Stephanie Saulter’s Revolution series (previously Gemsigns, Binary and now this novel) has generated much excitement within the genre community but it is clear that she deserves the widest of audiences. Set in a recognisable and not too distant future the series seamlessly slips technologies and idea that are exciting developments of those we are surrounded by today into tightly plotted thrillers driven by tensions we are very familiar with; the threat to the environment, renewable resources, terrorism and the pressures of a life that challenges our beliefs about what we are.
Saulter’s characters shine. These are not mechanistic thrillers, they are peopled by individuals whose lives we would recognise even as their differences might apparently set us apart. They talk like us, laugh at the same things, share the same fears.
In these books the “others” are neither strange aliens or migrants from other countries, rather they are genetically modified “post humans” – altered versions of us. Like every “other” they are treated with suspicion by some and like every “other” we share much with them. All good SF is really about the here and now. Regeneration is particularly close to home and is centred around a threat to a renewable energy project in the Thames Estuary. Is the threat terrorism? Can the future be found despite politics and commercial concerns? Fans of Richard Morgan and Justina Robson will feel on very familiar territory here.
The gillungs - genetically modified, waterbreathing humans - are thriving. They've pioneered new aquatic industries, and their high-efficiency quantum battery technology coupled to tidal turbines in the Thames estuary looks set to revolutionise the energy industry. But as demand grows, so does fear of what their newfound power might mean. Then a biohazard scare at Sinkat, their London headquarters, fuels the opposition and threatens to derail the gillungs' progress. Was it an accident born of overconfidence, or was it sabotage? DS Sharon Varsi has her suspicions, and Gabriel sees parallels in the propaganda war he's trying to manage: politicians and big business have stakes in this game too. And now there is a new threat: Zavcka Klist is out of prison. With powerful new followers and nothing to lose, she's out to reclaim everything they took from her.
'This is an excellent and thoroughly recommended story which examines regeneration on many levels.' Birmingham SF Group
'if smart, diverse and socially aware science fiction is something you're hungry for, you should definitely be reading her work Over the Effing Rainbow fantastic finale to one of the best SF series of the past five years' A Fantastical Librarian
Author
About Stephanie Saulter
Stephanie Saulter writes what she likes to think is literary science fiction. Born in Jamaica, she studied at MIT and spent fifteen years in the USA before moving to the UK in 2003. In 2010 she launched the Scriptopus interactive website for writing short fiction. Stephanie blogs unpredictably at stephaniesaulter.com and tweets slightly more reliably as @scriptopus. She lives in London.
