When the general public thinks of science fiction novels, they tend to assume they are filled with epic-space battles, funny headed aliens and robots that go beep. People who actually read science fiction, however, know that a lot of it is about the future of human thought. The backdrop of ‘science fiction’ simply serves to work as a metaphor for our current society. Science fiction lets you fiddle with the settings of the real world until the hard truths of reality are thrown into sharp focus.
No more so than Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series. To stretch the analogy further, Palmer grabs those settings and adjusts them with gleeful abandon, twiddling the metaphorical knobs and dials like some crazed mad scientist in a cheesy movie. Her latest book, The Will to Battle, does this more so than the others.
The Will to Battle is the third book in Terra Ignota series. The first book (her debut) is Too Like the Lightning, which came out in 2016, and was followed swiftly by Seven Surrenders. If you haven’t read the last two, you will be swiftly loss; this is not a series you can just dive into. Not for any narrative reason, though. It’s just that it’d be a bit like coming into a very complicated debate halfway through.
The plot follows on from the last two books. The near-utopia of the previous novels has collapsed. The advanced civilisation where one can live with like-minded individuals in a ‘Hive’ and live in a way that suits them is gone. Atrocities revealed in the previous novels have unleashed bloody murder upon the population. Advanced technology, it seems, is no use in a riot.
Written in a unique style, which is intended to not set the pace but also make it clear to the reader that this is a different world from one we live in, The Will to Battle is heavy going. Ada Palmer is the hot new writer in the world of social science fiction, noted for dense narratives, intricate world building, complicated character motivations and endless philosophical discussions. As such, The Will to Battle is all this in spades.
Part novel, part series of nested essays, part project, The Will to Battle is much greater than the whole; an exercise in both narrative flexibility and philosophy. This is not airport reading nor is it for beginners. However, if anyone ever snobbily tells you that science fiction has no literary value, get them this book. It’s a powerful expression of what the genre can do and partially what it’s actually for. It’s also rather thick and heavy so if all else fails, you can bash them with it. [We didn’t tell you to do this – Ed]
This book qualifies for this year’s Hugo nominations. Given that Palmer won the Campbell last year (the Hugo-adjacent prize for new authors), we would be completely unsurprised to see it in the short-list or even winning outright. The Will to Battle requires a substantial investment of time and mental energy but is worth it.
THE WILL TO BATTLE / AUTHOR: ADA PALMER / PUBLISHER: HEAD OF ZEUS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
