Burning Paradise

Burning Paradise
By Robert Charles Wilson

Paranoia gets a twist in Burning Paradise, as it turns out that the worst horrors of the twentieth century have been elided by the hypercolony: a sentient hive occupying the Earth’s radiosphere that suppresses human bellicosity by manipulating our communication systems. Alas, such benevolence doesn’t make the hypercolony, or their green-blooded avatar “sims” walking amongst us, popular with an old-school underground that wants to get rid of the alien nanny-state. Robert Charles Wilson is at the top of his game here, spinning an SF fable for our time that combines a strong action-thriller plot with some intriguing philosophical speculations.