Fofo’s #CBR4 Review #42: Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel
Target: Tony Daniel’s Metaplanetary
Profile: Science Fiction, Science Fantasy
Metaplanetary and I have a bit of an odd history. I picked up a copy of the paperback in a tiny bookstore in Acadia National Park back in 2002. After reading the whole thing in basically two days, I desperately wanted to find the sequel, with the rear cover promised had come out already. Of course it hadn’t and it would be another there years before Superluminal would see the light of day, and in the meantime I forgot about the whole thing. Going back toMetaplanetary hasn’t quite lived up to my expectations, but the book is still a solid piece of soft science fiction/science fantasy with one of the most interesting core concepts I’ve come across.
Metaplanetary attempts to be told as a pseudo-scholarly war record assembled by an off-screen narrator. The chapters progress through the events leading up to a war between the Inner and Outer solar system regions, with each chapter containing the personal recollections of various involved individuals. These narratives are punctuated by scholarly documents attributed to various in-universe authors, describing the history, politics and technology of the setting.
