"The Quantum War" by Derek Künsken is a gripping and thought-provoking sci-fi novel that takes readers on a thrilling journey across the stars. The story is set in a future where humanity has established colonies throughout the galaxy, equipped with incredible technological advancements that include manipulating reality through quantum mechanics.

The plot follows the path of Belisarius Arjona, a spy and soldier who is assigned the task of preventing a catastrophic war between two rival factions competing for universal supremacy. In his quest, Belisarius must navigate complex political landscapes, confront his inner demons, and grapple with the consequences of quantum mechanics on the nature of existence.

Künsken's writing style is intelligent and lucid, with a remarkable sense of character development and world-building. The scientific concepts in the book are intricate and mind-boggling, but never overwhelming or hard to understand. The action sequences are choreographed with skill, maintaining an atmosphere of suspense and urgency throughout the narrative.

What sets "The Quantum War" apart is its philosophical and ethical exploration of quantum mechanics. The book raises critical questions about the nature of reality, the limits of human knowledge, and the ramifications of our actions in an interconnected and intricate universe.

In conclusion, "The Quantum War" is a mesmerizing piece of science fiction that blends philosophy, action, and compelling characters into an unforgettable tale. Highly recommended for fans of hard sci-fi and anyone seeking an engaging and thought-provoking read.

Love this universe. Like this book.

I've irritated more than a few people in pushing them to read this series and that probably won't change any time soon.

All my faves return! Iekanjika is leading the fight for independence. Stills continues to use offensive language as punctuation. Bel and Cass are... Bel and Cass. And then there are the Puppets! I bloody love the Puppets and I was more than happy to spend time with them.
______
“Be the good boy,” she said.
Some of the Puppet troopers began to weep openly. They wanted so much to be the good boy. She wanted to be the good boy. So badly. She cracked the whip, finishing the communion.
______

Then there's the not quite complete , but still surprising change in feeling towards the Congregate. I didn't think I was capable of sympathising with the Unions oppressors. And I was right.

That said...

This needed a few more pages to fulfil its potential. Some conversations ended prematurely and not enough time is spent in other scenes for them to make the climax emotionally impactful. I'm thinking of the Bank reps who are really simple caricatures as well as the animosity that our protagonists feel for them. A few more pages to raise the tension and significance of actions would have made the losses feel (more) meaningful.

Künsken often does a good job of executing popular tropes in heist stories but there's usually some mind expanding idea that elevates the work to exceptional. Unfortunately The Quantum War doesn't have that idea.

Have to mention the almost, but not quite cliffhanger ending which is about as suspenseful as the Batman show of the 1960s.

All in all, its a fairly solid work that benefits from walking the path laid by the authors previous work, but also suffers in comparison to them.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I received an eARC from netgalley but I still bought the audiobook on the official release day.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a free copy.

"The Quantum War," the third installment of "The Quantum Evolution" series, is a wild yet enjoyable read, but I think there're still issues that inhibit its full potential.

The story is pretty well-paced and gripping, especially the chapters where the Union vs Congregate war rages on. Props to Künsken for still smoothly incorporating quantum physics and advanced technology into the storyline without distracting the readers by making them unfathomable. I also enjoy his characterization of the Puppets just like I did in the first two books. Can't say I like them and their fanatical obsession with the Numens, but I'm far more interested in them as a species than the Homo Quantus. That said, the characterization in general is not very satisfying; all characters feel quite bland and forgettable to me.

Two details puzzle me, though. In the third book, we get to know more about Marie Phocas, her background and whatnot. But her interaction with Bel's group is way too scant and what happens to her is too abrupt. So the aforementioned details turn out to be infodump and filler. There's also a chapter dedicated to a new female Homo Eridanus character, but she never shows up again, so what's the point of introducing her?

My main issue, again, is Cassandra. She's still the most annoying and dull character like she's been in the first two books. I felt like skimming through the chapters where she appeared.

