Machine Vendetta by Alistair Reynolds

Book Review

Sarah Deeming

Prefect Tom Dreyfus works for Panoply, a small police force whose sole focus is maintaining the democratic rights of the residents of the habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. When a colleague dies in suspicious circumstances, Dreyfus is sent to investigate, which leads him back to a name he never wanted to hear again: Aurora, an AI with unprecedented speed, capacity, and malice, who wants to control humanity. How is Dreyfus’ colleague’s death linked to Aurora? The more he investigates the case, the more Dreyfus realises that his decisions from previous encounters with Aurora have directly impacted what is happening now, and there are some decisions he cannot come back from.

In the final instalment of Reynold’s Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies, we return to the Glitter Band one final time four years after the events of Elysium Rising. We go straight into the action with the death of a central character from the previous books, Ingvar Tench (not a spoiler; it is on the book’s back blurb), so we know immediately we are in for a hell of a ride.

If you’ve followed the series, then you will slip back into the universe easily, like putting on an old coat. Panoply’s procedures and rules are at the core of everything Dreyfus and the prefects do, and we can see how those procedures have developed based on the events of the previous books. There are no massive info dumps, as might be expected. Instead, there is an expectation that you have read the previous books, so bear in mind that if this is your first foray into the Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies, you might be better off going back to Aurora Rising and starting from the beginning. It’s a brilliant story and a regular re-read for me.

As well as the police procedural elements, there are some strong sci-fi elements. After all, Reynolds is a master of hard sci-fi, so don’t expect anything else. Aurora is the AI replication of a real person who was supposed to be put into an artificial body but escaped those constraints. The habitats are city-sized floating structures designed to create their own gravity, and people have enhancements or de-evolved to live a simpler life while still maintaining their voting rights. This examination of how humanity might evolve in the future is fascinating and unique. The series is well worth reading if only for the sheer imagination that went into creating the universe with all its nuances. 

This is a typical Alistair Reynolds book in that it is brilliantly written and keeps you guessing right until the very end. Machine Vendetta is a magnificent blend of detective noir and sci-fi. Each question answered raises new questions, expertly leading us by the nose to the final conclusion with more than a few heartbreaks along the way. When I finished, I was emotionally exhausted, and there was no doubt that this would be the final time we would see Tom Dreyfus as we currently know him. Sad, yes, but an amazing read. It’s made me rearrange my TBR pile so I can reread the series and experience the whole journey again.

If you can’t guess, I loved Machine Vendetta. It is a powerful conclusion to a fantastic series that belongs on the shelf of every sci-fi or detective noir fan. Highly recommended.