Lady Of Mazes

Lady of Mazes

Karl Schroeder is one of the new stars of hard SF. His novels, Ventus and Permanence, have established him as a new force in the field. Now he extends his reach into Larry Niven territory, returning to the same distant future in which Ventus was set, but employing a broader canvas, to tell the story of Teven Coronal, a ringworld with a huge multiplicity of human civilizations. Brilliant but troubled Livia Kodaly is Teven's only hope against invaders both human and superhuman who would destroy its fragile ecologies and human diversity. Filled with action, ideas, and intellectual energy, Lady of Mazes is the hard SF novel of the year.From Publishers WeeklySet in the same future universe as Ventus (2000), Canadian author Schroeder's challenging hard SF novel explores the vast potential of artificial intelligence for transforming human culture. On the remote ring world of Teven Coronal, Livia Kodaly and her family inhabit the beautiful Westerhaven manifold, surrounded by a richness of high tech and virtual conveniences. Due to a childhood tragedy, Livia enjoys different consensual realities. The mysterious Book 3340 breaks down the barriers between manifolds, destroying her world, so that she must travel, with a few accomplices, out of Teven Coronal into the Archipelago, where she encounters several models for a perfect human society and examines her own. Her task is to choose among them, but ultimately to ensure that choices are possible by sacrificing herself to prevent the total subjugation of humanity. The interrelationship between technology and philosophy that informs her choice gives depth and breadth to a book that many will want to reread to get all the nuances.Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From BooklistIn Ventus (2000) and Permanence (2002), Schroeder exhibited a flair for high-tech world building that yet had the feel of fantasy. In this book, he visits Teven Coronal, one ring in an immense chain of human- and posthuman-populated ringworlds circling a sun. Like most citizens of Teven Coronal, Livia Kodaly knows little of her true surroundings or the scope of human civilization beyond. Everyone on Teven Coronal lives within a series of virtual-reality landscapes known as manifolds, which overlay their true environment. While taking a break from her usual routine of social gatherings and political maneuvering, Livia, with a close friend, discovers a heretofore-impossible rift between manifolds. All too quickly the Teven Coronal virtual-reality paradise begins to crumble around them. Chaos ensues, and Livia and her closest friends must flee to other ringworlds and an uncertain future. Schroeder continues to improve his unique blend of hard sf and vivid, dreamlike prose and bids fair to become a major genre voice. Carl HaysCopyright ? American Library Association. All rights reservedReviewPraise for Lady of Mazes:"With Lady of Mazes, Schroeder gives us another novel of marvelous insight -- brightest glimpses of where our technology of communication and computation may be taking us."--Vernor Vinge"A complete original. . . it's the most thought-provoking and interesting work of hard SF that I've read in the past year, and it deserves to be recognized as belonging to the cutting edge of the new far future in SF."--Charles Stross"Lady of Mazes is Clarke's The City And The Stars re-imagined for a new century. This is hard SF at its best. . . Schroeder belongs to a dynasty that includes Benford, Vinge and Egan. Read this book and reboot your dreams -- and your nightmares."--Stephen Baxter"An astonishing saga. One helluva read!"--Charles Harness"Karl Schroeder has always had a knack for intelligent and provocative thought experiments, disguised as space opera. Now he ups the ante with a fascinating riff on consensual (and conflicting) realities. Lady of Mazes contains more cool ideas than Ventus and Permanence combined."--Pet