altheaann

A re-read - but I'm fairly sure I read this way back, around when it came out, before I was actually a huge fan of Patricia McKillip specifically. I'd just grab all the sci-fi that turned up at the public library.
I was delighted that I liked it this time around as much as I'd hoped. While, in a way, 'Fool's Run' is quite different from most of McKillip's books, being sci-fi, not fantasy, it shares many of the themes that run though a great deal of her work.

The story enmeshes a convicted mass-murderer with the travails of a group of musicians.
The mass-murder is an insane woman, convicted and held in the highest security in a bleak space-prison.
The futuristic bar band is full of talent - but haven't been going much of anywhere. Suddenly, events come together, and they're offered an amazing opportunity for a multi-world tour: the only catch is that they have to give a charity show on board the space prison first.
Meanwhile, the administrator of the prison (who'd rather be elsewhere) is dealing with a psychologist who's got some new ideas about therapy; and wants to conduct mind experiments on the terrorist(?), Terra Viridian.

Like in many of McKillip's novels, a complex plot spins ever tighter, based on the concept that people have secrets and fail to communicate openly with each other, and that people seem to be on opposing 'sides' mainly because of misunderstandings.
There's a mystical element to the sci-fi here; which ends somewhat ambiguously. I can see that some hard sci-fi fans might not love that ambiguity, but I thought it was quite lovely.