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The Tuesday Evening "It's Sort Of Raining" Review: Mnemosyne's Kiss
One of my listed interests in my LJ profile is "post-cyberpunk". It's hard to explain what I mean by post-cyberpunk, but I tend to describe it as books like Bruce Sterling's Distraction or John Courtney-Grimwood's alternate history futures, books that pick up on the tropes of cyberpunk, and twist them to the author's own ends. There is no movement, no Vincent Omniaveritas with a Cheap Truth for the noughties, just writers with a new set of tools.
Peter J Evans' Mnemosyne's Kiss is a post-cyberpunk novel, very much in a similar vein to John Courtney-Grimwood's Napoleonic futures. It's a thriller, a chase through a mid-21st century world that's more than a list of technologies. Evans' tomorrow isn't a utopia, and it isn't a dystopia. It's a world that has had more than its fair share of problems, but appears to have pulled through.
Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory, and memory is the key to Evan's story. Cassandra Lannigan was dead, and has returned minus most of her past. Rayenne is blotting out her past with memory crushing drugs. Between them they need to find out just what has caused them to be reluctant allies, and to understand who is chasing them and why. It's a chase that will take them from Africa to Central America and to space.
Evans' first novel is hopefully not going to be his last. Mnemosyne's Kiss is an enjoyable thriller, and far beyond "writing blurbs for anime videos". It's a pity that Virgin killed their SF line just after this book was published, as orphan books rarely gain the success they deserve.
Peter J Evans' Mnemosyne's Kiss is a post-cyberpunk novel, very much in a similar vein to John Courtney-Grimwood's Napoleonic futures. It's a thriller, a chase through a mid-21st century world that's more than a list of technologies. Evans' tomorrow isn't a utopia, and it isn't a dystopia. It's a world that has had more than its fair share of problems, but appears to have pulled through.
Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory, and memory is the key to Evan's story. Cassandra Lannigan was dead, and has returned minus most of her past. Rayenne is blotting out her past with memory crushing drugs. Between them they need to find out just what has caused them to be reluctant allies, and to understand who is chasing them and why. It's a chase that will take them from Africa to Central America and to space.
Evans' first novel is hopefully not going to be his last. Mnemosyne's Kiss is an enjoyable thriller, and far beyond "writing blurbs for anime videos". It's a pity that Virgin killed their SF line just after this book was published, as orphan books rarely gain the success they deserve.