This is a Hugo Award winner. I fail to see why. I think because it's set in Asia rather than the west and deals with some (media) hip subjects. That's interesting but hardly merits such attention. I have read four other books whilst this has languished on my bed side table.
The problems? It's painfully slow to start. The science is...narrow. There are many ideas here but they're limited to a very small part of real science and hence the world he's constructed, whilst interesting, appears to be missing huge parts of what one might expect from a near future world.
The dystopia was very reminiscent of early Ballard, especially the Drowned World, and the lusciousness of the environment is very interesting.
The politics is also interesting but hardly as deep as non-genre comparables and really, when compared to writers like Stephenson or Ryman, doesn't stand up against the best within the genre either. In some ways I think this was acclaimed because it s a cross over book not because of the ideas within it. Oryx and Crake has much the same feel (although I would suggest this is better than that cliché ridden smugly condescending piece of writing).
I eventually took this on my commute and made it through very quickly. However, I remain unconvinced by the story and wouldn't recommend it.
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