History Literature / BlueRememberedEarth

''Blue Remembered Earth'' is the first novel in the ''Poseidon's Children'' trilogy, by [[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} Welsh]] [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Hard Sci-Fi]] author Creator/AlastairReynolds. Set in a future Africa during the 2160's, the story follows two siblings as they unravel a mystery set into motion by their recently deceased grandmother.

* ClimateChange: Climate change wrecked the Earth's ecosystems and raised the sea level, leading to a series of intense "resource wars". Later on, advanced technology allowed vast seawalls to be created to protect certain coastal cities, and mankind is now actively working on correcting the worst effects of climate change.

* {{Utopia}}: In the 22nd Century, mankind has weathered the worst of ClimateChange and the resulting resource wars. Africa, China, and India have emerged as the leading technological superpowers. Spaceflight, while still expensive and slow, has led to the settlement of the inner solar system as well as automated mining operations further out. Genetic engineering has increased human lifespan and nearly all people have [[NeuralImplanting neural implants]] that allow them to communicate with the "Aug", a kind of global internet that can be accessed anywhere for information, augmented reality, and real-time translation of other languages. Likewise, crime and accidents are almost non-existent thanks to an omnipresent surveillance system known as the "Mechanism".

* GlobalWarming: Climate change wrecked the Earth's ecosystems and raised the sea level, leading to a series of intense "resource wars". Later on, advanced technology allowed vast seawalls to be created to protect certain coastal cities, and mankind is now actively working on correcting the worst effects of climate change.

* {{Utopia}}: In the 22nd Century, mankind has weathered the worst of [[GlobalWarming climate change]] and the resulting resource wars. Africa, China, and India have emerged as the leading technological superpowers. Spaceflight, while still expensive and slow, has led to the settlement of the inner solar system as well as automated mining operations further out. Genetic engineering has increased human lifespan and nearly all people have [[NeuralImplanting neural implants]] that allow them to communicate with the "Aug", a kind of global internet that can be accessed anywhere for information, augmented reality, and real-time translation of other languages. Likewise, crime and accidents are almost non-existent thanks to an omnipresent surveillance system known as the "Mechanism".

!Tropes within ''Blue Remembered Earth''

''Blue Remembered Earth'' is the first novel in the ''Poseidon's Children'' trilogy, by [[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} Welsh]] [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Hard Sci-Fi]] author Creator/AlastairReynolds. Set in NeoAfrica during the 2160's, the story follows two siblings as they unravel a mystery set into motion by their recently deceased grandmother.

* NeoAfrica: The primary setting for the story. The Akinyas are Kenyan and are explicitly noted to be [[TranslationConvention speaking Swahili the entire novel]]. While not everything is perfect in the African countries, they've become new economic and technological powers and the overall tone is quite optimistic. A PostCyberpunk sensibility is present, but it's mostly set dressing.

'''''Blue Remembered Earth''''' is the first novel in the ''Poseidon's Children'' trilogy, by [[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} Welsh]] [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Hard Sci-Fi]] author Creator/AlastairReynolds. Set in NeoAfrica during the 2160's, the story follows two siblings as they unravel a mystery set into motion by their recently deceased grandmother.

When Eunice passes away suddenly, Geoffrey and Sunday find themselves dragged into family matters. At the funeral, Hector and Lucas reveal that Eunice had a mysterious safety deposit box in a bank on the moon, and they task Geoffrey with opening it to make sure it's not damaging the family's name. While on the moon, Geoffrey meets up with his sister and together they discover that safety deposit box is only the start of a series of clues, apparently laid down nearly a century before Eunice's death. Unwittingly, they find themselves drawn into a mystery extending far beyond the moon, to Mars, the outer solar system, and possibly beyond to Mankind's future.

* PlayingAgainstType: Reynolds says that he began the ''Poseideon's Children'' trilogy specifically so he could portray a [[LighterAndSofter much more optimistic future than his usual writing]], such as his dark ''RevelationSpace'' series.

Followed by standalone sequels ''OnTheSteelBreeze'' and ''PoseidonsWake''.

* NoTranshumanismAllowed: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]]. Creating truly intelligent AIs has been outlawed, but enhancing intelligence and removing bad neural traits is not only an accepted practice, but is a routine procedure on ''everyone at birth''. Also, the Pans are explicity transhumanist and even have their own nation.

Eunice Akinya was an intrepid explorer and shrewd business woman who built up her family into a spacefaring business empire. However, for the last sixty years she has been living in self-imposed isolation in her personal space station, seen by the family as aloof, uncaring, and possibly mad. Her grandchildren, Geoffrey and Sunday Akinya, would like nothing more than to [[BlackSheep follow their own interests]] rather than going into the FamilyBusiness: Geoffrey with his elephant studies in Kenya, and Sunday with her artistic endeavors in the bohemian "Descrutinized Zone" on the dark side of the moon. Their more dedicated cousins, Hector and Lucas, run the day-to-day operations.

'''''Blue Remembered Earth''''' is the first novel in the ''Poseidon's Children'' trilogy, by [[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} Welsh]] [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Hard Sci-Fi]] author Creator/AlastairReynolds. Set in a NeoAfrica during the 2160's, the story follows two siblings as they unravel a mystery set into motion by their recently deceased grandmother.