Book Review: Binary by Stephanie Saulter
Several years after the events of Gemsigns (see my review here at Skiffy and Fanty), the integration of Gems into society has continued. The violent spasm of reaction to Gems in the form of the godgangs has given way, some years later, to society seeking methods to harness the talents the Gems have in modern society. It hasn’t always been smooth, or easy, but society and people have started to move on and grapple with the consequences of the aftermath of the fateful Conference and the Declaration arising from it. As in Gemsigns, however, both Aryel Morningstar, leader of the Gems, and the industrialist Zavcka Klist find their paths crossing. However, rather than being overt adversaries, Klist has a proposition for Morningstar, an offer of a collaboration of talents and skills. Klist’s proposition is to use the power of a certain Gem to explore the infotech technologies that had been abandoned in the wake of the Syndrome over a century ago. That Gem, Harran, with extraordinary power to connect to computers on a fundamental level, might be just the Gem to lead the effort into exploring infotech, and safely. However, when delving into computers, and ancient records, sometimes dark and long forgotten secrets are discovered. Secrets of the past of Aryel Morningstar … and secrets of Zavcka Klist as well.