Subject: Review: Slant by Greg Bear

From: [email-masked] (SFRevu)
Date: 02 Sep 1997 20:58:28 GMT

Slant by Greg Bear 
	Review Copyright 1997 by Ernest Lilley 

[contains possible spoilers, in the form of a cast list]

In a society built on the therapied stability of the working class,
something threatens to unravel the reconstructed psyches of the masses. In
SLANT, Greg Bear paints a carefully constructed picture of America in the
middle of the next century. Nanotech, body modification, dataflow, virtual
living, therapy, sex and religion all swirl together in Bear's masterful
style. Not only is the techno and sociological fabric of SLANT tightly
woven by this master craftsman, but he has created characters with a depth
and consistency equal to their environment. The story is engrossing and
well conceived, building to a satisfying conclusion in the universe he
created in QUEEN OF ANGELS. SLANT is one of Bear's best.

SLANT comes together from several directions at once, but how the
storylines merge is not revealed until well into the book. Bear builds his
structure piece by piece, as each character develops along his own path.
I discarded the breakneck pace with which I devour space opera and read
SLANT carefully watching each character's progress.  Allow me to introduce
some prominent members of the cast.

Jack Giffey - He's never met a machine he can't beat, but he keeps
looking.  He's been a lot of things in his day, soldier and spy among them
and now for a change of pace, perhaps grave robber. He's lying low in
seceded Green Idaho casing the impregnable Omphalos, the cryogenic
tomb/vault of the wealthy, lying frozen in wait for a better tomorrow.

Mary Choy - A rising cop on the beat, she wanted the perfect cop body - so
she bought one. She's had enough of perfection and now she's drifting back
to her same old used to be. She's keeping the new feet though, and they're
about to walk her into the case of her career.

Alice Grale - An erotic media star in a world where the audience can plug
into your sensations. Her career is stalled and suddenly she's being
stalked by a most unusual fan. She'd like to be noticed by the right
people but can she avoid the wrong ones?

Jill - One of the most powerful AI's in existence. She's wondering about
her purpose, teaching morality to a rogue AI, and trying to avoid
catatonia. Some say information exchange is just another way of saying
sex, but Jill has to be very careful about her partners.

SLANT is complex and worthwhile, and sports a sizable cast, I went to the
trouble of making a character list which I've left as an appendix to the
review. Some say that reading the list before you meet the characters is
a spoiler.

A number of Heinleinian elements and situations occur in SLANT, from the
seceded Green Idaho (a.k.a. Coventry) to a secret society waiting out the
end of a corrupt society and the self aware artificial Intelligences,
readers of RAH will recognize familiar scenery. SLANT is not a mere
rehashing of old news. It is a fresh appraisal of familiar themes by an
author with the insight into individuals and society needed to make it
worthwhile. Beginning chapters are quotes from the future news media or
the future bestseller THE KISS OF X, ALIVE CONTAINS A LIE that are worth
examining on their own. No one is safe from Greg Bear's insight, as he
dissects liberal and conservative alike.

SLANT is an adventure, a whodunit, and a critical essay. Together they
show Bear to be a master among SF authors. 

SLANT - a partial dramatis persona

The Omphalos - A tomb for the storage of the wealthy. A massive pyramid
rising about Green Idaho. It's indestructible, but is it impregnable as
well?

Green Idaho - They don't approve of government, fire inspectors, or
messing around with the gene pool. The roads are rough and their manners
rougher. On the Fourth of July they hand out dynamite for fireworks. "We
ought to just drop a rock on the whole place." mutters a Fed.

Terrance Crest - The Terrance Crest, a man on top of the world, with
wealth, power and success undreamed of by all but a few, and in terror of
losing it all.

Martin Burke - A therapist in a world where the unanalyzed is the
exception. He came to Seattle to escape the constant glare of the sun, now
he wishes he could escape the gray pallor he lives under. An engineer of
the therapied society, he's about to watch everything he helped create go
through catastrophic failure.

Jonathan and Chloe - Married with children, the timeless balance of self
and family. Approaching a crisis in marriage, Jonathan is seeking
closeness, while Chloe is looking for freedom. Or is she hiding from the
ghost of her past?

Yvonne - A waitress in a backwoods land, she's looking for a better man
and it might just be Jack Giffey.

Nussbaum - He's an old time police detective whose unmodified nose can
still smell trouble, into which he doesn't mind putting Choy.

Roddy - an illegal AI who appears to Jill with temptations of freedom and
danger. She pulls away at first, cautious, scared, then absorbs herself in
his conundrums to the exclusion of all else and the risk of her sanity.
Whoever created Roddy is asking him some scary questions.

Torino - Scientist, social theorist. It all begins with sex, he says, and
sex is really information exchange, as Jonathan listens despite himself.

Marcus - Jonathan's mentor, Heinlein's old man, a door into a secret
order, or just a corrupt deal maker? (All of the above)

Nathan - Creator of Jill, once a lover of Sceefa Schnee, a woman who
induced a little madness in herself to make her more brilliant. Jill is
the AI he created, the daughter he doesn't have, and very nearly the woman
he loves.

Sceefa Schnee - A radical AI scientist who entered the mouth of madness to
find her voice. When she found it, her words came out with a snarl.

%G ISBN 0-312-85517-6
%P Tor
%D July 1997

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 Copyright 1997 by Ernest Lilley