The first time I read this book I was not overly enamoured of it: I had read its sequel first then come back to it before waiting around for the "third" instalment to be published and after that read Antartica which seemed like it might be set before this one...which turned out to be true...so i read the last one last but none of the others in the correct order!

Hence, having re-read Antarctica, I thought I would bash on through the 40, 50, 60 series and see how they looked as one long book.

The answer is, they look better, but still not great. We are in a near-future Washington D.C. though you would hardly tell; there was more indication way down in Antarctica, in fact. Confusingly, the incumbent POTUS, who cameos in one scene, seems modelled on Dubya (on the "smarter than he pretends to be" theory) but is never named. The protagonists from Antarctica are barely name-checked, but World's Senator Phil Chase becomes a proper character rather than a voice on the phone and his environmental advisor is the focus of attention. Said advisor works from home, whilst looking after his unholy terror of a toddler...

...which is what led me to the idea that KSR is the most obviously autobiographical SF writer I've ever come across. Not only are his books full of characters who like hiking/climbing/mountaineering/kayaking/just about any wilderness activity you care to name, but now he spends a book talking about his "Mr. Mom" experiences! Which is almost the sum of this "novel". In fact, reading the three in succession, it is obvious that it is one long novel chopped into parts and works better considered as a whole. Here we have the ground work for what comes later and not a lot else. ANd what comes later will be discussed later when I get round to reviewing 50 Degrees Below.

(Yep, I've left you hanging - a bit like this book does, in fact!)