We return to the distant star system (well, only 23 lightyears away, so still in the neighbourhood, but distant by present-day standards) and the conflict between avatar proxies of two AI-driven corporations. We are pitched directly into the action as it stood at the end of the first novel, Dissidence, with most of the same characters. There are personal revelations, and changes of allegiance.

This is very much a middle novel of a trilogy; there are few loose ends tied up and the book ends, if not on a cliff-hanger, then certainly at a point where more is about to happen. But along the way,. Macleod has continued his exploration of power, governance, and the position of the individual (nether secure nor in exercise of much control). Trans-humanism is, it seems, little impediment to the exercise of control by the powerful, even if those powerful individuals are silicon-based rather than living, breathing carbon-based lifeforms.

Meanwhile, the sentient robots are still evolving their own ideas of how society should be arranged.

The opening lines tell me that Macleod starting writing this book shortly after the death of his friend Iain (M.) Banks, as it is an almost direct quote from the opening of Banks' first science fiction novel Consider Phlebas. ( )

MacLeod, Ken. Insurgence. Corporations Wars No. 2. Orbit, 2016.
There is more talk and less action in the first half of Insurgence than some military SF fans appreciate. Fortunately, it is lively, intellectual talk that delves into the nature of consciousness, economics, and several branches of philosophy. One scene I like a lot is a discussion between some self-aware robots about whether uploaded humans in machine bodies can be considered truly conscious. Insurgence should not be the first novel you read in the Corporation Wars series. Most of the characters from Dissidence are back as garrulous and feisty as ever. 4 stars. ( )