09-14-2010, 10:28 AM
I read both Hugo award winning novels this year. Yes, there was a tie for best novel. The other one was The City and The City by China Mieville. I liked this one better.
The book reminds of Ian McDonalds "River of Gods", it's a near future post-apocalyptic novel. Basically, gene manipulation has ruined the earth by releasing unforeseen plagues on the world. We are also dealing with rampant global warming resulting in most major cities being destroyed.
Which brings us to Bangkok where the good fight against the imperialism of the calorie men still rages. One one side is the Ministry of the Environment which fights all imports of non-Thai products and tries to keep the country safe from the gene plagues. The Trade ministry wants the opposite and the wealth that it will bring to sell the heritage of the Thai people. Smaller players take different roles in the struggle.
The story starts out slow and there is a bunch of nomenclature you have to get used to decipher. It reminds me of reading the first William Gibson novels decades ago and struggling to figure out what is he talking about with all this cyber punk babble. Eventually the story does emerge, but there are few heroes to root for. Everybody is corrupt in some fashion. And it's hard to see if there is a satisfying conclusion to the tales which are usually lacking in tales of this ilk.
But it was a well written enjoyable story. I'd read this before I read China's book.
The book reminds of Ian McDonalds "River of Gods", it's a near future post-apocalyptic novel. Basically, gene manipulation has ruined the earth by releasing unforeseen plagues on the world. We are also dealing with rampant global warming resulting in most major cities being destroyed.
Which brings us to Bangkok where the good fight against the imperialism of the calorie men still rages. One one side is the Ministry of the Environment which fights all imports of non-Thai products and tries to keep the country safe from the gene plagues. The Trade ministry wants the opposite and the wealth that it will bring to sell the heritage of the Thai people. Smaller players take different roles in the struggle.
The story starts out slow and there is a bunch of nomenclature you have to get used to decipher. It reminds me of reading the first William Gibson novels decades ago and struggling to figure out what is he talking about with all this cyber punk babble. Eventually the story does emerge, but there are few heroes to root for. Everybody is corrupt in some fashion. And it's hard to see if there is a satisfying conclusion to the tales which are usually lacking in tales of this ilk.
But it was a well written enjoyable story. I'd read this before I read China's book.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit