Review of "Elysium Fire: A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency Novel" by Alastair Reynolds

The premise of this science fiction series is that humans have colonized thousands of different habitats in a region called the Glitter Band, and - to maintain democratic governance in these habitats - everybody 'votes' via a neural implant in their head.

A police force called the Panoply, with agents called prefects, maintain law and order in the Glitter Band.



Now, random people in the Glitter Band are dying from malfunctioning neural implants. The Panoply calls this phenomenon 'wildfire', and the prefects want to know what's going on.



When a suspicious death is detected, a prefect is immediately sent to retrieve the victim's head, which can then be questioned for information. (Some dead people live on in a sort of other dimension in this book.)



The main prefects in the series are Supreme Prefect Jane Aumonier (the big boss);



Senior Prefect Tom Dreyfus;



Field Prefect Thalia Ng;



and Prefect Sparver Bancal (a hyperpig).



At the beginning of the story, Field Prefect Thalia Ng is dispatched to scoop up a dead head, and this and other evidence reveals that the mysteriously dying people all seem to be risk takers of some kind, such as gamblers, fraudsters, or serial adulterers. The death rate is increasing day by day, and the prefects become VERY alarmed, and are determined to stop the carnage.



Meanwhile, a troublemaker called Devon Garlin is going around making speeches, encouraging habitats to 'secede' from the Glitter Band, and to reject the authority of the Panoply. Eight habitats have seceded so far and Garlin is gaining traction. Thus the prefects want to stop Garlin, preferably by arresting him and shutting him up.



The efforts of the Panoply to stop the escalating deaths, and to detain Garlin, are interspersed with a narrative involving two brothers named Julius and Caleb Voi. The boys live with their wealthy parents on a vast estate in Chasm City, but the siblings are isolated from the outside world.



Caleb and Julius have 'supernatural' abilities that allow them to create any kind of thing out of a substance called quickmatter. For example, the lads make themselves deadly crossbows and hunt holographic animals for fun. It's clear Julius and Caleb are being groomed for some higher calling, which is revealed little by little.





As the story progresses, the universal voting system is threatened; the baffling deaths keep escalating; and nasty chicanery is revealed. To keep the Glitter Band safe, Dreyfus, Ng, Bancal and other law enforcement officers must embark on dangerous missions that challenge their formidable abilities, even though they have cutting edge 'whip-hound' weapons.





I like this kind of science fiction and I found the story to be fast-moving and compelling. Recommended to fans of the genre.

Rating: 4 stars