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Dust by Elizabeth Bear
01/04/2008 . Source: Eamonn Murphy 
pub: Bantam Spectra Books. 342 page paperback. Price: $ 6.99 (US). ISBN: 978-0-553-59107-1. Buy Dust in the USA - or Buy Dust in the UK  check out websites: www.bantamdell.com
The setting for Elizabeth Bear's 'Dust' is Jacob's Ladder, a generation ship launched from Earth by religious zealots which long ago went wrong and is now orbiting a pair of stars. The artificial intelligence which largely ran the ship has split into parts. They could re-combine but, having tasted individuality, none of them wants to lose it.
So they vie for superiority and the strong consume the weak until, by the time our story begins, just a few strong ones are left. They call themselves Angels and one of the strongest is Jacob Dust, an intelligence composed of energy fields and nano particles who can inhabit machinery or manifest himself as a hologram or human form. The other strong Angels are similarly empowered.
The humans aboard have also fallen into disarray and there are two states, Engine and Rule, two Houses which compete for superiority. Rien is a servant girl in Engine, ruled by the evil Ariane. When Sir Perceval, a lady knight from Engine, is captured by her mistress and bought to the castle dungeons, Rien is charged with her feeding and care while she awaits execution and absorption. Sir Perceval and all the rulers are Exalt, with symbiotic artificial intelligence programs which repair their bodies and enhance their minds, making them far superior to the Mean, the normal humans like Rien.
When one Exalt is conquered by another, their minds are absorbed by their conqueror. They are not born Exalt but given the symbiotic enhancements at an early age. Rien finds out she is Sir Perceval's sister, planted in the enemy realm long ago, and rescues the knight. But as they escape and the story unfold they find that they are both being used by their family and by the warring Angels in various plots and counterplots. They do not know who to trust.
The novel uses three points of view, that of Rien mainly but interspersed with those of Perceval and of Jacob Dust, one of the strongest Angels. The humans call their ship the world, as it is, for them. Unlike the inhabitants of the generation ship in Robert Heinlein's classic story 'Universe', also published as 'Orphans in the Sky', they do know it's a ship. They know it orbit's a pair of stars. They do not know, but soon find out, that the main star is about to go nova.
It's a tightly plotted, fast-moving story with great characters, loads of science and a brilliant premise. Heinlein probably did the first story of this type, the aforementioned 'Universe' and if you young people haven't read it you really should. Bear's take on the theme is different but just as fascinating, utilizing modern Science Fiction concepts.
The neat construction of this story, its leanness, with nary a wasted word, reminded me of Silverberg's brilliant novels of the seventies. Bear's writing style, on the other hand, brought to mind the 'Star Trek' novels by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath with several punchy one line, one sentence paragraphs scattered about to make certain points stand out. Mary Gentle uses the same kind of style. If this is over-done it can become wearisome but Bear does not overdo it.
As is often the case, I found a woman writer's sensibilities different to those of a male. In fact, there is a bit of a feminist undertone here and there with Rien resenting and resisting any dependence on male authority figures, even her father. It, too, was not overdone and made perfect sense in the context of the story and the character.
'Dust' is a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Following in the fantasy tradition Bear seems to write in trilogies and this is part one. Part two, entitled 'Chill' is due out in the spring of 2009. I do not doubt it will have further insights and revelations and I look forward to reading it. A lot.
Eamonn Murphy
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