The Praxis (Dread Empire's Fall) [Paperback]

I think, by now, we're ready to create a scientific manual of writing space opera:

Step One: You must have feudal/primitive social structure. The ideal is late renaissance but permissable variations include oriental feudal cultures.

Step Two: You must be low tech. The technology should be broadly comparable today's - only bigger and louder. It should certainly have not altered human society, cognition or behaviour in any way.

Step Three: The only exception to the above, is that you must have faster than light travel. This form of travel should take just lengthy enough to give a feel of distant empire (i.e. not instantaneous). These days, hyperspace is considered highly unfashionable - modish space opera makes use of wormholes and other discontinua.

Step Four: You must invent a reason for the primitive social structure and low technology despite centuries or millenia of development into the future. This doesn't have to be particularly robust - you just have to get it out of the way quickly. It is particularly important to exclude artificial intelligence (greater than human level intellects), nanotechnology, transcendence. Acceptable excuses include natural disasters followed by retrenching, religious beliefs, unsuspected limitations in the technology.

Step Five: The truly respectably modern space opera will have a military force based on the eighteenth/nineteenth century British Navy. You really can't do without this as it creates such opportunities for action, heroism and conflict. Any other form of military organisation is lame by comparison.

Step Six: Characters should not get in the way of action. It is quite widely understood that, as the human race develops into the future, it will become thinner and greyer until all personalities are two dimensional stereotypes. This is an inevitable consequence of progress and, however much you admire deep characterisation, there is just no place for it in a decent space opera.

How does The Praxis score on these scientific guidelines? Astonishingly well! We have aristocrats, navies, big explosions, low technology. It is nineteenth century Europe in space. And, before my sarcasm gets carried away, none the worse for it.

Unfortunately, it fails on step six. Some of the characters are distinctly three-dimensional. I particularly admired the vain Gareth Martinez.

There are some problems. The conflict/tensions are not well managed. Too much of the action takes place too late in the book; the heroes overcome their problems too easily; tensions and arguments escalate too quickly, without satisfactory build up.

More fundamentally, we are not given sufficient reason to support the 'goodies'. In effect, they are defending a 10,000 year tyranny. Admittedly, their opponents aren't offering anything different. A valuable opportunity for doubt and questionning in missed. Perhaps the issues of democracy and liberty will be addressed in later installments.

The Praxis did pass the final test - I went out and bought the sequel immediately.

Praxis nicely does away with AI,GM and nanotech in its initial premise: the alien overlords have ruled them illegal, and nuked anyone who disagreed. Said (immortal) aliens are now dead, having collapsed under the weight of their own memories.

What remains is a military burdened by the power of the ruling class. The most convincing part of this book is the detailing of privilege and promotion within the navy - reminiscent of the 18th-19th century British military - resulting in a largely ineffective, inbred officer class.

The charcters outside this military elite are sketchy at best, and maybe the series will flesh them out later.

This book lacks the high science of Revelation Space and the likeable characterisation of Night's Dawn, but does the job, nonetheless,

The other races aren't just "humans with extra legs" but actually come over as separate species. And their technology is a) reasonably believable, b) geared towards ruling a galaxy without breaking the speed of light (hence: pinnaces, and the orchestration of the battles).

Also, the main characters aren't 2-dimensional, and all have their own past and own agendas and faults - all of which come through splendidly.

In all 4/5, it was not "absolutely astounding", but quite good - i am awaiting the sequel (The Sundering) with high-hopes.