Intelligently speculative, this novel delights in the implications of words unsaid between characters, in the difference between presentation and actual opinion. I do enjoy the political (lower case p) conversations. So, yes very clever, what about the story.Renowned newsman Michaelmas and his super loyal, super powered AI have been steering the world towards a duller future for years. (Domino is a dead ringer for her 'descendant' Jane in Orson Scott Card's Ender series.) But when a dead spaceman is brought back to life with evidence implicating the Russians in his death the prospect of excitement rears back to life.Written in the 70s you might think that the world Politics would have dated, but apart from the odd bit of terminology they really haven't. Populist xenophobe politicians are still with us, as are tyrannies, and Russia today has gone a fair way back towards the way it was when the book was written.At the start is seems certain that Michaelmas' enemies are on to him, he seems surrounded by modified people, hungry and ambitious, so the denouement is slightly underwhelming in the ease with which he unravels them, though the ending is written is a slightly elliptical style which could be interpreted as saying that they managed to get to him too in the moment of his triumph. The Russian spaceman (due to take over from the formerly deceased American spaceman btw) appears to be an absolute nutcase, given 2 or 3 whole pages in which to spout his philosophy of future nomadic triumphalism. Oh, and there is a bit about Aliens too with rather pliable imaginations, but I'll confuse myself trying to explain their involvement.All in all, like, will re-read.
Very solid sci-fi book. This novel excels at weaving together characters into a plot that congeals throughout the book until a very satisfying conclusion, an interlacing of lives which finds its high point at the relationship between Michaelmas, the protagonist, and Domino, his computer assistant. While this is not necessarily a rich and developed relationship, one that I do wish was explored further, it is the key element of an ingenious plot. The action of the book is perfect, taut and condensed with splashes of suspense that fuel the intrigue rather than shock for their own sake.Perhaps the most interesting element of the book is the role that media plays in shaping world events. Budrys' focus on this seems to demand a different kind of readership than the typical pulp - while not a complex or difficult book in its language or format, a shrewd and devoted attention must be paid to the plot in order for the payoff to be rewarding. And because the narrative time of the book is so packed within a single day, the delay of crucial information and revelations feels natural, and not a device implanted by the author to provide momentum.Overall a worthy read, I only hesitate giving this book more stars because it has a lot of wasted potential, interactions and depths that have yet to be sounded, and I do wish the author had paid more attention to imagery, which I thought lagged behind the plot. But as a sci-fi pulp it excels in all the areas you are likely to enjoy, and is a book I would heartily recommend.
