The Algebraist
 |
|
| Author | Iain M. Banks |
|---|---|
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Published | 2004 (Orbit) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 534 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 56645233 |
| Preceded by | Raw Spirit |
| Followed by | The Steep Approach to Garbadale |
The Algebraist is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, published in print in 2004. It was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2005.
It was his third science fiction novel not to be based or set in The Culture, the earlier two being Feersum Endjinn and Against a Dark Background.
The novel takes place in 4034 A.D. With the assistance of other species, humans have spread across the galaxy, which is largely ruled by the Mercatoria, a complex feudal hierarchy, with a religious zeal to rid the galaxy of artificial intelligences, which were blamed for a previous war.
In center-stage Banks portrays the human Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers. The Beyonders, a large fleet of space marauders originating on the fringes of the galaxy, have cut the system of Nasqueron's star (Ulubis) off from the rest of Mercatoria civilization by destroying its portal (the only means of faster than light travel), and the local Mercatoria adherents await the delivery of a wormhole connection from a neighboring system via sub-lightspeed travel.
The Dwellers, an advanced and ancient civilization of non-humanoids who inhabit gas giants, lead an almost anarchic existence based on kudos, and inhabit the majority of gas-giant planets in the galaxy. They are the only major species outside the control of the Mercatoria, being rumoured to possess devastating defensive weaponry. Dweller societies try not to get involved with "Quick" species, those with sentient beings who experience life at around the speed human beings experience it. Dwellers are one of the "Slow" species who experience life at a much slower temporal rate. Dweller individuals live for millions of years, and the species has existed for billions of years, long before the foundation of the Mercatoria. Slow Seers like Taak are a dynasty of researchers who attempt to glean information from the Dwellers' vast but disorganised libraries of knowledge, artificially slowing their metabolisms to better communicate with them.
...
Wikipedia