The Machinery of Light [Paperback]

So we're onto the third part in David's Autumn Rain's Series to date and I'm still just as enamoured. The writing is crisp the characters fully rounded. The dialogue is just as crisp and to finish off we have a great overall story arc with enough surprises to keep even a good number of picky readers happy. David J Williams is definitely an author to enjoy if you like your Sci-Fi and whilst he isn't groundbreaking like some of the other more recent ones, what he writes he does exceedingly well. A real treat without too much technical know how required.

I didn't think that it was humanly possible for David J. Williams to come up with something even more action-packed than both The Mirrored Heavens and The Burning Skies, but somehow the author managed to outdo himself. I called the second volume a veritable train wreck, and The Machinery of Light takes it up a couple of notches. This final installment is another balls-to-the-wall, no-holds-barred kind of book that pulls out all the stops!

Here's the blurb:

With The Machinery of Light, David J. Williams completes his furiously paced, stunningly imagined trilogy - a work of vision, beauty, and pulse-pounding futuristic action.

September 26, 2110. 10:22 GMT. Following the assassination of the American president, the generals who have seized power initiate World War Three, launching a surprise attack against the Eurasian Coalition's forces throughout the Earth-Moon system. Across the orbits, tens of thousands of particle beams and lasers blast away at one another. The goal: crush the other side's weaponry, paving the way for nuclear bombardment of the cities.

As inferno becomes Armageddon, the rogue commando unit Autumn Rain embarks on one last run. Matthew Sinclair, an imprisoned spymaster, plots his escape. And his former protégé Claire Haskell, capable of hacking into both nets and minds, is realizing that all her powers may merely be playing into Sinclair's plans. For even as Claire evades the soldiers of East and West amid carnage in the lunar tunnels, the surviving members of the Rain converge upon the Moon, one step ahead of the Eurasian fleets but one step behind the mastermind who created Autumn Rain - and his terrible final secret.

Oddly enough, I remember commenting that one of the shortcomings of The Mirrored Heavens was its lack of depth compared to the breakneck pace of the exciting action sequences. The Burning Skies revealed just how complex a tale this series truly was, setting the stage for one terrific finale. Well, it turns out that The Machinery of Light is even more multilayered and convoluted than the first two volumes combined. Filled to the brim with unanticipated twists and turns, Williams has the uncanny ability to switch things around when you least expect it, taking the story on a different path you never would have guessed. The man appears to relish the thought of pulling the rug from under his readers' feet every chance he gets, keeping us guessing and second-guessing throughout the novel. World War III is just the backdrop of this tale. To a certain extent, it's just a diversion as the truth about Matthew Sinclair and Autumn Rain is revealed.

The rhythm is pedal-to-the-metal from start to finish. There is not a single lull in the action, making The Machinery of Light a page-turner that is well nigh impossible to put down!

As the Manilishi, Claire Haskell remains the central character of the novel. And yet, as all hells break loose, a panoply of POV and non-POV characters have an integral role to play in the endgame. With storylines built on so many layers of deceit, the different perspectives of various characters are required to help make sense of all that is occurring. As such, it helped carry the myriad plotlines forward to have Strom Carson, Leo Sarmax, Stefan Lynx, as well as a number of other protagonists as point of view characters.

The Machinery of Light is divided into five parts. As was the case with its predecessors, there are no chapters. The narrative jumps from one POV to another in rapid succession, with each POV portion rarely exceeding a single page. Flipping from one quick sequence to the next will make your head spin. Like all good rollercoaster rides, all you can do is hang on tight and keep going till you reach the end. Which comes all too rapidly, what with such a pace maintained throughout the novel.

The Machinery of Light is a another fantastic blend of military science fiction and cyberthriller that should appeal to fans of Richard Morgan and William Gibson. By bringing this complex series to a close with such a bang, David J. Williams proved once and for all the he is for real. I'll be lining up for whatever he writes next.

Intelligent and exhilarating in equal measures, The Machinery of Light features enough politicking, backstabbing, action and explosions and battles to satisfy anyone looking for a good science fiction yarn that goes all out.