Eyes of the Calculor is a post-apocalyptic novel by Sean McMullen

Sean McMullen

Sean Christopher McMullen is an Australian science fiction and fantasy author.-Biography:McMullen has a degree in physics and history from Melbourne University , a postgraduate degree in library and information science, and a PhD in Medieval Literature...

 published in 2001

2001 in literature

The year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters...

. It is the third part of the Greatwinter

Greatwinter

The Greatwinter Series is a series of science fiction novels by Sean McMullen. In Australia, the home country of the author, the first book was released as two separate novels, Voices in the Light and Mirrorsun Rising...

 trilogy.

Plot

Mirrorsun, which orbits earth and prevents electrical machines from functioning, had been defunct for some time. However, when it comes back to life with a vengeance, the new Highliber must reform the Calculor, a large computer whose components are human beings. At the same time, Americans are working with an underground group to bring their airplanes and weapons to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Can the Highliber and the Overmayor of Rochester, the capital of Australia, stop the American technology from destroying their way of life?

Literary significance and reception

Jackie Cassady in her review for the Library Journal

Library Journal

Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...

 said that "McMullen's sf epic examines the implications of low technology and religious idealism

Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...

set against a world in the throes of transformation."