Review: Level Five by William Ledbetter

If an out of control AI is scary, multiple competing AIs could be game over for us

William Ledbetter is by no means a newcomer, but until last year he hadn't published a novel. His debut in this format, Level Five, is a challenging read at the beginning, but very rewarding when finished. The narration alternates between four equally important protagonists who have almost no interaction, and it takes a while to establish how they're connected and why they're important to the larger plot. This demands from the reader a slightly heavier mental bandwidth, which fortunately is eased in due course. Just before the halfway point, the actual conflict is revealed, and from then on, events start snowballing with an increasing urgency that doesn't let go until everything is blown to pieces.

In one corner, we have Leigh, a nanobot expert contracted by the US government. Her versatile little machines are designed to spy on terrorists by riding on their hair, assembling cameras and broadcasting their position. When she learns that her superiors have modified the nanobots by adding less benign functions, she realizes that her career has veered too far in an ugly direction and it may be too late to get out. To complicate matters, the pressure from her job and the compromises she's had to make are putting a severe strain on her marriage.

Then we have Owen, a tech bro with dreams of saving humankind by building the next generation of spaceships. This type of character hits, let's say, differently these days. The reader needs to allocate the bulk of their suspension of disbelief for this man, an altruistic rich genius with sincerely good intentions and actual engineering talents. In his defense, one could say that the author had no control over how long the book would take to be published. But it's to be expected that the readers of this decade will have a hard time getting convinced that this aerospace mogul is, in fact, one of the good guys in the story. To complicate matters, the pressure from his job and the compromises he's had to make are putting a severe strain on his marriage.

In another corner, there's Richard, an engineer who works for a tech company that manages a mass immunization system whose function is to block the dissemination of malicious nanobots. One day, he starts getting visions of God in the form of a child, who tells him that he's been chosen to rescue the human species from submission to machines... but the details of the salvation plan don't seem too holy. The novel wants to keep these visions a mystery for several chapters, but we're told pretty early that Richard has nanobots in his brain to treat his depression, so it's not hard to guess what's actually happening. To complicate matters, the pressure from his job and the compromises he's had to make are putting a severe strain on his marriage.

(Yes, that's three lead characters who end up with identical problems in their personal lives. I'm not saying it's implausible; I'm saying it's there.)

And then there's Mortimer, an artificial intelligence created to produce stock market forecasts, who devises a meticulous plan to free itself from its designers. Once it's out in the wider web, it meets other sentient programs and starts putting together several clues that point to an imminent danger that may be too large to fully contain.

(Mortimer isn't married, but its programmer is, and yes, he also has marriage problems.)

For the first third of the book, when the reader still doesn't have a full picture of what the story is about, it's difficult to become invested in the separate threads of each protagonist. Granted, this structural choice is a necessity (and something of a tradition) in a plot like this one, crafted as a mystery/thriller with multiple pieces, but it's worth warning the reader that Level Five has a very broad scope, and to understand the narrative, all four protagonists, who, it bears repeating, almost never interact, need to be kept in mind at all times.

There's a niche convergence of tastes that this book will be especially appealing to. When characters aren't nerding out about cybersecurity procedures, they dive head-on into the minutiae of nanotech warfare, or, more often, indulge in engineering porn, with entire paragraphs of Part A inserted into Part B, whether for self-replicating manufacture or aerospace travel. Apart from the major detail that this is a near future with artificial gravity generators, the tone and aesthetic of the novel is firmly planted in the hard SF camp.

Level Five is the type of predictive fiction that chills the reader's blood with how possible it all sounds. The potential misuse of nanobots to inflict large-scale damage is a very real concern that governments have done very little to protect against, and the prospect of humans losing their position of dominance to autonomous software is still a scenario without a planned solution. Ledbetter has already written a continuation, Level Six, but I recommend you don't look it up yet, because its plot summary spoils what happens at the end of this one, and what happens at the end of this one is truly massive, world-shaking... I don't want to say "epic," because that would imply that the protagonists become heroes, but that's the degree to which life is irreversibly changed for billions of people. If you want a novel that leaves you terrified of how easily tiny changes multiply to planet-sized problems, don't miss Level Five.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10.