3 stars.

Belisarius Arjona is back. and this time he's not pulling off a caper, this time he's working to save his own people. 100 Homo Quantus have been kidnapped by the Congregate and are being used as slaves.. Bel, Cassie, Stills, Saint Matthew, several puppets, a war Numan, and Marie have to work together to attempt a rescue deep in Congregate territory.

Things go wrong almost immediately and Bel is captured by the Congregate.Once again, Bel must outsmart the Congregate, but how can he manage that as a prisoner?

Though this book can be read as a standalone, I think that having read the first two books made this one even better. The world building is awesome and the characters well developed. I can't wait for book 4 of this series!

Derek Künsken returns to the universe of The Quantum Evolution for his third of four planned volumes The Quantum War. Although readers of Kunsken’s works may also know that this series links to his most recent book, The House of Styx, set five hundred years before. Of the three Quantum Evolution books The Quantum War rests most heavily on that book with much of the action taking place in the skies of Venus.
This volume opens shortly after the events of The Quantum Garden. The war that Belasarius Arjona had a hand in starting is gathering momentum. As part of that war, and directly as a result of the events of The Quantum Garden, the Congregate has captured one hundred and fifty of Arjona’s fellow homo quantus and is modifying them to pilot their fighters. Arjona hatches a plan to rescue the survivors – a plan that will mean using himself as bait putting his old team (from The Quantum Magician) back together and relying on a group of very unreliable Puppets to help him.
Despite following directly on from the previous book, The Quantum War takes a while to get going. This is because Künsken has to catch readers up on what has been going on in the broader galaxy. The book also jumps between the present and the action of a few months before to tell the story of the man kidnapped by the Congregate to find a way to weaponize the homo quantus. Once Arjona has organized to be captured and the plan starts to tick into place, the story kicks into a high gear that it never gets out of.
Künsken has demonstrated over and over again his love of heist mechanics and his ability to keep a bunch of different plot strands in motion as events play out. As always, nothing goes exactly to plan and the team have to either improvise or sacrifice in order to swing the action back in their favour. And as always, there is a range of colourful supporting characters and moustache-twirling villains. And much of the action takes place in the skies of Venus, a milieu that Künsken is incredibly comfortable in. But there is more to this than the action. Debates about religion, evolution and free will rage between the variously genetically engineered characters.
The Quantum War is another fun entry in this constantly surprising series. With one more volume expected it will be interesting to see how Künsken brings the series home. At the same time, waiting for the sequel to House of Styx to start to show how the family that we were rooting for in that volume became the foundation of the villains of this piece.

This is quite good and will certainly be enjoyed most by readers of the series. This one has a darker tone than the other in the series. The author writes well, although I didn't like one as much as the others. That won't stop me from reading his next.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

Me ha fascinado esta entrega de la saga The Quantum Evolution por muchas razones, tanto por la vuelta a la especulación biológica y sus consecuencias para el ser humano como por su aproximación descarnada a la dualidad moral de los personajes implicados.


Derek Künsken no se anda con chiquitas en esta ocasión y vuelve a utilizar la estructura de timo planificado que tanto nos agradó en la primera entrega de la saga. Pero ahora no hay que reunir el equipo, ya que los participantes serán prácticamente los mismos que ya conocimos anteriormente. Pero son personas que han cambiado bastante, siendo el principal afectador Belisarius Arjona, reconcomido por la culpa de los sucesos acontecidos en The Quantum Garden.

Me atrevería a decir que en esta ocasión el autor canadiense apuesta más por la reflexión sobre las consecuencias de los actos de los implicados en la trama que sobre los propios actos en sí, a pesar de que estamos hablando de sucesos que pueden, literalmente, cambiar el curso de la historia de la humanidad.

