The Martian General’s Daughter

Despite its pulpish title, this erudite and intriguing novel is more in the tradition of Robert Graves than Edgar Rice Burroughs. By the 23rd century, when a nanotech plague has crippled the world’s hardware, much of the northern hemisphere is under the mostly capable and benevolent control of the U.S.-descended Pan-Polarian Empire. But Emperor Mathias the Glistening is dead, and the empire is in the hands of his increasingly psychotic son, Luke Anthony. The balance of power is controlled by Gen. Peter Black, a former sergeant who rose from the ranks to lead the imperial armies. Judson (Fitzpatrick’s War ) chronicles the last glories of the empire as viewed by Black’s illegitimate daughter, whose own rise from unwanted embarrassment to valued adviser and aide parallels her father’s career. The story might be familiar to today’s readers from the film Gladiator , but the parallels it draws between Roman and American cultures are both perceptive and disquieting. (Apr.)