The Curve of the Earth
By Simon Morden
Cyberpunk has been with us long enough that we can now safely speak of “classic” cyberpunk, which is what the Metrozone novels of Simon Morden offer up. The Curve of the Earth re-introduces us to post-Armageddon superman Samuil Petrovitch, a harder-than-nails genius cyborg fully linked in to the god-like powers of Web 10.0. As you might imagine, this makes him a really annoying guy, albeit darn near unstoppable when he’s on a mission.
His mission this time is to find out what happened to his daughter Lucy, who has mysteriously disappeared off the grid into the wilds of Alaska. With a little help from his trusty AI and the netizens of the communitarian/libertarian Freezone, Samuil, a hapless FBI G-man in tow, is off on the next rocket plane to Reconstruction America. Yes, that’s right, the good ol’ U.S of A. has (surprise!) turned into a nationalist-fundamentalist nightmare of a security state where even profanity has been outlawed. Fans of Morden’s previous books will expect lots of fast-paced, tech-heavy action, and will find those expectations met.
Alex on SF 