Resulta especialmente llamativo como engarza la presencia de cierto personaje en The House of Styx para exponer cuál es la brújula moral de toda una cultura, que respeta y casi reverencia a los nacidos con síndrome de Down, mientras que en el resto de la humanidad hace ya tiempo que no se permite que estos embarazos lleguen a término. Y es especialmente dolorosa la comparación entre este tratamiento dulce con sus petit saints mientras que para enfrentarse a los enemigos no se pone ninguna traba al uso de la tortura, de la manipulación genética o, directamente, de la aniquilación de una especie.

Me apasiona en particular el debate que se lleva a cabo durante todo el libro sobre las consecuencias de las modificaciones genéticas, que han dado lugar a nuevas ramas de los homo (homo quantus, homo eridanus…) que pueden dar lugar al nuevo salto en la evolución de la humanidad y que por lo tanto son amenazas para la continuidad de la existencia del homo sapiens, como en su momento el homo sapiens acabó con el homo neanderthalensis. Es una aproximación eminentemente biológica en sus planteamientos, como cabría esperar del autor debido a su formación, pero al final es la moral lo que entra en juego.

También me gustaría hacer hincapié en la que quizá es una de las representaciones más acertadas y dolorosas a la vez de todos estos libros, el éxtasis religioso de los puppets y su enfermiza relación con sus creadores, dioses y a la vez esclavos, los Numen. Cómo la manipulación genética dio lugar a estos pobres seres que necesitan de la presencia de sus amos para sobrevivir. Incluso veremos en uno de los capítulos cómo se comportaba una Numen con ellos en el pasado, como muñecos a su disposición y cómo esta persona (por llamarla de alguna manera) se creía con derecho a esta manipulación de otro ser vivo simplemente por ser quien era.

Por buscarle una pega al libro, es cierto que no hay un resumen de lo acontecido con anterioridad y estamos ya en la cuarta entrega de una saga no especialmente sencilla, así que sería de agradecer integrar en la historia algunos recordatorios de cómo va la historia hasta ahora. Hay algunos en el principio de la novela, pero resultan un tanto insuficientes.

Espero con ansia el siguiente libro en la saga, y pediría que alguna editorial española mirara a esta saga con cariño, porque tiene mucho potencial.

I felt this has been the best book so far of Kunsken's Quantum Evolution Series. The novel was thought provoking and kept ones interest until after the book was finished. I look forward to the next in the series.

One of the best SF (or SciFi as it is said now) stories in recent years. The plot is great and there is enough action. It's war, isn't it? Cool stuff! This is what real space SF should be.

The Quantum War is the third in Derek Künsken’s Quantum Evolution series, focused on the escapades of Belisarius, sometime con-man, and member of an engineered offshoot of humanity, designed as strategists and analysts, but typically instead shaped as contemplative, withdrawn introverts, driven in their genes to seek out knowledge.

This is a story of humanity, and how we define it, and what it is. Alongside Belisarius’ group, there are the Mongrels, humanity designed to live in high G conditions, unable to survive outside of environmental pods or, latterly, space-fighters. I have a soft spot for the Mongrels, coarse and bluff and with a streak of nihilism and cynical humour a mile wide. They’re willing to die whilst giving everyone a bloody nose, and they’re a grand bunch. And then of course, there’s the Puppets. The Puppets are horrifying, and creepy, and also extremely real. Engineered to worship their creators, for all the usual terrible reasons, they overthrew their creators, and now instead use the descendents of those creators to keep themselves fulfilled, genetically driven to interpret the commands of those they see as above them, and addicted to it. Nobody likes the Puppets but you can admire their tenacity and conviction, even while being repelled by where that conviction leads them, and how it is derived. Fanatics, killers, zealots, they know their truth, even as they know they were shaped into it, and that leaves them as a rather odd branch off the tree of humanity indeed.


And alongside these transhumans stride the common order of humanity, spanning worlds, skipping from star to star via archaeotech, managed by military and economic AI, and struggling to keep their footing. And in that sprawling polity, rebellion has brewed. Now war is upon them, and the stars are alight with the glitter of beams and the splash of carmine in the dark.


