I’ve been sitting on my thoughts about this book for close to a week; it was such a quick read and I fell into it immediately after Purgatory that I needed a little bit of time to collect my thoughts.

Where Paradise reflected and Purgatory smoldered, Inferno rages. A few pages in one can already see the flames being fanned and it is not long before the narrative arc is a white hot blaze that neither falters or burns out. Even in the closing paragraphs of the novel the reader is left with the feeling that it will be a long time before there is any end to the ceaseless conflict. Again, Resnick uses his words as a mirror casting back at us the realities of the world that we occupy, creating a cautionary tale about the consequences of the best intentions.

Inferno, like the earlier books, is the story of external influences that hasten development. In all three books an advanced culture makes contact with one less so, and either through colonial efforts or humanitarian ones attempts to elevate that culture’s status. In each case the effort is flawed and doomed to failure, either because of subjugation like the first two novels, or by providing too much too fast with little or no oversight, as is the case with Inferno.

The pace of the book and it relevance in light of the past 30 years of human history be it Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Yugoslavia, El Salvador, Sri Lanka. It is an indictment against tribalism and the arrogance of the “developed” world but one that carries the message that more care and thought must go into the inevitable contact between cultures. That the process cannot run unchecked, allowing for wild swings between the wants and needs of one group over another. the process is more than complex and more than delicate and even thinking superficial, cursory thoughts about it is an exercise in frustration and humility.

Resnick has done an incredible job with this series. He has left me thinking and wondering, even after the memory of his exact words fade there is still the spectre of his message and though, he offers no solution, only tales of consequences, the reader is left trying to work through the maddening “only if” to reach a satisfactory solution of their own. The books also pushed me to draw correlations between my world and those that he created, to identify parallels and ask the same questions about this reality which we share.

I am left exhausted, humbled, and more than a little saddened as I have no solutions or answers. To me the mark of a great writer is one who can cause you to peer deep within yourself to ask, “am I what I believe I am?” Resnick has done this for me.

Purgatory is the second in the Galactic Comedy series and of the three it could be considered the slow burner due to the fact that political and social intrigue is more understated and the over arching conflicts presented are more cursory in their description than the other two novels. Instead it focuses more on the personalities involved in the process of colonization and is presented in a deeply fatalistic manner. The only sure things in Purgatory are hubris and incredulous amounts of shortsightedness. Compassion and understanding is superseded by tendencies towards self-destruction which gives the novel and its events the feeling that no matter what action the protagonists undertake each and every action shares the same end. Purgatory reads like a long, quiet sign of hopelessness.

This novel, like the others, plots the course of colonization from first contact to the inevitable collapse of the colonial system. The narration however, is a third hand account relayed as the events occur over a hundred year span so there is a greater sense of urgency to each event as opposed to the more reflective nature of Paradise. The end, however, is less hopeful and betrays how easily we can squander opportunity for the pettiest of reasons, no matter how noble those reasons might be.

Purgatory is also a loose discussion of the economics of colonization and its impact on independence and in this regard the latter half of the book approximates the challenges faced by Zimbabwe as it seeks to address the issue of re-allocating arable land. Resnick posits that acting on the concept of social justice, however morally and ethically sound it might be, can be disastrous. The question is how can social grievances be addressed to the satisfaction of all parties involved but still maintain the best interests of the nation state. Mugabe’s land distribution policy is an example of how short sighted social policies can lead to the unraveling of a national economy as critics argue that it lead to one of Zimbabwe’s worst famines.

Resnick has written a deeply critical novel, one that takes a sharp knife to both sides of the issue. There are no saints or heroes in Purgatory. Individuals are limited by their self-interest and as a group that self-interest becomes a collective myopia that drives us towards destruction. It is cynical and it stings to consider the notion that individual self-determination is subjugated to the trajectory of the whole. As the last words of the book fell off the page I was left saddened and feeling slightly hopeless because Purgatory is just that.