smartflutist661's reviews
1354 reviews

The activists, while an essential part of the book, were annoying enough to drop it that quarter star. There were also a couple of places where it almost wavered across the line between "smack you in the face with reality" and "preach at you", though in general I thought it did an excellent job at making the politics and the story one cohesive whole. Otherwise basically a perfect book that I really want to rate a full five stars. I particularly loved how it pretended to be something just a little bit different than it was at the beginning, with the footnotes echoing a more traditional "alt-future" vibe—there were some where if you didn't know better, you'd think the facts were made up, and some that were clearly a "future fact". By the time the footnotes became just "here's this terrible statistic about the US prison system", I felt like a thoroughly boiled frog. Also a very interesting contrast to Too Like the Lightning (thinking particularly of the Servicers), which I read sort of in parallel. This will definitely sit with me for a while.

A showcase of the best of what science fiction can do. Forward-looking and backward-looking, layered, clearly a work of love, and extremely artful. Hard to talk about without spoilers, so...

I particularly loved the slow reveal of the power structure and seedy(?) underbelly of the New World Order. You get a sense that not is all as hunky-dory as Mycroft suggests almost from the beginning (in fact, even the "legal disclaimer" before the story starts gives that impression), but just how much the world is balanced on a knife's edge isn't clear even up to the very end. Also the complete debauchery and Enlightenment fetishism in the halls of power is... quite something. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a good debauch, but the way they hide it is not encouraging. The way they claim to be enlightened about gender, but Mycroft says that his narrative won't make sense without the "antiquated" concept and so will include it for the reader's sake, then goes on to assign gendered pronouns based on traditional gender roles was a particular standout, as well.

Actually, when looking up what Mycroft said, exactly, I stumbled upon the author's essay on gender in the world, where she says:

> This element of the world is intentionally polarizing for my readers, creating a future that feels like utopia to some and dystopia to others.

Which I find particularly interesting because I found it overall to be neither utopia nor dystopia, just... a world. There have been some good choices and some bad choices, and people generally continue on with their lives despite the discontent bubbling below the surface. Which is part of what I loved about the book.

I really hope we get more of the Utopians in future books.

A fixup and it shows. This rarely detracts from my enjoyment, though, and each story was well-crafted and thematic. Don't come expecting plot.