And somewhere in the weave of it all is Belisarius, trying desperately to atone for sins of his own devising. The portrayal of a man living in the throes of guilt, but desperate to atone, well, that portrayal is detailed, vivid, and really very human. He lives in and out of a fugue, a quantum state which allows objectivity, suppression of the self. And that state offers new opportunities, new threats, and helps shape that small group of offshoots of humanity into a potential threat to the equilibrium of the worlds.Belisarius argues with his very nature in order to change the world, and to live out in it. And in that struggle, in that endless fight to better himself and be who he wants to be, he is also essentially human.


There are others of course - old friends from the previous stories are here again, making better or worse choices.But also others - an intelligence officer turned interrogator, finding out where her lines lie and where she’s willing to go to defend humanity. A biomechanical menace, deciding policy from the hot ice of cybernetics. Puppets aplenty, being childlike, horrifying and pitiable by turns. And members of the Banks, the financial institutions whose creepers stretch everywhere, tying everyone together in a web of money and superior firepower. Oh, and the petits-saints, the moral center of the human Congregate, Down's-syndrome individuals, whose sympathetic and layered portrayal here is both in line with the origins of interstellar humanity in the author’s prequel novel, The House of Styx, and also absolutely marvellous.


The story is, well. I won’t get into it. But it’s a marvellous blend of high concept science fiction, personal stakes, and politics, blood and fire. Questions are asked about how we define humanity. About what atrocities are justifiable, for whom, and under what circumstances - and some of them are skin-crawlingly awful, and performed under high stakes by individuals who may or may not know better. About where humanity is going, and what it will look like when it gets there. About faith, and truth, and how we look at either, or both together. And more, scattered like gems through the text and subtext. They are hard questions, and they are an exercise for the reader, which is a joy. In part, that’s because they’re wrapped around the very personal story of Belisarius and his confederates and his antagonists, who bring the stakes to a human level. That story is compelling, convincing and tightly written; I was turning pages way into the night.


In the end, this is another fine entry in a series filled with interesting ideas, fascinating people, and intriguing stories - so go give it a read.

Having read both of the author's earlier books in this trilogy, I was interested to find out how it all ended. The first book was really enjoyable but the second less so, as there was more science, more journeys & meetings for little result & it just felt flat and insipid.
I'm afraid this third book is like the second. Although the opportunity was there to finish on a crescendo of conclusions, this one finishes like a old man's sigh. Little developments or ambition, just the remaining characters playing out their respective roles to type. It's a shame, as it could have been so much more.

I've kept reading this series because the storytelling is so good, because I'm so captured by the dilemmas of the characters and their strivings to deal with a universe that's too big and too cruel (but rather amazing). But it's not at all the kind of thing I usually like, and with this instalment I think I'm out.

In particular, I'm turned off by the high squick factor of the Puppets, people genetically engineered to be addicted to the pheromones produced by their enslavers, which fill them with artificially generated religious awe; they are childishly naïve (even their names are often childish diminutives), fanatical to the point of becoming suicide bombers, unreliable, and <i>utterly creepy</i>, even to most of the other characters. I don't love this as a characterization of religious people, and the only other religious person (the AI who believes himself to be a reincarnation of St Matthew) talks about his convictions, but never appears to act on them in any detectable way, or even act in accordance with his supposed delusion very much. Meanwhile, even though Catholicism has supposedly died out years ago, Catholic-based swearing persists.

I'll also mention that, in the pre-release review copy I received via Netgalley, the number of copy editing issues was epic, seemingly (at least in part) because the pace of the typing had matched the frenetic pace of the story.

