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The electric new thriller from the bestselling author of The Traveller..Fear stalks our lives. In the press. On the television. Over the airwaves. Across the internet. Everywhere we go, someone somewhere is always watching. Waiting for the mistake that will reveal secrets, truths, lies, the real story or what they want to believe.No longer is anonymity a given right.We are being controlled without our knowledge and we don't appear to care. Daily we sacrifice little freedoms that will never be returned. We are all victims.They are some who will fight to the death to protect those freedoms. They will not allow the forces of commerce and ideology to dictate their lives. They are off the grid. Gabriel Corrigan is one such man. The system doesn't like it. It says that you cannot opt out, that you have to participate. And it will do whatever it takes to return Gabriel to the fold - alive or dead. He can run but he can't hide - forever...
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3 primary booksFourth Realm is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2005 with contributions by John Twelve Hawks.
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This book continues the story of the conflict between the Tabula and the Travelers. The Tabula, a.k.a. Brethren, are a group devoted to controlling humanity. Their tools are Total Information Awareness, closed-circuit cameras, and computerized surveillance of the world. The Travelers and their protectors, the Harlequins, struggle to increase individual freedom.
Perhaps the Tabula aren't entirely fictional. I'd be cheering for the Harlequins, if it weren't for some of the story faults that are common in this type of fiction. As they try to protect the Travelers, they spend enormous amounts of money for bribes, weapons, and false identities. So far, there has been no explanation of where they get all this funding.
If there were a group of people in the real world who were resisting the influence of the Vast Machine, I would hope that they would be better people than the Harlequins and Free Runners. It bothers me that the tools of their fight for freedom include lying, vandalism, stealing, hurting innocents, violence, and murder.
Dark River is the second installment in the Traveler trilogy and the intrigue, paranoia and double-crosses continue. Best cyberpunk books in decades and that's a big statement considering how much I loved Pattern Recognition from William Gibson. Highly recommended.