Whalesong (SF) - Miles Cameron *****

When I read Miles Cameron's Artifact Space back in 2021 I was very impressed - somehow, I've not kept up the author who, for me comes closest to Alastair Reynolds in writing intelligent, engaging space opera. As a result it was a delight to return to the Artifact Space universe with the third book in his Arcana Imperii series. (I've also added book 2 to my reading list).

Cameron shines by giving us both a complex political background and genuinely likeable central characters in the small crew of what initially seems to be a simple freighter but ends up being far more. Although not a direct parallel, for me Cameron gives the same warm feeling that fans get from the best of Star Trek, with the opportunity a novel provides to give significantly more depth. It was simply a joy to read.

My main complaint with Artifact Space was the length - thankfully this volume pulls back from the wrist busting 568 pages to a more modest 406, much to its benefit. The central character of the first book, Marca Nbaro, is more in the sidelines here and we get a new crew - in fact the only time I was a little irritated with the book was when the storyline flicked back to Nbaro, simply because I was so invested with the central crew, I didn't want to lose their story for a minute.

Another strength here is the use of AI characters - with some highly relevant thoughts about the dangers of putting AI in charge coming through in a subtle way. However, this never gets in the way of the very human, straightforward adventure of the story arc, with a couple of impressive space battles. This isn't a book trying to put across a message (thankfully) - it is just pure, engaging entertainment, which is not a bad thing.

My only other small moan is more technical. There is no mention of shields or the equivalent to protect ships - a lot of the damage in battles is done by conventional projectile weapons. But we also find out that it's possible to exit from artifact space, Cameron's hyperspace-like solution to interstellar travel, at high speeds - at one point 0.2c is mentioned. Tank shells travel at around 1,700 metres per second - That's around 35,000 times slower than 0.2c. A 1 gram speck of dust would have the same impact as a 35kg shell at 0.2c. At that kind of speed, shields would be essential.

In the end, though, this can't get in the way of an effective page-turner at the very peak of space opera delight.

You might also find an interview with Miles Cameron from 2021 interesting.

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