Henk's Reviews > Perhaps the Stars

A very satisfying conclusion, with a remarkable trust in the general capacity of good by (future) people. A rollercoaster of a book, full of twist and turns and many concepts to ponder on
We are the instruments that carve the path from cave walls to the stars

Ada Palmer her Terra Ignota series is the discovery of the reading year 2021 for me in terms of science-fiction, and as very thought provoking books in general. In Perhaps the Stars, the final instalment of the series, we follow a broad cast of familiar characters, in their first war.
I loved the thoughtful portrayal of the opening acts of the war, with communications and transportation (and hence geography) becoming central once again. Also the role of [anonymous] (such a fascinating position in general) is great to have a complete picture of the events unfolding and the politics involved. Told mainly from the perspective of someone in the world capital, located at Sardinia, the war is both global and local with battles at the bridges and communication as far as Kashmir trickling in from a pass-it-on makeshift system. Agreements on identifying combatants, on how to celebrate religious feasts even though there is war, reviving a kind of Red Cross, there is not much Ada Palmer has not thought of.
You can already feel the fibers of the world regenerating, town by town the narrator says, and the war in general is far from as destructive as one could imagine it to be based on more recent examples. Space elevators are of prime importance, one being located at the Maldives, who are interesting enough still around after climate change.

Although I like the less flowery narration in the first 20% equally, when a old familiar face comes back a veritable mini Odyssee, with a splash of The Count of Monte Cristo unfolds, I was rather awestruck by the audacity of combining these kind of narratives into a science-fiction novel. Hope opens up the armour inside of us one of the character says, and it is hard to stay cynical after following the cast for three books and nearly 2.000 pages.

In terms of epicness the story is also everything one can hope for, from speeches saying: We face tomorrow tomorrow. We face tonight tonight or Peace comes only after victory to We can’t undo this level of destruction that had me gasping, very gripping how Palmer makes tangible how many years of progress hang in the balance and could be lost.

Again this is a sprawling, twisty novel, full of high stake brilliance and two conceivable sides for the battle over the very future of humanity, developing very differently than the initial sides that are clear at the start of the war.
Mindgames, ultimatums and twists hit the cast full on, with many old favourites making appearances: Cornel, Ando, Ganymede, Lorelei Cook, Thisbe, Perry, Joyce Faust just to name a few.
Humanity is teamwork, and this concept of what direction humanity should move towards, is further made urgent because there is a being who represent First Contact in the midst of the turmoil.
I chose not to choose yet he notes, but that choice is exactly the center of the conflict and possibly the whole direction of the future evolution of our species. Meanwhile he kind of burns humanity on the mess we make of meeting an Alien for the first time: You must become better at making your touch kind. Not next time, this time..
A venerable conversation between gods somewhere at 2/3's is very brilliantly done to make the philosophical sides these stark visions take in, clear. All this is topped of by a reference to Plato: You will not always have a philosopher prince.

Meanwhile in the macro conflict there is also a mini conflict brewing between our narrators who are in quite some psychological stress due to all the events: Friends help friends ignore the voices that tell us we’re not human, outside voices and in one thinks, and even an old enemy says to them: If I couldn’t be happy, you wanted to help me to at least be excellent

The Iliad and Odyssee references are brilliantly interwoven, we have super innovative voting systems to protect plurality, dialogue and the interests of those affected by decisions.
There is a minors speech at the end which is like Greta Thunberg at her finest in terms of rhetorics on Earth’s children war debt.
All in all the resolution of this book promises A richer, more plural world, almost like a futuristic version of Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman in novel form.
Was it always fully believable? No, there is a real Deus Ex Machina, even called that way in the novel for instance. But in terms of provoking thought about not technology, which most people would associate with the genre, but democracy, society, war, politics and finding purpose in a potential post scarcity world, this series is unrivalled.
Highly, highly recommended!