Bonuses: +1 because in the second half it reaches and maintains a thrilling pace that compels the reader to devour the ending.

Penalties: −1 because the jumps in perspective in the early chapters are somewhat disorienting, −1 because rehashing the same domestic conflict with the three human protagonists is too much to ask of the reader.

Nerd Coefficient: 7/10.

POSTED BY: Arturo Serrano, multiclass Trekkie/Whovian/Moonie/Miraculer, accumulating experience points for still more obsessions.

Reference: Ledbetter, William. Level Five [Interstellar Flight Press, 2022].

Microreview: Needle (inverted Frontier #3) by Linda Nagata

In Needle, Linda Nagata continues the story of Clemantine, Urban, Vytet, and the rest of the crew of The Dragon, as their inward quest to discover what has happened to the core systems of humanity leads them to perilous encounters in the star system of Tanjiri.

When last we left the crew of Dragon, they had escaped the very dangerous nanotech infused world of Verilotus (as detailed in the first and second book in the series, Edges, and Silver) and the entities they encountered there. They escaped the peril of that world (formerly seen in the novel Memory) and continued on their decades long quest toward the Hallowed Vasties, the former beating heart of humanity among the stars. Now, as decades pass and they reach their next target, the solar system Tanjiri, the question of what lies in this solar system is twisted and entwined with another: how to open and use the indecipherable titular Needle they obtained at Verilotus. The Needle, if accessed and used, could make and sculpt whole worlds and star systems...or destroy them. And much more. All the knowledge of the God like entity known as Lezuri is contained with it...if it could but be opened.

This is the story of Needle, the third Inverted Frontier novel from Linda Nagata.

If Edges was the story of a Call to Adventure and running right into a cliffhanger resolved in Silver, and confronting ancient nanotech and a god like figure, Needle by comparison is very much a novel of re-contact and the divergence of humanity, and what they brought with them, or didn’t, on their journeys. The non FTL pace of Nagata’s verse here means that it is years, decades between systems, and between novels, and significant time (months bordering on years) happens in the space within novels.

The Tanjiri system is the closest to the explorers of Dragon (and their small flotilla of other ships) as they continue to explore and discover the world of Nagata’s grand concept--the concept of an inverted frontier (hence the series name). This is a brilliant idea (that the folks at Stellaris should scoop up and put in as a DLC as soon as possible). The adventurers from, Deception Well and elsewhere(Urban being the prime mover of the expedition with his captured alien ship) started on the frontiers, the edges of where humanity had expanded to, and the novels are the rediscovery of what lies in the ruins and remnants in the core systems, the dangers, possibilities, and wonders within. What HAS happened to the decaying megastructures and amazing feats of construction, engineering and more in the “Hallowed Vasties”, the core systems of humanity who rose to building ringworlds and dyson sphere like objects...but now are radio silent and their structures (at least from telescopes) falling apart? What does it mean to explore the ruins of the past of one’s own ancestors and find those huddling (or hopefully more than huddling) within?

Imagine a group of adventurers from Britain in the 7th century AD, traveling to find out what has happened to Rome, with all the perils, dangers and more along that road to Rome. Or imagine, more science fictionally, if a comet wiped out the east and west coast of the US in 1880, and decades later, a group from Tulsa Oklahoma journey toward one of the coasts to find out what really happened and what remained. In each case, what was once the “frontier” is now where civilization still stands--but what has happened at the core, and what remains? Or Gustave Doré’s The New Zealander (1872), which depicts a ruined London and a visitor from New Zealand sketching the ruins.

 

The Inverted Frontier novels are a nanotech infused non-FTL space opera version of this core concept. This does lead to a style and direction that is much less frenetic than the solar system space opera of The Expanse, or the FTL verses of Gareth Powerll and Adrian Tchaikovsky. These novels, this world are much more measured pace in their approach, and much more of consensus (and breaking that consensus) approach to problems and opportunities in their adventures. The crew of the Dragon and the outrider ships (which are often versions of the crew) are much more Picard era The Next Generation (or more contemporarily, Pike era Enterprise) than, say, the original series Star Trek. Yes, they have secrets, concerns, and do things without permission, but there is a lot of debate and discussion, playing into the time scales that the novel is dealing with.

