River Of Gods
(IAN McDONALD)
Ian McDonald''s faithful readership will be well rewarded with the
publication of his new novel, River
of Gods, which
represents imaginative, extrapolative science fiction at its best. Already
nominated for a Hugo Award, McDonald uses his latest work to transform the
energy of today''s Indian economy and explore such familiar themes as man''s
inhumanity to man and the limits of our imaginations.
Subtitled August 15, 2047?Happy Hundredth Birthday, India, River
of Gods tells the stories of nine people whose actions will change the
lives of the 1.5 billion inhabitants of the subcontinent. The novel begins with
Shiv, a small-time gangster, dropping a woman''s body into the River Ganges in Varanasi (the city of Shiva). She is the unnamed victim of an
ovular egg-harvesting operation gone wrong (as well as a stand-in for the
crowded streets and unending hunger of India''s vast cities), whose death
is about to lose any meaning it might have had. By the time we return to Shiv''s
story and discover why the woman''s death was meaningless, the reader has been
given a quick tour of India
40 years from now, as well as a glimpse of the U.S. and even outer space.
In this near-future world, artificial intelligences (AIs) above a certain
complexity have been declared illegal by United Nations decree. AIs are valued
for their many uses, but above that level the U.S. government fears AIs will
outstrip their makers and perhaps destroy humanity. Mr. Nandha is a Krishnacop
whose job is to enforce this law using software of his own to incapacitate or
destroy the rogue AIs.
The survival of these high-level AIs?who can be seen as symbols for any
discriminated group?is at the heart of the book. But on a broader level, this
is an action-packed meditation on the future from an exciting and fresh angle.
Science fiction readers should be happy to follow McDonald down the river of
his imagination.
Resumos Relacionados
- The Crocodile River
- River Ganges
- Madurai
- Foundation
- Back To The Vedas
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