiences of these five characters in a tour de force of imaginative creation, Modesitt overlaps, combines, and builds their disparate stories into a brilliant tale of future crime and investigation, esthetic challenge and personal triumph. In the same way that he has built fantasy landscapes of surpassing fascination, Modesitt creates a believable future, one imbued with a deep understanding of the way politics works and how people act and react when their sense of themselves, of justice and truth, is exploited by others for power and control. When there's nothing left to need or want, will beauty live on in people's lives or disappear forever?
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. asks difficult questions, sets himself unlikely challenges, and once again delivers an absorbing tale that enlightens, entertains, and uplifts all at once.
"Modesitt has outdone himself…This brilliant novel is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Other Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Saga of Recluce
The Imager Portfolio
The Corean Chronicles
The Spellsong Cycle
The Ghost Books
The Ecolitan Matter
The Forever Hero
Timegod's World
Other Books
The Green Progression
Hammer of Darkness
The Parafaith War
Adiamante
Gravity Dreams
The Octagonal Raven
Archform: Beauty
The Ethos Effect
Flash
The Eternity Artifact
The Elysium Commission
Viewpoints Critical
Haze
Empress of Eternity
The One-Eyed Man
Solar Express
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Best known for his fantasy fiction (the Saga of Recluce), Modesitt has outdone himself in this highly original SF novel, using future technology to satirize and amplify the gulf that separates science from art. In the 24th century, politics remains much the same, with radical, Islamic fundamentalism still posing a threat. The author rapidly introduces five separate narrators, but since he delineates each with the skill of a latter-day Dickens, the reader doesn't feel overwhelmed. Nor does Modesitt overdo the future slang, which is always clear in context (what was once the United States is now "NorAm"). One of the five narrators, Senator Cannon of the Deseret District, insists on sticking to his principles in seeking re-election. Meanwhile, Lt. Eugene Chiang, who shows how little police work has changed, is investigating the "impossible" suicides of a string of concertgoers. Chiang's engaging exchanges with classical music teacher Cornett illuminate the ways technology can undermine an art form. One is reminded of Arthur C. Clarke's tale "The Ultimate Melody," as Cornett battles to make others appreciate music as art instead of as product. Set against a background of biological terrorism, Modesitt's tale explores social issues (only the rich can afford privacy as well as injections of microscopic, medical robots to stay healthy) sure to resonate with many readers. This brilliant novel is as thought provoking as it is entertaining.
