Terra Ignota - Ada Palmer

As a genre sci-fi offers one the possibility of envisioning a future, many a times unencumbered by the realities of the present. Ada Palmer takes the opposite path. Terra Ignota comprises four novels - Too Like the Lightning, Seven Surrenders, The Will to Battle and Perhaps the Stars. The novels are based in the not so distant future (2400 AD). The plot centers around hives and the political machinations of their leaders. Hives are what the author has called the post-nation groups. Individuals are free to choose their hive and then are bound by its laws. Palmer has used a very unique style of writing - English, which many a times feels was written by a renaissance author with an added smattering of Latin throughout the text. The text is heavy on Philosophy, too heavy I would say. The plot is meandering and many a times one tends to forget what exactly is happening. Mind you these novels are voluminous. The world revolves around personal trackers and high speed flying cars, which for some reason seem to be the most important device in the future. I would imagine for an advanced society, travel for work would take a backseat with all the advances in videoconferencing. And there's no mention of a society beyond the main characters.

There's a villain, if he can be labelled as such, his role too ambiguous. There are GODS in human form. There are orgies. And there is philosophy, lots and lots of it. The world which Palmer has built is a hybrid based on the renaissance era Europe. She has given exotic Indian, Chinese and Japanese names to her characters but has not used the Philosophies of these people. Their names and characters just act to make the novel look and feel egalitarian. A future free of war, based on renaissance era Europe, lulled into a comfort zone. Behind this façade are murders to keep the world at peace. The search for a new home for humanity. A war to maintain the peace.

Sci-fi shows the reader the possibilities of a future. Palmer's future is a rehash of renaissance era Europe. The few benevolently running (ruling) the world. If the future looks just like the past and the present, then why bother?