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First published in omnibus The Realms of Tartarus
Translated into German as: Zurück ins Licht;
Translated into Japanese

Review by Ian Braidwood

Cast of Characters:
Carl, Joth, Ryan and Julea Magner. Chemec, Camlak, Porcel, Ermold, Nita, Sada, Old Man Yami, Huldi, Rafael Heres, Abram Revelent, Thorold Warnet, Enzo Ulicon, Jervis Burnstone, Yvon Emerich, Eliot Rypeck, Randal Harkander Iorga, Joel Dayling, Sisyr, Gregor Zuzara, Vicente Soron, Javan Sobol, Joachim Casirati, Alwyn Ballow, Luel Dascon, Germont.

The momentum built up at the end of A Vision of Hell carries you into this novel at a rate of knots and we find that the nature of Camlak's disappearance has completely unmanned Raphael Heres. The hegemon had planned to co-opt Carl Magner's agenda, but in his panic, he declares an all-out war of obliteration against the people of the underworld. Viruses are engineered and armoured cars are sent out to spread them, but The Children of the Voice and the life system of the underworld give Euchronia a couple of really nasty surprises.

The character of Sisyr develops very nicely and through a neat change of perspective transforms into a much more sympathetic character. There's no trite assumption that, because Sisyr's an alien, it is therefore incomprehensible. Instead Sisyr has its own motivations.

One very interesting theme is the game of Hoh, which turns out to be a development of John Conway's Game of Life. David Brin, in his novel Glory Season gives quite a detailed treatment of Life, but it's clear here that Brian not only got there 15 years earlier, but also extended the idea to permit players to change the characteristics of the pieces (page 330 in the DAW edition) to allow for evolution. Also, whereas Brin's game is purely a zero-sum conflict, Brian's can be played as a nonzero-sum game.

Hoh is used here not only to illustrate certain personal and philosophical aspects of the characters; but also to shed light on the ending, which is not neat and tidy. Indeed, were Brian to have tied up all the lose ends, then the point of the novel would have been undermined.