Stories From The Quiet War [Kindle Edition]

The world or universe of "The Quiet War" literally cries for more exploration, stories, and books. It is the new frontier both physically and biologically, human expansion in the solar system, political struggle over resources and ethics, outcasts, prospectors, spies, soldiers, and much much more. Paul McAuley has created a setting that is truly inspiring and has potential beyond this collection and the two previously published novels. Other reviews have found the descriptions too technical and dry, but in my mind they are very poetic from a scientific perspective. There is no need to relate to human emotions on any level when you talk about the moon of a gas giant in the solar system. If the physical facts are not impressive and breathtaking enough then these stories are probably not for you. On the other hand, I have not been able to relate to any of the characters either in the novels nor in this collection. I follow them around, I know about their background, but they all miss something that can create a connection, something that makes me worry for them (or even hate them). The majority of the ideas are very inspiring too. But in the end the stories leave me a little indifferent. This may be on purpose, although I think that there could be a fair bit of improvement with some additional editing (also in the second half of this collection where typos are significantly increasing). Altogether, I would recommend Paul McAuley to anyone with even a slight interest in science fiction and not let the technical execution (in literary terms) weigh too much against it.

I love McAuley's Quiet War stories. The only problem with this collection is that it doesn't have all of them! Maybe he'll do another, and then an omnibus. :)

What is does have is a new story not available anywhere else in Karyl's War, a novella. And a very good one about what happens to one roaming man when Earth attacks the Saturn system and what he finds afterwards.

So, great book, great deal.

Stories From the Quiet War : Making History - Paul J. McAuley
Stories From the Quiet War : Incomers - Paul J. McAuley
Stories From the Quiet War : Second Skin - Paul J. McAuley
Stories From the Quiet War : Reef - Paul J. McAuley
Stories From the Quiet War : Karyl's War - Paul J. McAuley

I read this collection after the wonderful In the Mouth of the Whale as I did not want to leave the superb universe of the author; for some of the stories here, it was the 4th time i read them, some third, some second time and only Karyl's War which is newly published (hint contains an Arab Spring reference) was for the first time; notable Quiet war stories missing are Dead men walking and The Gardens of Saturn which are also awesome and there are 2 or 3 others excellent ones missing (The Passenger, Assassination of Faustino Malarte...)

But still for a very low price, these 5 stories give a very good reading experience and I highly recommend them

Making History is the first QW story i read in the awesome PS anthology of 2000 and the one that hooked me on the milieu; this was the 4th or 5th read and the first narration of an aging history professor who is commissioned by the winning powers to write a biography of the most hated (or most heroic) leader of the Outers, the immediate post war desolation where the winners make the rules and the vanquished endure and a beautiful girl and a love stricken police commander and chief torturer were as fresh as on the first read

Incomers is a more recent story and is set after the war in a habitat less touched by it, though its reverberations and suspicions still go on; good stuff too but less memorable than most of the rest

Second Skin - one of several stories about the spies and saboteurs, the Earth Powers sent in the first wave of the war (before the conquest) and while Dead Men walking is the best such, this one is excellent too

Reef - Outers science and tech on display and sense of wonder and speculations about the future; this story fits best with In the Mouth of the Whale and is another excellent one

Karyl's War - the odyssey of an Outer outsider who wants only to be left in peace to live his nomadic life, but as those memorable words say: "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you". More great world building and action as well as a good cautionary tale for all seasons so to speak

Overall - if you have not read the author's wonderful series that starts with The Quiet War, try these stories and see if they hook you as Making History did 11 or so years ago for me...