Teaser

In the future, the line between life and death is thinner than it has ever been. People are grown in artificial wombs, and can communicate with the uploaded minds of their ancestors. Paradise, or dystopia? The answer depends on how much you know . . .

Review

I was born in the 1990s, which means two things. Firstly, I don’t actually remember a whole lot of that decade because my brain was still developing, though I do recall being very excited to write the year 2000 on in my schoolbook for the first time. Secondly, it means that I feel wildly uncomfortable any time I try to categorise the decade. It still feels too recent, even in the futuristic space year 2025. However, when I made my New History of Science Fiction article earlier this year, I settled on the idea of the 90s being part of a Silver Age. The New Wave had faded away, leaving the genre with more detailed prose and an openness to new ideas. The Hard SF renaissance of the 80s had largely subsided, and the boom in Military SF (no pun intended) was still around the corner. It’s tempting to see the 90s as somewhat stagnant, but I think that’s more a lack of personal experience with fiction of the time than anything else. The more I look, the more I see the early hints of the future of the genre. Alongside the usual mix of Hard SF and Space Opera, there are hints of more realistic military depictions, the steady rise of cyberpunk. And, in Mortal Remains, there is a recognisable element of what we today would call biopunk.

Christopher Evans’ Mortal Remains is a mix of biopunk sensibilities, cyberpunk technology, and good old-fashioned space opera. The biopunk elements are brought about by the inciting elements of a stolen womb. There’s a lot of this book that feels incredibly squishy. Spaceships have living components, and the line between living and artificial is hazy at best. Alongside that we have the idea of the noosphere, a space in which the souls of the dead continue to exist through the marvels of machinery. The precise mechanics of this are explored as the book goes on. Indeed Heirs of the Noosphere is given as an alternative title for the book. Along the way we get to explore such classic SF questions as ‘what does it mean to be human?’ and ‘do we have the right to exert control over nature?’

Where I think the book falls down is in the delivery. Evans is a contemporary of the legendary Iain M. Banks, and while there is something to be said for the late twentieth century resurgence of British SF authors, I think there are certain stylistic pitfalls that are commonplace in that esteemed company. Mortal Remains is told in two main strands. One is the broader picture, told through third person and hopping across worlds and characters. The other is a much tighter first-person perspective of a man who awakes knowing nothing, not even his own name. This proves to be a problem, as our unnamed narrator is largely disconnected from what appears to be the main story. Eventually, the two halves of the story intersect, but it’s purposefully unclear for too long. It’s hard to find the solution satisfying when you haven’t been able to focus on the puzzle at hand. Part of me also wonders if the mid-90s accumulation of SF ideas had lost its charm. There are dozens of old ideas piled into this book, but the new ones are not enough to hook my interest on their own. That good, old sense of wonder isn’t fully formed.

At the end of the day, there’s a lot to enjoy about Mortal Remains, but the overall package leaves a lot to be desired. Put simply, there are other books out there that do it better.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• Published in 1995
• 318 Pages