The Bohr Maker

I liked this book a lot. It shows exactly the kind of freewheeling imaginitive scope that I want in my science fiction, and I will definitely be pursuing the rest of the series.

I had assumed the title to be some kind of reference to Niels Bohr, the Nobel prize-winning physicist and developer of quantum theory, but that doesn't appear to be the case: Bohr is simply the name of the man who created the illegally-powerful nanotechnological "maker" that drives the story. The Commonwealth sets strict limits to the potential of makers in order to prevent a possible cataclysm, and their zealous police force will go to extreme lengths to prevent the spread of damaging variations.

This is a death sentence for Nikko, a bio-engineered post-human resident at the Summer House research station out in space. The research dispensation that allowed for his creation is expiring. He is dying, and only an illegal maker will save him. Which is why he tries to steal the Bohr Maker from the Commonwealth vaults, only things don't go entirely to plan, and several other people are drawn in to the escalating conflict.

Phousita was possibly a bit too nice, and Sandor a bit too naive, but the world was dazzling and felt like it had been thought through and made sense. This is what keeps me coming back to SF. Great stuff.