The Octagonal Raven
North by Northwest meets Logan's Run in this SF novel, complete with intriguing philosophical passages, by the author of The Saga of Recluce series. The result is an action-oriented, if somewhat didactic, thriller. At some point in the distant future someone is trying to kill space pilot and media consultant Daryn Alwyn. His attackers presumably want to make him a martyr, though the actual motives behind repeated attempts on his life are far more mysterious. Well born and with preselected genetic advantages, Alwyn seeks out his attackers, including the beautiful but enigmatic Elysa Mujaz-Kitab. When his sister is killed, Alwyn suddenly becomes one of the wealthiest men in the world, and the stakes are raised still higher. The surprising conclusion sees Alwyn becoming a hero to some, a villain to others, and leads the author to a detailed dissection of the inner workings of the powerful elite that runs society. Heinlein once exhorted SF writers to be boldly imaginative in projecting the world of tomorrow; by contrast, Modesitt's distant future looks and sounds remarkably like 2001: the computer-system equivalents are similar to the PCs and Macs of today, and everyone seems to speak in the argot of the late 20th century. Still, Modesitt handles action sequences capably--the attempts on Alwyn's life are intriguingly detailed--and the mystery-suspense angle is thoughtfully adumbrated. For readers seeking a hybrid of the SF and spy genres with a soup‡on of mystery, this rates as passable if slightly elongated--entertainment.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.