Conference noted::sf

1246.0. "Keith Brooke's Expatria Series" by MTWAIN::KLAES (No Guts, No Galaxy) Wed Aug 31 1994 14:52

Article: 665
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.sf.written
From: [email protected] (Gareth Rees)
Subject: Brooke: EXPATRIA and EXPATRIA INCORPORATED
Sender: [email protected] (Michael C. Berch)
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 23:22:03 GMT
 
		       Expatria by Keith Brooke
		     A book review by Gareth Rees
		  Copyright (c) 1992 by Gareth Rees
 
     Expatria is a colony world, settled by generation ships from
Earth.  Centuries ago, a religious revolution threw out the old
technology: "it was a thing of the past, an unwanted relic from the
early days of the colony, when the ways of Earth had remained
important."  Now, the planet is divided into quasi-feudal city-states
with a strange mixture of archaic and modern technologies and
institutions.
 
     Matt Hanrahan in the rebellious elder son of the Prime of Newest
Delhi, whose interest in electronics makes him unattractive to the
powerful anti-technology Conventist religious movement.  He is framed
for the murder of his father, possibly by his evil younger brother
Edward, and escapes to the more liberal Alabama City, where scientific
research is directed by the bureaucrat Kasimir Sukui.  With a repaired
radio/tv set they contact the descendants of those original colonists
who had decide to remain in orbit, who have received messages from an
approaching ship from Earth that intends to 'improve' the lives of the
Expatrians whether they like it or not.
 
     So far, so standard.  But Brooke's focus is on the development of
his major characters, Hanrahan and Sukui.  Hanrahan, at the start a
rebellious dilettante, finds maturity and a cause that he can believe
in and even risk his life for.  Sukui aspires to the ideal of the
emotionless, rational scientist, and takes a great deal of pride in
his 'understanding' of other people and his lack of personal
attachment.  While Hanrahan learns discipline and commitment, Sukui
learns of love and emotion, and like Hanrahan he finds a cause that is
important to him.
 
     However, interesting as this character development is, the other
characters never quite manage to escape from their roles, and while
Brooke defies expectations with some remarkable twists at the end,a
large number of loose ends are left flailing around - including the
approaching ship from Earth about which nothing more is heard. I found
that this mish-mash of ideas never quite jelled into a story that
would grab me - like his character Sukui, Brooke maintains too much of
a detachment to really engage the reader.
 
     Keith Brooke is a young British writer from the "Interzone"
school, with one previous novel, "Keepers of the Peace" (1990).  His
promise is not fully realised in "Expatria", but I have no doubt that
he will improve with experience and I intend to keep a lookout for his
next novel.
 
		Expatria Incorporated by Keith Brooke
		     A book review by Gareth Rees
		  Copyright (c) 1993 by Gareth Rees
 
     The pun in the title tells you all you need to know about the
plot.  The colony planet Expatria is threatened with being
incorporated - engulfed - into the 'Holy Corporation of GenGen', now
coming from Earth to reclaim what it thinks is its rightful property,
but instead manages to win through and incorporate in its own right as
an independent concern.
 
     This is a sequel to Brooke's 1991 novel "Expatria" in which
prince Matt Hanrahan and self-made 'rational man' Kasimir Sukui
battled the anti-science Conventists, established radio links with
lost colonies in orbit and discovered of the approach of the Holy
Corporation's spaceship.  The sequel loses interest in Hanrahan, which
is a pity as his idealism made a good foil for Sukui's lack of affect,
but there are some new characters.  Katya is an 'active', a
highly-placed employee of GenGen.  The corporation's computer, the
'MetaPlex', has proclaimed itself God and inspires fanatical devotion
in its followers not only by the ordinary mechanisms of religion but
by giving periodic bursts of rapture via the 'glory chip' implanted in
their skulls.  Katya begins the book as passionately committed as the
other actives, but her brother, a subversive, is killed in a
demonstration against GenGen on Earth, and when she gets to Expatria
memories of that event, and her discovery of the covert death squads
GenGen uses to undermine opposition while maintaining a friendly face,
give her doubts.
 
     Brooke's writing is known for its anti-war sentiment.  Here, he
turns his attention to organised and tyrannical religion, and I do not
think it would be unfair to discern some personal commitment.  Brooke
is unsure whether we should be frightened of the Holy Corporation or
laughing at it, though I felt that the latter is the sentiment that
comes across the more strongly.  GenGen's 'religion' is just so
ridiculously stupid (the corporate hymn: "When I find myself in times
of trouble, Spiritual insolvency, Lead me through to wisdom, Shine on
me, oh gee-gee") that it is hard to see it as a real threat, and
indeed GenGen and its MetaPlex turn out to be a push-over for the
supposedly technologically backward people of Expatria.  And everyone
live happily ever after.
 
     I was very disappointed by "Expatria Incorporated", for I had
high hopes of Keith Brooke.  But his characters are too widely
separated to interact much (they seem to meet mostly by
'trifacsimiles', holographic videophones) and although they develop a
little, we are told about this rather than allowed to become involved.
And the deus ex machina (no kidding) plot fails to confront any of the
questions about organised religion that he looked as though he was
going to ask.  "Expatria Incorporated" is a competently written hard
sf novel, but it left me cold.
 
%A Brooke, Keith 
%T Expatria
%I Gollancz 
%C London UK
%D 1991
 
%A Brooke, Keith 
%T Expatria Incorporated
%I Gollancz 
%C London UK
%D 1992