Archform: Beauty

4 Pages 920 Words

Archform: Beauty

L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s science fiction novel Archform: Beauty, although set four centuries in the future, is a book full of themes applicable to our time. With dynamic characters and an ever-changing point of view and voice, the book enthralls readers and maintains interest until the climax and very end. Of the five central characters, Lieutenant Chiang of the DPS grabbed my attention as the most interesting person. His search for answers, amongst red tape and prejudice rules was filled with excitement and drama and left readers with a sense of challenge and intrigue. On the same note, the privacy issue amongst different classes was well documented and discussed. Chiang’s struggle with this problem also highlighted the subject and from his besieged point of view really gave readers a concentrated understanding of how things worked in the future city of Denv.
The second player introduced in Modesitt’s story is Lieutenant Eugene Tang Chiang. A Trends Analysis Coordinator in the Department of Public Safety, Chiang long ago sacrificed his personal life, including his wife and kids, for his work. In this particular story Chiang begins by investigating many different cases at once, from the murder/death of Nanette McCall to fatal car crashes to the outbreak of the ebol4 virus. It is the strange circumstances surrounding McCall’s death, and the eventual suicide of her accused husband that draws Chiang into a web of bureaucracy and classified information that underscores one of the books main theses. As he investigates the deaths of these two members of the “filch” class, Chiang discovers that answers are not meant to be found for questions not meant to be asked. He searches for information about the filch society and soon learns that the filch are in a league of their own. Protected from outside inquiry, these filthy rich citizens keep their problems and records amongst themselves, never allowing outs...