The Peace War by Vernor Vinge

First in a quintessential hard-science fiction adventure, Hugo Award-winning author Vernor Vinge's The Peace War follows a scientist determined to put an end to the militarization of his greatest invention--and of the government behind it.

The Peace Authority conquered the world with a weapon that never should have been a weapon--the "bobble," a spherical force-field impenetrable by any force known to mankind. Encasing governmental installations and military bases in bobbles, the Authority becomes virtually omnipotent.

But they've never caught Paul Hoehler, the maverick who invented the technology, and who has been working quietly for decades to develop a way to defeat the Authority. With the help of an underground network of determined, independent scientists and a teenager who may be the apprentice genius he's needed for so long, he will shake the world.

I've read almost everything by [a:Vernor Vinge 44037 Vernor Vinge https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1215099239p2/44037.jpg], but this book and its sequel remain my favourites. It's both an exciting story and a fascinating vision of an imaginary near future (2048); a few flashbacks visit 1997, which was the future at the time of writing, but is the past by now.The characters aren't the main attraction, but they're varied and quite well drawn.Science fiction usually dates quite fast, especially when written about the not-too-distant future. What impresses about this 1984 publication is that I don't notice it dating at all. The future technology still seems exciting, futuristic, and no more improbable than it was in 1984.The whole concept of the bobble is scientific fantasy, and I don't expect it to happen; but it's a great idea and a lot of fun. Basically similar to Larry Niven's stasis field, but there's so much more you can do with it. All the other future technology mentioned here is still speculative, but perhaps more plausible now than it was in 1984.The various different semi-anarchistic societies described in the story are also interesting and colourful, although they're not true anarchies because the Peace Authority rules loosely over all.The sequel to this book, [b:Marooned in Realtime 167847 Marooned in Realtime (Across Realtime, #2) Vernor Vinge https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404071553l/167847.SY75.jpg 448211], is an even more wondrous vision of an imaginary future, in which the possible uses of the bobble are further explored and Vinge's idea of the Singularity is dramatized. But it's a little less successful as fiction: the story is not quite as exciting and gripping.Vinge is most popular for his novels of the 1990s and 2000s, which won awards, and they're good and worth reading, but I'm not completely satisfied with them; I remain most impressed by these two novels of the 1980s. (His earlier fiction is also worth reading, although somewhat less good.)

This was a thought-provoking look at how technology doesn't always make the world better for everyone. I liked the interactions between Wili, Paul and Alison as they work together to defeat the Peace Authority.