Crashing Heaven

Humankind is caught in the middle of a high-stakes war between competing AIs in this provocative cyberpunk space opera (a prequel to Waking Hell). The Pantheon, a group of powerful corporate AIs, schemes on Station, a space station in the asteroid belt. Seven years before, a terrorist attack started a brutal war between the Pantheon and a group of independent AIs called the Totality. Some members of the Totality were grown to inhabit human or android bodies, called puppets. Forensic auditor Jack Forster fought for the Pantheon but became disillusioned by a conflict in which humans were doing all the sacrificing and dying. Now the war is over, and Jack is back on Station with iconoclastic Hugo Fist, the last of the Totality puppets. Jack attempts to reconnect with old friends, learns they were murdered, and decides to investigate their deaths, which leads him into a widening spiral of complex plots. Robertson has created a well-developed future and a story full of action and intrigue, raising deep questions about the nature of intelligence, humanity, and personal freedom. (July)