The
Stone Canal,
second in Ken MacLeod’s Fall Revolution
series, is a difficult book to write a review of. The reason is the story’s structure. Broken in half, the chapters alternate to
tell the first and second halves separately, with the ending joining the two
together at the middle into a single whole.
The details at the end of one revealing important information about the
beginning of the other, and vice versa, it’s quite easy to wander into spoiler
territory writing a summary. (Be warned,
the majority of reviews I have read spoiled large portions and some of the
major surprises in the novel.) It’s best
to start with Macleod’s introduction, and leave the rest to instinct and hope.
In classic sci-fi style, the opening
page of The Stone Canal features a
man waking from the dead in the middle of a desert on a strange planet. Named Jonathan Wilde, the last memory he has
is being shot by a fair weather friend, David Reid, on Earth. A robot is standing beside Wilde waiting for
him to come to consciousness, and together the two wander into the nearest
town. Feeling like the wild west, the
town is on a planet called New Mars and is riddled with canals, rundown
concrete buildings, and a healthy mood of chaos and freedom amidst the robots, net
tech, and biological misfits. Also
walking the streets of the town is a cyborg woman. Named Dee Model, she is fleeing her owner
after experiencing the epiphany that she has the right to her own
autonomy. Seeing Wilde in a bar, the two
have a brief ‘don’t I know you moment’ before the goons arrive. It is not the last time the two cross paths.
