The Cassini Division

Those Who Stayed Behind

Review by: The Audiobook ReviewIn the third book in Ken Macleod's Fall Revolution series, we get to see the story of those who didn't go through the Malley Mile to New Mars and what became of them. Set shortly after the events at the end of book two, we experience a dramatically different solar system than that which the New Martians had devised for themselves. Due to the Jovian AIs left behind, humankind has had to adapt to ward off the electronic virus plagues and has become a bit of a socialist utopia.

Gone is the need for money, jobs, and the like. Well, jobs where you work to get paid. Working to add meaning to your life and the solar system is another thing entirely. Not everyone, though... the non-cos (non-cooperators - aka people who don't want to accept the new social way of living), including Malley - a physicist who worked out the Theory of Everything and whose name is on the wormhole.

Ellen May Ngwethu works for the Casini Division. In a world where information, along with everything else, is free and equitable, there are still people out there keeping secrets and holding the line for humanity. The Casini Division keeps an eye on Jupiter and the wormhole and has a pressing need to find Mally and get his assistance to help solve some problems.

Charlie Norfolk did an excellent job with the narration. I don't believe I've heard her voice before, yet she sounded awfully familiar. I looked up her bio, and I've not seen or heard anything else she has done, but she has a voice that reminded me of someone - I don't know who, though. The quality was good, and Charlie's voice was easy to listen to.


Like all of the previous novels, there's a lot of politics and the expounding of ideologies to wade through, which isn't a bad thing but can be a touch tedious at times. Still, this was a highly enjoyable addition to the series and a substation left turn from the anarcho-capitalist society we saw in the previous books.