It has been several years since the first two "Spin" books came out. Long enough for me to forget what the heck is going on and not quite be able to catch up. Sigh.Cohen, the Jewish cyber-sybarite, has travelled to Pittsburgh to commit suicide. A Pittsburgh on another planet, not Earth's Pittsburgh. As the first book was sort of set in a Welsh coal mine *in space*, this one is a run-down blue-collar steel town. *In space.*That's kind of cool; the problem is the background, which is relentlessly recapped and yet still somehow unclear. Ever since the coal mines blew up in the first book, FTL has been on the way out -- it was FTL coal -- so Earth's colonies are scrambling to achieve some kind of self-sufficiency before space travel becomes impossible. Only it's not becoming *impossible*, it's becoming... pirates. *In space.* Everyone is looking at the Drift, an area of space where FTL will either remain possible or has never been possible because of multiple universes. There are pirates there.This book would have been pretty awesome if I understood what it was about.In fact it doesn't deserve that much snark. It was pretty good regardless. Catherine Li (Cohen's wife, a human being) has to travel out to Space Pittsburgh -- via a form of cheap, dangerous FTL which either does or does not require space coal -- sorry -- anyway, she winds up forked in a quantum teleportation accident. (It took me three-quarters of the book to figure this out, but that isn't the author's fault. I was just dumb. Two alternating plot threads: two Catherines.)She winds up on both sides of a space pirate feud, while trying to find Cohen and ask him why he killed himself.This book is a serious attempt to tangle with how *different* AIs might be. Cohen is a distributed network of software agents; "death" is a disintegration, but leaves sentient fragments and shadow-Cohens all over. (In fact we meet an AI who used to be part of Cohen but seceded.) Then of course we have the bimodal Li. So this is excellent SF idea-wrangling. And the story has lots of *stuff* going on, what with the pirate captain and the blue-collar cop and the scary bad guys closing in everywhere. I just... couldn't get oriented, through the whole book. Ghost Spin is a strange story with a strange story line. It is Science Fiction. It is set in the far future when an artificial intelligence named Cohen kills himself. This is unexpected. AI's don't kill themselves. I kept reading this even though it was confusing at times. There are parts or Ghosts of Cohen that appear in the story. There is Cohen's wife Catherine. In her quest to find out if Cohen really did commit suicide she ends up sending copies of herself across the galaxy. As a result we have Caitlyn and Catherine, the same character but not the same.Parts of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland are woven into the story and provide clues to what is happening. Ghost Spin is a well written and well thought out story filled with interesting characters. Don't expect it to be a quick read and don't expect all the loose ends to be tied up. At time it can be confusing as it moves from the present to the past and back. Don't quit. Do expect a interesting and challenging read.
What do You think about Ghost Spin (2013)?
good conclusion of the trilogy, which is a treat for hard SciFi fans.
—Hugo
Got a bit preachy at times... But overall good book. Recommended.
—Dazia
