Set in a future Solar System that is similar-but-not-the-same as his Mars Trilogy, Icehenge tells a story of unreliable history and a mysterious man-made monolithic structure on Pluto. The narrative is spread across three novella-length stories. In the first, Emma Weil is aboard an asteroid miner that is hijacked by mutineers in service to a revolutionary cause she secretly supports, as they attempt to flee the Solar System. The Second Story, set years later follows an archeologist named Nederland, digging through the ruins of the city he was born in two hundred years prior, trying to find evidence to prove that the revolution happened in the first place, when he discovers the diary of Emma Weil--the first story. When a collection of ice structures are found on Pluto, Nederland believes Emma's diary provides an explanation to their origin. And many years later, Nederland's great great grandson embarks on an investigation to prove that his grandfather has fallen for a centuries-spanning hoax.

I asked a friend about this novel when I found it at the local used book store, and he said it was kind of a strange one, inspired by a book called Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, which he'd never read. Wolfe happens to be one of my favorite authors, and Fifth Head probably my second favorite of his oeuvre, so that fired me way the hell up for this book, sight unseen.

It did not disappoint. This is KSR operating in a much sparser, much weirder register, in a version of his future system-spanning civilization that is rougher around the edges and sometimes uglier. I don't believe everything in it works, there are a few elements that feel a tiny bit clunky, but it accomplishes something really special, which is leaving me with unanswered questions that are much more interesting to ponder than any answer he might have offered to them. This is one I will revisit in the future.

Overall Grade: A+. This is my favorite KSR novel.