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The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds
01/10/2007 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
pub: Gollancz. 410 page hardback. Price: £17.99 (UK only). ISBN: 978-0-575-07716-4. e habitats floating in the space of the Glitter Belt. Most of the habitats have whatever rules they want and so long as people are free to choose which bizarre sub-culture to live in and the habitats don't interfere with the political process of the whole system, they are left to do as they please.
However, Dreyfus and his colleagues are drawn out of their routine poll-fixing investigations by the news that one of the ten thousand habitats has been completely and brutally destroyed by what looks like the work of the Conjoiners, the cyborg crews that pilot the freighters that enable trade across the galaxy.
The deaths of 950 people aboard the habitat seems quite straightforward initially but the more Dreyfus investigates, the more complicated things become. It gradually emerges that a much bigger force is playing its hand at taking over the whole of the Glitter Belt, a vast intelligence hidden amongst the computers, orchestrating a bloody take-over with help from within the police force.
Reynolds is much more polished here than in previous work I've read and the central plot-line, aided by its police thriller nature, hums along nicely. The visits to some of the extremely varied habitats are fascinating in a society where any mode of living is allowed including constant catatonia or permanent up-link to the computer network. The enemy is intimidatingly powerful and ties in nicely to the ethos and history of the world.
That's one of the real strengths to Alastair Reynolds work because most of his novels are set in the same general universe but cover different eras and characters, the background is rich and full of fully fleshed out events. Even though I haven't read all of his work and it's been a while since I came into contact with it, I felt like the hints to events of other books added to the novel's well-constructed milieu.
Space opera isn't as fashionable as it once was but novels of this quality and modern thinking don't deserve to be overlooked. Alastair Reynolds has created an immersive world that leaves you wanting more.
Tomas L. Martin
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