Because the story <i>is</i> well-paced, a relentless dark SF thriller that, even though it doesn't once slow down in order to infodump, manages to use quantum physics and other sufficiently advanced science indistinguishably from magic to pull off a complex-but-understandable plot driven by believable human (and human-adjacent) motivations. These motivations range from the absurd fanaticism of the Puppets through the paranoid, but understandable, misapprehensions of an intelligence officer to the moral disquiet and guilt of the series hero, Belisarius, who, in this third book, is trying to make up for and in some cases reverse the consequences of his decisions and actions from the first two volumes. His unique talents mean that his striving continues to have far-reaching political and personal consequences, costing a number of lives and wreaking widespread property damage, and putting entire sub-races of humanity, including his own, under increasing threat.

<spoiler>Incidentally, I thought at least some of the loss of life was unnecessary even in in-universe terms. The Puppets were wired to blow up when killed, but the bombs weren't inside them; they were attached to them. I saw no reason (apart from dialing up the horror) why they couldn't be detached again and used without having to kill their bearers, once the main fight was over and the deterrent effect of "if you kill us, we explode" was no longer needed. </spoiler>

There's a scene partway through in which the intelligence officer is talking about how she despises her grandmother for her crimes against humanity while, at that exact moment, committing the absolutely identical crime against humanity in order to motivate a captive scientist to commit yet further crimes against humanity (which wouldn't be his first). It's utterly believable, and truly awful. And that, for me, was the problem; this book is meant to be disturbing, and it absolutely is. It does such a tremendous job of being disturbing that it's disturbed me right out of the readership for both the series and the author.

The Quantum War by Derek Künsken
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Homo Quantus return in the Quantum War, providing us fantastically evolving humans five hundred years in the future. This is a mix of space opera, wartime footing action, and deeper characterizations than straight action.

Whereas The Quantum Magician was more of a heist novel and The Quantum Garden was more of a rescue operation, The Quantum War was more of an exploitation/war-readiness moral quandary issue than either of the ones that came before.

The best parts, at least to me, all revolve around the question and use of the Homo Quantus. At certain times they are highly revered, sweet people with Down Syndrome, and at other times, they're cyborged-out savants that think a thousand times faster than normal humans. And they are forced into war. Refugees, the powerful fearful, and the exploited are all forced on a very circuitous path.

As always, I love Künsken's exploration of what it means to be human. Even getting into SEVERAL new branches of humanity: the kind we create or the kind we become and whatever is left behind. Shake all of this up into some wild, often highly high-brow SF possibilities (damn, I love the possibilities of that Iron) and even some timey-wimey stuff that's only possible thanks to this new evolution.

If you are waiting for some great new Hard-SF that doesn't fear to push those boundaries, then definitely read these.

I do recommend reading them in order even if we explore new characters. It's totally possible to read these out of publication order, mind you, but I got a lot more out of this because I was already familiar with so much of the tech, the cool combinations of AI and Human, and the big stuff on the fringes.

Definitely a fun ride.

This excellent addition to the Quantum series (book 3 of 4) ups the tension for the various players/factions in the book. For those who have read the first two books, this progression will flow naturally, as different human “species” (quantus, Puppets, mongrels), nations (Union, Congregate, Plutocracy, Puppets), and series characters (Bel, and others) deal with pretty existential questions around freedom, self-determination, evolution, slavery, and genocide. Coupled with plenty of action (though maybe a bit too much talk). Much more than a war or caper story.

I like the favorable treatment of Luc, Down-syndrome character, who provides moral balance to both the Congregate and the book. I also like the intelligence agent Bareilles, who is harsh and manipulative but also sincere in her beliefs and not a simple fanatic. I did grow uncomfortable with how she manipulates “Le petit saint” but it fit the story and her characterization. Even the Scarecrows, who could easily be stock cardboard villains, are rounded.

I think that while author Künsken works to make this standalone, it would be hard to pick up this book and read it cold. It is mercifully low on data dumps of backstory but that makes it more imperative to start at Quantum Magician. And well worth it, too. I look forward to the concluding volume and the sequel to House of Styx as Künslen fills out this fascinating universe.