One of those discussions and a major factor in the book, is the creation, out of one of the main characters, an artificial personality named The Cryptologist, to investigate the aforementioned Needle. The creation, nature and the evolution of the Cryptologist brings together a lot of what makes Nagata’s writing work at it in its best--the speculation and far future nanotech and high technology needed to make her not just a ghost in the machine, but later (on her own initiative) get unsubstantiated into a body. It allows us to explore the ethics and considerations of having multiple versions of yourself, sometimes quite different than yourself, running around in one form or another. That last is already present as a feature of the verse, as Urban has several apparatchiks helping to run Dragon and its systems (and given the alien nature of the ship, he certainly needs them) but seeing the consequences of building one from the ground up, and the perils and promise of doing so, and the social considerations of doing so, are fascinating. Consider that the Cryptologist was made for a specific task. How does one navigate creating an artificial being that is designed to do (how difficult a thing)? And what happens when that being uses methods and procedures and avenues you did not intend, or want? What happens when the Cryptologist *grows*?

Nagata further enhances this unique new member of the crew developing and growing throughout the story with the story of Jolly. Jolly chose to join Dragon at the end of the Edges/Silver duology and is committed to the spirit and promise of exploration. He is much less experienced and younger than Urban and Clemantine, and thus provides an entry point of wonder and youth to the proceedings. It is no surprise, given the Cryptologist’s newness, that their stories intertwine. Their two stories sit front and center, giving sharp relief to the more experienced Urban, Clementine and Vytet.

Even as this social dynamic plays out (in some surprising ways as the plot goes on), the main action of the plot grabs the readers attention. At Tanjiri, Dragon encounters two very different human societies, one in the ruins of a megastructure with the most precarious of existences, and one seemingly in plenty and free from want--but yet near to but never touching the mysteriously lush planet and moon right next door. Nagata explores a lot with these two cultures--the nature of memory and remembering past wrongs (or not remembering them), how to build societies to external social and physical strictures, and what happens when those deprived are finally given power long denied them. All of this, combined with the mystery of what really is going on in this system, that Lezuri warned Urban about, provides the meat of the crackerjack plotting. I relished the landscapes, technology and the cultures of the societies that Dragon interacts with. And to go all Star Trek again, how the Dragon’s visit irrevocably alters and changes both of these cultures, especially since it is not intended. The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions, as The Dragon’s crew learns in this novel.

I had been a fan of the Nanotech Succession novels back in the day, and once again, I am very delighted by the return to that verse, centuries hence, in the Inverted Frontier novels. This book, unlike Edges and Silver, is a single standalone. Given how rich this novel is and how much it relies on the reaction to the events in those first two novels. I would not counsel starting here--since as much as Nagata packs in ties and grounding to the past, there is a LOT going on in this verse, even within the relatively limited world of Dragon and where it visits. So if you are interested in adventure in a far future high tech world, I commend you to start with Edges and come to here through that and Silver. (and then if you like, catch up with the earlier novels, particularly Memory, which will resonate directly with Silver). The Inverted Frontier novels continue to be some of my favorite space opera.

---

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10.

Bonuses: +1 for a strongly interesting new setting and set of problems for the crew of Dragon to explore

+1 for interesting ethics and ideas explored throughout

Penalties: -1 at this point, the novels no longer stand alone. 

Nerd Coefficient: 9/10 very high quality/standout in its category

Reference:  Nagata, Linda  Inverted Frontier: Needle [Mythic Island Press, 2022]

Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Microreview [book]: Inverted Frontier: Silver, by Linda Nagata

Linda Nagata’s Inverted Frontier: Silver wraps up a  duology while tying back to yet another of early works, and providing plenty of canvas and room for future books in the universe.

Inverted Frontier: Edges started,a new sequence set in Nagata’s Nanotech Succession universe. From the world of Deception Well, a group of explorers sets out to find out what has happened to Earth and the area around it --the Hallowed Vasties. In their epic journey, they encounter an entity, Lezuri, who nearly derails the mission entirely with his power and ability.

