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The Barnes & Noble Review
L. E. Modesitt Jr.'s science fiction thriller Archform: Beauty is a refreshing change of pace from his popular fantasy offerings like the Recluse saga and the Spellsong Cycle. Four centuries in the future, technology has both advanced and distorted human society. Although most of the population is psychically connected by implanted links and benefited by nanomeds that can cure almost any ailment, there's a morose emptiness in people's lives. Have technological advances killed artistic creativity -- and appreciation of true beauty?
Seen through the eyes of five unrelated characters, the story unfolds quickly, as their very different lives are linked through a series of mysterious deaths. Eugene Chiang is a police lieutenant who specializes in finding patterns in crime statistics. Chris Kemal is a crime boss posing as a multimillionaire legitimate businessman. Elden Cannon is a senator trying to get reelected without comprising his code of ethics. Jude Parsfal is a media researcher who uncovers some potentially deadly information. And Laura Cornett is a music professor struggling to make ends meet and quickly becoming disillusioned with society's apathy towards the arts. As more and more high-profile people are mysteriously killed, all five characters' lives intersect in a dangerous convergence that could mean disaster for everyone involved.
Comparable to Modesitt's alternate-history Ghosts sequence (Of Tangible Ghosts and Ghost of the Revelator) in both thematic complexity and ultra-stylized futuristic setting, this book is as ambitious as it is thought provoking. In a word: beautiful. Paul Goat Allen
Kirkus Reviews
New SF from the versatile author of Ghost of the White Nights (2001), etc. By the 25th century, rising sea levels have drowned much of the eastern US. The population divides into "filch" (filthy rich), "sariman" (middle class), "servies," and ex-criminal "permies" who've had their attitudes permanently readjusted with microscopic-machine "nanites." In the North American capital, Denv, police lieutenant Eugene Chiang keeps tabs on crime statistics, using his experience and intuition to spot trends-such as a small but puzzling increase in minor crimes, suicides, and ODs in under-25s. Also troubling is the death of lawyer's wife Nanette McCall, killed apparently accidentally when her nanite vehicle protection system malfunctioned. Music professor Luara Cornett struggles to make ends meet amid incessant budget squeezes and falling demand for real, live music-today's hottest commodity is "rez," the resonant amplification of a piece's emotional impact: behavioral conditioning that works. Good-guy senator Elden Cannon confronts unexpected opponents and shadowy string-pullers, straining his reputation for honesty. Media researcher Jude Parsfal uncovers some odd facts about Martian Republic business practices; he also finds Nanette McCall's death suspicious, and notes an inexplicable increase in fatal heart attacks among apparently healthy individuals. Ruthless businessman Chris Kemal, meanwhile, buys and sells: politicians, commodities, drugs, anything that will extend his family's shady empire. As the first-person narratives of these five individuals intermingle, what eventuates is an investigation of genuinely fascinating, intriguing, provocative, and inspirational scope. Modesitt's alwaysworth reading, but this may well be his best ever.