Europe in Winter
Ratings3
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings3
Average rating3.3
A Fractured Europe. A Parallel World. A Global Threat. Union has come. The Community is now the largest nation in Europe; trains run there from as far afield as London and Prague. It is an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity. So what is the reason for a huge terrorist outrage? Why do the Community and Europe meet in secret, exchanging hostages? And who are Les Coureurs des Bois? Along with a motley crew of strays and mafiosi and sleeper agents, Rudi sets out to answer these questions – only to discover that the truth lies both closer to home and farther away than anyone could possibly imagine.
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When I finished this book, I was still not sure that I've read the completed novel.
My review of Europe in Autumn argued that that book was not really a novel but the first part of a longer novel. I pointed out that that book decided to bring in a mind-blowing change of direction without wrapping up the loose threads. Normally, I think that kind of thing is dirty pool. We purchase books as books, rather than as parts of books, but I was so taken with Hutchinson's writing and ideas that I decided not to hold it against him.
Well, he's done it again.
And again I like the story enough to not hold it against him.
This may get spoilery. So, if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read beyond this line.
In the immediate predecessor story - Europe at Midnight - we follow “Rupert” as he discovers that he lives in a pocket universe and that there is a bigger universe out there in which Europe is fragmenting into smaller and smaller polities. This made sense because at the end of the first book, the main character of that book, Rudi, had unraveled the secrets of the pocket universe of the Commonwealth adjacent to that of Europe.
In Book 3, Rupert is reduced to walk-on and supporting character status, as we return to following Rudi as Rudi searches for “Courier Central”, which is the legendary central authority of the shadowy organization of smugglers that operates in Europe.
The book opens with a suicide bombing of a tunnel used by the Line - the European-crossing railroad that is also a state. We observe the assassination of Mundt, the former citizen of Dresden who had figured out something about opening breaches in the multiverse. Rudi learns something about his father and a group of French mathematicians who were part of the Versailles Conference in 1919. Rudi gets braced by an agent of the European Community. Characters introduced in prior books - like Seth and Rudi - appear for a moment and walk off stage without contributing much of anything. Pieces of the Community begin to drop into Europe.
I found myself noting the appearance of minor characters who were introduced with the signals and portents that they were going to contribute to the story, who simply disappeared. It appears that this quirk was due to Hutchison introducing them into the story as a reward for their contributions to a charity. That's really nice but made for some confusion and extra work for the reader.
Ultimately, Rudi gets his answers but the reader discovers that there has been a new mysterious player in the game, that his father has had connections with the Community for fifty years, that he is basically Courier Central, that there is a brand new pocket universe under the control of the European Community, and an even more mysterious player in power politics is hinted at.
All in the last twenty pages of the book.
Then the book ends.
Again, this is not really a novel, but the ride is quite enjoyable. I like Hutchinson's characters. I enjoyed seeing Seth and Rupert walk on stage for a turn. I felt as if I was getting information on the structure of this odd reality that Hutchison has invented. I tried to work out the mystery as the plot developed.
Obviously, this story is not over.
