Ruins (review)

In Pathfinder (BCCB 12/10), precocious young Rigg and his friends escaped a hostile army by finding a loophole (time travel) that allowed them to pass through the mysterious Wall that segments their world into nineteen parts. Each “Wallfold” represents a different evolution of passengers from a spaceship that carried human settlers to the planet, accidentally sent them back eleven thousand years in time, and created nineteen replications of the same ship. Now Rigg and co., guided by the “expendable” Vadesh (an enigmatic robot who has guided human progress from the beginning), try to piece together the secrets of this world before a new wave of human settlers reaches the planet—and causes their destruction. Lacking the straightforward quest and coming-of-age structure of the first book, Ruins instead dives deeply into explanations and philosophy at times; fortunately, the world itself is still intriguing enough to hold interest on its own terms, and the thoughtprovoking, impeccably developed particularities of the various parallel worlds that have grown up on this planet are reminiscent of those featured in Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Readers may also appreciate the Shakespearean scope of the resentments and power struggles brewing among the company as they work through issues of succession, free will, and the nature of humanity in a series of stage-ready dialogues. Adding issues of genetic engineering and colonization to the already complex thematic backdrop, this is a sci-fi fan’s science fiction epic, reveling in the possibilities of scientific advancement and exploring their consequences with a palpable and contagious fascination.