''Ack-Ack Macaque'' is a 2012

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel by English writer Gareth L. Powell.

Plot summary

''Ack-Ack Macaque'' is based on Powell's earlier short story of the same name, which won the '' Interzone'' reader's poll in 2007. The original short story is included as an appendix to the novel. The novel has aspects of

alternative history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

as in this version of reality the United Kingdom and France merged in the 1950s to form the nation of Brittany. The macaque of the title is the star of a highly regarded, exclusive

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

(with the

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most ro ...

feature of character death being final) which is itself set in an alternate reality

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The main character in the novel is former journalist Victoria Valois, who attempts to track down the man who murdered her husband and stole her neural implant while the heir to the throne of Brittany becomes a fugitive after breaking into a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian research laboratory. As the novel progresses, these strands are drawn together and the true purpose of the macaque is revealed. A sequel, ''Hive Monkey'', was released in 2014.

Critical reception

The novel gained Powell a third review from Eric Brown in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Brown described the novel as "inventive" with "brilliant cliffhangers" and a "satisfying conclusion". Philip Reeve said that the novel "could all be quite exhausting, but it's done with such obvious enthusiasm that it's impossible not to be carried along by it." The novel was a joint winner of the 2013 BSFA Award for Best Novel with Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice.

References

External links

*
''Ack-Ack Macaque'' on Gareth L. Powell's website
{{BSFA Award Best Novel British science fiction novels 2012 British novels 2012 science fiction novels Solaris Books books