Echo of Worlds

Book 2 of the Pandominium Duology

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Superb! This is very considered novel that challenges our assumptions, positive and negative, about organic- and machine-based life. Not withstanding the incorrect assumption that the soul of a person dies at death, the arguments in this are compelling.

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“Oh no.” The sudden surge of anger surprised Dulcie. Et wasn’t going to let him get away with that kind of loose thinking. “You’re very wrong. The thing you think of as the soul, the part that survives the death of the body, we’ve got that and you haven’t. We can be recorded as code, on any suitable medium. Death isn’t something we really have to worry about. Your body is just parts. Mine is a cup that holds me, until I’m poured out into something else.”

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As I asked in the review of Book 1, where is the line, exactly, between sentient and not? Reproduction? Self-awareness? The ability to grow, physically and intellectually, over time? Is it the ability to care about others? As characters move from one area to the other, we get to ask ourselves these questions.

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The cast of characters is great. The author manages to include just about every kind of self, from the timid and arrogant to the smart and cheerful, and even machine-based selves that are equanimous no matter the situation. Like in the first book, we follow selves whose ancestors include cats, rabbits, weasels, bears, apes, and sloths.

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The fear Hadiz felt, unmediated by any glands or autonomic systems, was pure and clean and sharp like the first note in a symphony, or the first intimation of death. But she was getting to be pretty good at death. It hadn’t stopped her last time, only slowed her down a little.

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Like a good concert, there are variations in intensity, but overall the energy just ratchets up and up over the course of this book. The way the story builds to the conclusion is masterful. I was in awe of the way the puzzle pieces of the plot ultimately fit together.

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It’s a love story like nothing I’ve read or seen before, and it is full of words I’ve never seen before like: imposture, bradypods, exophthalmic, gymnure, stochastic, and anagnorisis, just to name a few.

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I wholeheartedly recommend this duology. It’s excellent science-fiction.