The Clockwork Rocket (Orthogonal) [Kindle Edition]

This review is biased. I like Greg Egans work. I have been reading his stuff ever since I came across a copy of 'Dust' in a Science Fiction anthology maybe 15 years ago.
Since then I have read everything he has produced. Greg Egan's writing is unique, not just because it is good hard SF written with engaging story and an insight into something human that is integrated, rather than tacked on, but, simply because the effect that reading it has on me is unique in my experience, and I read a lot. I could write reams about that alone, and probably learn a lot about myself in the process, but while that my be good for me, for the reader of this review, I suggest that if you haven't read any of his stuff then just get hold of some from somewhere and read it.

I mention all that to put into context my statement that, whenever I read something new by Egan there is a tingle of fear that, this time, he will have written something that does not provide me with my fix of whatever it is.
This book does not disappoint. It is a voyage of discovery and empathy that will engage those mental parts that Egan so successfully engages, in way that somehow manages to be refreshing and new, at the same time as being a tantalizing introduction to an even bigger story in the coming books.

TL;DR
Egans books enrich and entertain.

5 Stars.

This book is something slightly... well, different.

I hadn't read any of Egan's stuff before so it might be typical for him, but alongside a taut and well imagined story set in a very alien world - complete with a sympathetic range of characters and a well imagined society - he develops an entire alternative physics. This isn't just done in a hand waving way, it is properly worked out and the story of Yalda, the scientist who is the main protagonist, is also the story of the discovery of "rotational physics" in her universe, of the implications of that, good and bad, for her planet, and finally - in the construction of the rocket of the title - the story of the action she takes to safeguard that world.

On one level, it's perhaps fiction for those who might otherwise curl up with The Feynman Lectures on Physics. The science of a "Riemannian" universe is explained lucidly (and if you want more detail, Egan has a website that goes into the maths in even more detail). It's a bit like watching the fertile early years for physics of the 20th century replayed under different rules, with Yalda a mix of Rosalind Franklin and Albert Einstein - and not only in the sense of a great scientist but also someone who challenges her society's expectations and roles. It would be giving too much away to explain what those are: Egan does a good job of hinting at them until we finally realise the truth and see what the stakes are for Yalda.

And it's fun that while we learn a lot about Yalda's species and what they can do and not do (and they are VERY alien) we never actually learn what they look like. Why would they describe themselves, after all, they're just people, aren't they?

A fine start to a trilogy. The sequel, The Eternal Flame, is due out next year.)

"The Clockwork Rocket" is the first book in a science fiction trilogy called "Orthogonal". It was written by Greg Egan and published in 2011.

Imagine this: fields of light, literal fields of plants that give off light where people live and work; people that have an extensive ability to shape shift, being able to be a shapeless blob, have human form, four legs or arms, etc. That's the initial setting of this story and it focuses in a girl called Yalda.

Where Yalda lives, a rather rural region, she's ostracized because she's a solo, meaning she doesn't have a male twin (for a woman to give birth she dies and normally divides in four babies, two sets of twins where one is female and the other male). However, she has an advantage; she's bigger and is able to endure much more physical stress than most people. Anyway, this book tells her story. From going to school, to getting in interested in astronomy, going to university and researching into something that will have a tremendous effect on the world. They're Hurtlers (think of it as analogues to asteroids that take the meaning of their name literally), they're more dangerous than anything else that ever appeared and cause an Einstein-like revolution, where Yalda as a scientist gives the first steps. But there's more, Yalda and her colleagues come up with a solution for the danger of the Hurtlers and they'll do everything they can to concretize it and protect their planet. I'll just give a hint, it involves orthogonality in space-time.

I should give a warning, "Orthogonal" is very hard science fiction, since it introduces some concepts that can be quite anti-intuitive and hard to grasp. That's because it happens in a completely different universe, based in Riemann geometry. Just so you know some of the consequences are: light has no specific speed; there's such thing as infinite speed; "hotter than infinitely hot"; and all the rest that isn't discussed in this book.

There's an attractive attribute to "Clockwork Rocket", since it has a very sci-fi tang to its style. The story is told in a somewhat drier way than usual (compared to mainstream sci-fi), because it primes for the logicality of what's happens instead of the immediate emotions (but not completely). For those not used to science fiction, it's a landmark in the more serious section of the genre and quite rewarding when handled well, as it is the case.

Yalda as a character is very interesting, mostly due to her motivations towards what she does; she's dedicated and revolutionary in a world dominated by men. Well... a novel always improves with a strong and resolute protagonist.

I would recommend this developing and underpublicized trilogy, because it's a good and consistent, but not over the top, piece of hard science fiction (so hard to get nowadays) and a promise of a few more hundreds pages of mind-boggling explanations and diagrams. By the way, there's actual diagrams in the book, like in scientific books and a quite hefty section at the end of the book which handles the science behind "Orthogonal".

If you do read "Clockwork Rocket" be prepared for a few intense sessions of thinking, because you won't understand the book if you don't roll around a little in Riemann geometry and its consequences (don't worry, it's all explained in the book even if it needs to a little unraveled). It's definitely a must to all science fiction admirers.

Till next time,
M.I.T.H. (ManInsideTheHelm)