A 1995 novel of the near future which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award (and I think also the BSFA). It’s a pessimistic take on the post-nanotech future, particularly convincing on the relationship between high-tech computing and low-tech field combat in a very recognisable near-future Albania (yep, I’ve stayed in that hotel too).
I thought the settings were very convincing if rather gloomy – 1994-95 saw the height of the Bosnian conflict, and from that perspective McAuley’s Balkans, mired in conflict for decades, would have seemed entirely plausible. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite bring myself to care much about the characters, but I did admire the scenery.
Arthur C. Clarke Award winners:
The Handmaid’s Tale | The Sea and Summer | Unquenchable Fire | The Child Garden | Take Back Plenty | Synners | Body of Glass | Vurt | Fools | Fairyland | The Calcutta Chromosome | The Sparrow | Dreaming in Smoke | Distraction | Perdido Street Station | Bold as Love | The Separation | Quicksilver | Iron Council | Air | Nova Swing | Black Man | Song of Time | The City & the City | Zoo City | The Testament of Jessie Lamb | Dark Eden | Ancillary Justice | Station Eleven | Children of Time | The Underground Railroad | Dreams Before the Start of Time | Rosewater | The Old Drift | The Animals in that Country | Deep Wheel Orcadia | Venomous Lumpsucker | In Ascension | Annie Bot
I was going to say all three differently, but I went with paw and pour the same because I couldn’t hear the difference when I said it. And then I read‘s reply and I think that’s probably the closest to reality.