Iron Gods: (The Spin Trilogy 2) - Couverture rigide

The Spin, an ancient artificial cluster of eighty-eight planets and twenty-two suns – is in decline. The boundaries of the formerly prosperous Inside have shrunk to a mere eleven planets, their trade routes are cut off, and their last remaining source of income comes from selling the services of their vast industrial slave-colony – The Hive.
Then a group of Hivers escape. Led by Seldyan, they steal the last remaining legacy battleship, reverse the trance that has been imposed on it for eight thousand years, and leave the Inside behind. Their destination: the free colony of Web City. However when they arrive they realise all is not well – a new green star has appeared in the sky, sparking the growth of a socially repressive cult which is quickly taking over, making Seldyan wonder if Web City is any improvement on the Hive.
At the same time Harbour Master Hevalansa Vess, stripped of his role after the loss of the last ship, has his identity changed and is sent under cover in to the Hive to find out how Seldyan escaped. Wired into the living AI called the Mind Stack, he is forced to confront both his own past, and the institutionalised cruelty of the hierarchy he has been part of.
While Seldyan and her crew try to discover what has caused the new green star, Vess must choose between loyalty to the system that has nurtured and promoted him, and his sympathy for the mass of people it treats as slaves. He must also work out how far he trusts Vut, the gestalt insect entity that increasingly represents his contact with the Inside.
Meanwhile, the ancient ship, now with full access to its memories, has worked out the meaning of the green star for itself – and the existential threat to the Spin that it has been concealing for ten thousand years...

Acclaim for Creation Machine:

‘Expansive world-building, immersive prose and sharp dialogue . . . conjures up the same kind of gnarly, lurid weirdness that made Iain M. Banks’ SF epics so memorable.’
SFX

‘Fast-paced, intelligent SF, action-packed and immersive.’
ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY

‘Thrilling . . . it reminded me of the first Peter F. Hamilton I read in its sense of epic-ness, or the first Iain M. Banks I read in its intelligent plotting and its sense of humour . . . I can’t recommend this one highly enough.’
SFFWORLD

‘Fresh, vivid and inventive . . . gives modern space opera a much-needed shot in the arm.’
IAN R. MACLEOD

‘Has everything: intriguing far-future societies, exotic extra-terrestrial races, artificial galaxies and alien machines dormant for millions of years. Bannister holds it all together with enviable aplomb.’
GUARDIAN

‘Excellent . . . ticked the boxes for me. Augmented humans up to and including one as a cloud of nanomachines, Banksian drones and cruel politics. Grotesque and interesting alien life, and characters I cared about – all written in an engaging style.’
NEAL ASHER

‘Bannister's exemplary world-building brings a sense of awe to Creation Machine – you can’t help but marvel at his descriptive prowess . . . a beautiful space opera.’
SCiFiNOW

‘Spectacular . . . with Creation Machine we could be witnessing the birth of a new star in the SF-nal firmament. Sun glasses please, we are in The Spin.’
CONCATENATION