The Armies of Memory

by John Barnes

Book Overview

Giraut Leones, special agent for the human Thousand Cultures' shadowy Office of Special Plans, is turning fifty--and someone is trying to kill him. Giraut's had a long career; the number of entities... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765303302
• ISBN13: 9780765303301
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 429 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Good end to a good series

The Armies of Memory is a bit different than the other books in this series. There's more action than the other three books, but then again, it seems almost incidental to the introspective nature of the rest of the novel. The core of the novel examines the implications and morality of sentience and its relationship with physicality. But with that said, The Armies of Memory has spies, robots, AIs, laser/maser guns, martial arts, babes, cool characters, political intrigue, cults, aliens, and mass decapitations -- what more could you want?

A fine story in the Space Opera tradition

I was a little worried at first as this was the fourth book in a series and I had not read the first three for background. It turns out that's not a problem in The Armies of Memory and the only times I got that "Am I missing something?" feeling was the early talk about Occitan and Ixism though they were well explained later in the story. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read with plenty of self depreciating humor about "how guys think." I was disappointed at one small loose end in that the question "how did the note end up in Giraut's hand?" did not get resolved. Though billed as the conclusion of the series Barnes did leave an opening to develop further on the fates of Giraut, Ixism, Thousand Cultures, and the Invaders.

Fantastic end to an excellent series

_The Armies of Memory_ is the excellent final volume of the as far as I know unnamed series by author John Barnes that began with _A Million Open Doors_ and continued with _Earth Made of Glass_ and _The Merchant of Souls_. The main character, as was the case with previous installments of the series, is Giraut Leones, native of the culture of Nou Occitan, publicly a famous musician though in reality a special agent for the Office of Special Projects (OSP), the military/intelligence/police arm of the Council of Humanity, the governing body of the Thousand Cultures, home to all known human worlds, located in a roughly hundred light year diameter sphere centered roughly on Earth. Also as in previous installments, Giraut continues to advance the goals of the OSP, those being twofold. First, to manage the peaceful interaction of the myriad civilizations of the Thousand Cultures, some in conflict virtually since their founding, others in conflict since an event known as the Connect, when civilizations previously separated by many years of travel were suddenly united by the most momentous invention in human history since fire and writing, the springer (which as readers of the series will know, is a device that allows instantaneous travel between two points, no matter the distance, as long as both points have springers). Second, while managing diversity and conflict, keeping it under control and maintaining some sense of cohesion and unity between these various cultures, the OSP had to fight unity and stagnation in other cultures; seemingly the majority of the people in Earth's solar system (including Earth itself) had "gone into the box," had withdrawn from the world, become plugged into virtual reality nonstop, never leaving their apartments and sharing only the interstellar meta culture, utterly dependent upon aintellects (artificial intelligence in the form of robots and sentient computer programs) to run things. The first situation, if unchecked, would lead to the possible destruction of humanity in countless bloody wars and genocidal actions. The second situation, again if unchecked, would lead to the stagnation and extinction of humankind. Both situations would leave humanity woefully unprepared should it ever have to face a real threat from the stars. _Armies of Memory_ opens with Giraut trying to record a new series of songs he called the Ix Cycle, named after Ix, a prominent figure readers of the series may remember from _Earth Made of Glass_. The songs were bold, original, and combined styles from widely different and even mutually opposed cultures, sure to generate comment at the very least and opposition at the very worst. The reader also finds Giraut and his team members dodging assassination attempts. Who is trying to kill Giraut? Does someone violently oppose the Ix Cycle or are their other, quite different reasons? Giraut and his team in the course of their recording the Ix Cycle and investigating the assassination attempts u

This one deserves the HUGO!

Very few "last book in a series" novels appeal to me. For some reason they rarely hold up to the quality of the first books in the series, or they have a huge climax that is a disappointment after you have invested hours or days reading the earlier books. There are exceptions of course. This is an exception! What a marvelous conclusion - it deserves a Hugo. (But fantasy novels seem to have taken over, so don't expect to see that happening!) Anyway, I don't want to tell you about the storyline, just buy the book and read it. I bet you won't be disappointed. I love the cover art by John Harris too. What a book!

stupendous science fiction

Office of Special Plans espionage agent troubadour Giraut Leones works the thin line between total withdrawal into the virtual reality box and the war with the "aintellect" insurgents. At fifty Giraut intellectually prefers hiding inside the box to escape his growing melancholy, but must do his duty to the Thousand Cultures. Though he is a target for assassination, Giraut continues to play songs that touch the hearts of those who come into contact with him. Still he wonders about his own heart's healing as he sadly recalls those he lost to death but revisited through the "psypyx" that enables individuals to die yet live seemingly forever. Between the psypyx and his own music, Giraut seeks solace as he begins to learn that love and beauty heal hurts. He returns home to Nou Occitan with a deeper understanding of the universe only to find treachery, betrayal, and violence. Will he virtually flee into his music making him an easy target for his prey but also enabling him to escape the horrors that engulf him or will Giraut try to save humanity from its worst enemy, itself? THE ARMIES OF MEMORY, the climax of John Barnes' Thousand Cultures saga, may prove to be the best science fiction tale of the year. As always the characters make the exhilarating story line a one sitting reading experience The heroic Giraut feels his age as he is tired and ready to retire, but also realizes that if he wants to live he must remain on the job until he stops those who want him dead. He also concludes that humanity needs him at a critical moment, but he fears he has nothing left except his music and that may no longer be enough. Mr. Barnes is at his best with this stupendous science fiction story. Harriet Klausner