Marseguro by Edward Willett
DAW, $7.99, 392pp, pb, 9780756404642. Science fiction.
The title of Edward Willett’s new novel, Marseguro, refers to a water world far distant from Earth in space, but scant weeks away in travel time. Willett has assumed several technological advances in order for this novel to work: genesculpting, cloning, faster-than-light travel via brane space, and a Heinleinian “If this Goes On” of a religious dictatorship in the United States. But the pieces all come together nicely to tell a good story of the man who created a new race of amphibious humans, and the results of his efforts to protect them from the growing threat of religious zealots.
The book gets off to a slow start, but it picks up speed, and eventually finds itself steamrolling to an inevitable, but satisfying and enjoyable conclusion. The only part I wasn’t thrilled with was Willett’s paltry description of Marseguro (Spanish for “safe ocean”), a planet that is almost entirely ocean, but it wasn’t enough to ruin the book for me.
Warning: there are spoilers for the novel here. If you’d rather not read about the plot, know that I recommend the book.
It is half a century after Earth’s destruction by asteroid was narrowly averted by another asteroid. This God-given redemption was the foundation for the strangehold the Body Purified holds over the people of Earth. At the time, geneticist Victor Hansen knew there would be no place in that new world for his Selkies, genetically modified people who are far more at home underwater than on dry land. And though there are colonies on the Moon and several other planets, Hansen made as sure as he could that his children would disappear onto their own planet, hopefully never to be found by the Body Purified.
But he left a few surprises, and a few clones, as an insurance policy (and because he figured the religious mania couldn’t last more than a generation).
One of those surprises is Richard Hansen, a descendant on Earth, who just doesn’t fit in, but is doing his best. He’s been assigned the task of finding Grandpa Victor’s Selkies, so that the Body Purified can Purify them out of existence, to appease the vengeful God they worship. On Marseguro, we find a growing colony world with its share of malcontents, including Chris Keating, who knows the Body Purified is right, and will do his best to help them in their assigned task, if only it will mean he can get back to the Earth of his dreams. Seems like a match made in heaven, until Richard realizes his goals aren’t really his own, and Chris realizes there’s something he can do.
They, Richard’s army, and Chris’s fellow Marseguroites, are headed for a clash of epic proportions, and Willett doesn’t disappoint. We have reversals of fortune, reversals of loyalty, and battles to satisfy the most bloodthirsty fan. Can a new colony with few weapons survive a heavily armed invasion? Will the follow-on orbital bombardment finish the job? Can the colony’s secret industry turn the tide? All these questions, and more, are answered in this fast-reading novel.
The last few pages (the final scenes) feel tacked on, almost as if they were written after Willett found out he’d sold the sequel, Terra Insegura, and needed to set it up. But that’s forgiveable, because he has sold that sequel, and I’m curious to see what story he can write that will match the Moon is a Harsh Mistress-type revolution in this one.