Book Review: The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams

Although normally cast in the future, science fiction still tends to be built upon current or relatively recent events and the state of the world. That's certainly the case with The Mirrored Heavens, the debut novel by David J. Williams. Williams uses terrorist threats, political battles, military branch rivalries and East-West distrust and tension as tools for a tale that combines military-flavored SF with a heavy dose of cyberpunk.

The Mirrored Heavens is set in 2110 on an Earth decimated environmentally and still feeling the ramifications of a nuclear war in the Middle East. The dominant political powers are the U.S. and a Eurasian coalition of Slavic countries and China. Those powers and the neutral Western European states run by commerce-oriented "Euro Magnates" have isolated their information systems from each other, including firewalls sealing off their cyberspace "zones." The book focuses on the hunt for Autumn Rain, a mysterious terrorist organization which has destroyed the Phoenix Space Elevator, a joint project of the United States and the Eurasian Coalition as part of the détente of the Second Cold War.

Williams approaches the tale with three different story lines involving different pairings of individuals. One is Claire Haskell and Jason Marlowe. Hearkening to some of the best cyberpunk tradition, Claire is a "razor," physically modified and trained to immerse herself into zones, including hacking into an enemy's. Jason is a "mechanic," a heavily armed and armored agent who can physically carry out missions facilitated by a razor hacking into and undermining opponents in the zones. Another razor-mechanic pairing exists with the Operative and his razor, Lynx; they are in search of a former fellow agent who has retired to the moon. While these groups are hunting Autumn Rain, Lyle Spencer, an undercover agent, is being blackmailed into helping Linehan, a rogue trying to escape the United States.

Using the different story lines means The Mirrored Heavens has almost non-stop action. It seems as if at least one of the pairings is always engaged in blasting their way into or out of almost hopeless situations. As a result, the book seems the verbal equivalent of a first-person shooter video game. The action is hard-hitting, as well as highly destructive and widely fatal. It's amazing the mechanics can carry as much ammo and explosives as they do. Of course, they need to given the fact they always are exceedingly outnumbered.

Article Author: Tim Gebhart

Tim Gebhart lives in Sioux Falls, SD, where he practices law in order to provide shelter for his family, his dogs, and his books. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and his blog de guerre is A Progressive on the Prairie.

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