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In the face of an alien threat, Russia and a xenophobic US must work together to save humanity in "one of the better science fiction novels of the year" (Library Journal). In a near future where a paranoid America has sealed itself off from the rest of the world by a vast and complicated defense system, a young Russian scientist infiltrates all defenses to tell an almost unbelievable and truly terrifying story. At the outer reaches of the solar system, near Pluto, has been detected a superior form of intelligent life, far smarter than man and in possession of technology that makes it immune to attack from human weaponry and strong enough to easily destroy planet Earth. Can humans set aside their differences and mutual fears to work together and defeat a common enemy? For each generation, there is a writer meant to bend the rules of what we know. Hugo Award winner (Best Novel, Stand on Zanzibar) and British science fiction master John Brunner remains one of the most influential and respected authors of all time, and now many of his classic works are being reintroduced. For readers familiar with his vision, it is a chance to reexamine his thoughtful worlds and words, while for new readers, Brunner's work proves itself the very definition of timeless. … (more)
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The amazing (and a bit frightening) thing is that this was written 40+ years ago, and many aspects of the society described in the book either have or are well on their way to
Brunner also weaves in multiple themes, with two I found most mysterious or intriguing actually receiving the smallest word count. That may not be detrimental, though, and though initially taken separately these are threaded together in the end, in a satisfying way. It was clear they would link up, but the structure or logic of the two was more subtle than that: alien species arrives outside Pluto and communicates in images; character's clairvoyant powers are clearly going to be needed as "new perspective" for communicating with them. It wasn't as clear, however, that both the alien species and the clairvoyance are directly linked to time's arrow.
Brunner glances over a premise explored iconically in Clarke's 2001 and later by Banks in his Excession novel of the Culture: the Out of Context / First Contact threat. Brunner places the alien threat "outside Pluto". Funny it's there, knowing as we do now there is nothing "there" to park around, assume that's part of Brunner's alignment with then-accepted model of solar system having Pluto as its outer boundary. The resolution is interestingly anticlimactic, ending on a note of interspecies communication, handled offstage.
As with my reading of Sturgeon, the classic SFnal plot and premise are slight at first blush, but Brunner is unconstrained and leavens his tale with all manner of ideas and mannerisms, the cumulative effect of which is a denser world-building than is suggested by the small page count. Among these: future dialect used realistically in dialogue and left for the reader to interpret; global political alignments, permutated from 20th Century but not always in orthodox directions; consumer trends reflecting political balance of power; the further development of familiar racial relations, at least in the US. There's a lot to look at as the landscape speeds by the novel's windows.