Published: February 2, 2021
Genre: Young Adult Sci-fi
Source: Publisher -Erewhon
Series: The Mechanists
Synopsis:
A rare, searing portrayal of the future of climate change in South Asia. A streetrat turned revolutionary and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia.
The South Asian Province is split in two. Uplanders lead luxurious lives inside a climate-controlled biodome, dependent on technology and gene therapy to keep them healthy and youthful forever. Outside, the poor and forgotten scrape by with discarded black-market robotics, a society of poverty-stricken cyborgs struggling to survive in slums threatened by rising sea levels, unbreathable air, and deadly superbugs.
Ashiva works for the Red Hand, an underground network of revolutionaries fighting the government, which is run by a merciless computer algorithm that dictates every citizen’s fate. She’s a smuggler with the best robotic arm and cybernetic enhancements the slums can offer, and her cargo includes the most vulnerable of the city’s abandoned children.
When Ashiva crosses paths with the brilliant hacker Riz-Ali, a privileged Uplander who finds himself embroiled in the Red Hand’s dangerous activities, they uncover a horrifying conspiracy that the government will do anything to bury. From armed guardians kidnapping children to massive robots flattening the slums, to a pandemic that threatens to sweep through the city like wildfire, Ashiva and Riz-Ali will have to put aside their differences in order to fight the system and save the communities they love from destruction.
*Thanks to the publisher, Erewhon for a ARC in return for an honest review*
“Just remember: keeping someone from dying. Isn’t the same as letting someone live.”
A futuristic, dystopian tale of rebellion in the South Asian Province after WWIII. With commentary on the possibility of what can become due to nuclear war, climate change and a political system driven by a desire for a utopian society.
“It’s hard to know what to believe when the boundary between survival and hate, starvation and war are so thin and permeable.”
At the start you are put right into some action without much explanation. Quickly you are taken back a few days as you are introduced to the characters and background of the world. It was definitely an interesting start. I liked that it was a twist on gender roles, as it is the rough and poor female and rich, high class male dynamic. We get the POV of 3 different characters each with their own story line and motivations that are all interwoven in the resistance. Ashiva was such a strong character and such a fighter! Even though she is a cyborg, with a metal arm, Ashiva doesn’t let it slow her down! I did struggle to really make a connect with the characters through the beginning part of the book. But they grew on me especially with the snark!
The setting was interesting with all of the technology elements and abilities to save people with turning them to cyborgs. I found its overall take, fascinating and slightly scary as it is definitely a society we could end up living in with the way things are going in our world.
From reading the synopsis, I was so excited to pick up this book. Although it had some great qualities and was a good read, I was a little dissapointed. This is definitely one you have to stick out until the end because that is what saved it! The writing at times was a little clunky. There were times at which we were given a ton of information and then moments where there was just fluff that didn’t seem purposeful. I had hoped that there were some more situations more fully developed and explained, but it still makes sense without that more in-depth details. There was a slight element of romance in the book, or at least what was suppose to be romance. I thought the book would have been totally fine without it. I did not feel any chemistry between them. It just seemed like something to add in there with no real purpose. I really enjoyed all the reference to the affects of climate change and how it got the society/world to where it is now.
“This is one of those moments that historians analyze after the fact. The question why no one did anything. Why no one saw the inevitable outcome of such reliance on technology and devaluation of human life.”
Overall It kind of reminded me of a futuristic Aladdin minus the genie and well like a whole lot of other things, but it was a vibe. There was a lot of South Asian culture/elements which was fun to read about, especially the use of terms and langauge. I am not South Asian and can’t speak to how well the representation is handled, but it is an own voices book. Very much that one girl to save the world type vibe. It was like the last 150 pages that the action picked up. I want to say I really liked it, but there was just an issue, maybe it was the pacing or some of the sentence structuring at times. The world was interesting and the futuristic concept and advanced technology, really kept me intrigued. It was a unique read and can’t say I have read anything like it. With the way it ended I am really interested to see where the next book goes.
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