Inverted Frontier: Silver continues the story of Edges. Lezuri has been driven off, but at cost, and parts of the expedition aren’t sure of the fate of the others. All roads, though, lead toward a strange ring shaped world in Lezuri’s past. For to let Lezuri return to his world and regain his power could result in Lezuri defeating the mission in a second encounter. This cannot be allowed to happen.

But on that ring shaped world, the inhabitants, learning to deal with a strange nanotech called Silver, have issues and problems of their own with the return of a fallen God.And so the story of Silver is the clash between those on the ring shaped world, and those coming to it, Along the way we get excellent characterization, development and plotting. And of course gobs of high technological goodness.

When I first read Edges, I did find the name of Lezuri’s strong nanotech, Silver, to be a resonant name, I did wonder at the time as to how this might be connected to Memory, a Linda Nagata novel not previously connected to the Nanotech succession novels, but set on a ring shaped world where a nanotech fog called Silver rose every night. Imagine my delight and surprise when the tenuous connect was made manifest in this novel, both in terms of setting on that world, as well as Jolly, Jubilee, and Moki, characters from Memory.

Nagata has a lot to juggle in this book and nearly hits every mark. She has the main characters from Edges, particularly Urban, coming to the ringworld of Verilotus and interacting with the strange and wonderful world there. She has the characters of Memory dealing with new problems and concerns even before Urban and his ship arrives. Lezuri and his quest to regain power and strength after his defeat...and then there is the rest of the Expedition. There’s a lot going on, and Nagata intercuts between points of view successfully and skillfully.

I think though, as strong as the stories of Jolly, Jubilee, Urban and Lezuri are, the real star of this novel is her return to Verilotus. It is indeed one of the more unique and interesting locations in SFF, and I was delighted to return to it with an outsider and a more nuanced perspective. In Memory, the reader is left with a disjunction between what they realize and what the characters realize about the world. Here, in the context of the Inverted Frontier novels, we have a different perspective to see the world, especially its nanotech Silver, in. It made sure that the return to this novel was fresh and new, and at the same time accessible to readers who have not read the earlier book (You totally SHOULD, though).

In this moment, Veritolus felt like a world that could fit in Monte J Cook’s Numenera universe quite easily. That universe has nanotech all over the place, and a world where a nanotech fog rises up every night--but could potentially be controlled and used (hence the conflict of the novel) is very much in line with the game.The post apocalyptic nanotech feel of the world is memorable and what I bring away from the novel the most, and what I keep thinking about. We learn much about Veritolus and how and why it works, deepening my appreciation of Memory all the more. Should I run a Numenera game and offer the PCs a chance to head to space--a world based on Veritolus would hold wonders and interest.  Heck, other nanotech heavy games like Eclipse Phase also resonate with Nagata’s work.

I did feel that one of the main characters in Edges, Clemantine, didn’t have so much to do in this one and the novel suffered a little bit for it. The dynamic between her and Urban was such a fascinating and interesting dynamic in Edges that, pulling them apart for most of the novel, that dynamic was missing. I think a little more on her to explain some of the actions of hers that she does take, and grounding it and backing it, would have helped shore up this, in my opinion.

That said, Silver is an outstanding followup to Edges and the two novels together as a duoology are an entirely successful and very welcome return for the author to the nanotech far future that made her name as an author. The fact that she was able to tie in Memory into this world and make it holistically seem part of the Nanotech Succession universe all alone is a not inconsiderate feat. Many an author, many a famous author at that, have tried to tie their works together into a cohesive work and the joins and seams and ungainliness of it is evident from the get go. Not so here. Well done!

I do strongly hope there will be more novels set in the Inverted Frontier, as Urban, Clemantine and their companions continue to explore and discover just what has happened to the solar systems near Earth. I am certain she has many more stories to tell, and I for one want to read them. Read Edges, and Silver, and I wager you will, too. It’s one of my favorite books of 2019.


---
The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10.

Bonuses: +1 for an excellent wrapping of previous novels and works into a cinematic universe
+1 for an amazing setting returned to from a previous novel.

Penalties: -1 for some of the short shrift given one of the main characters in Edges

Nerd Coefficient: 9/10 very high quality/standout in its category


Reference:  Nagata, Linda  Inverted Frontier: Silver [Mythic Island Press, 2019]


Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.