In the very near future, humans have nearly destroyed the planet, without any real way to fix it. In came an alien race that offered technologies and other solutions to Earth's problems, and all they asked in return was to take some of the best art humans had to offer and display it a their vast treelike space station/museum. The aliens would, of course, give it all back once humans had sufficiently gotten their act together. Three hundred years after the art left earth, we've managed to meet the criteria the aliens laid out so that we can get our art back. But they don't want to give it back, and they've repeatedly put off any efforts at resolution. So what can we do but send some forgeries with a crew of clones, synthetic humans, and a pilot from a different alien race to steal the originals back?
This is billed as a science fiction heist novel (which is like catnip to me), but that's not quite right. Yes, there's a heist, but that's kind of in the background of the main character's musings on what makes something art, what make someone human, why real art is more valued than forgeries, and the nature of museums in general. (That super-helpful alien race sounds suspiciously like the British Empire from time to time) It's a decent book though, one that would be good for a book discussion as there are PLENTY of meaty topics shoved into a very short book.
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