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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
I had a difficult time rating this one. It was slow to start, but kept building momentum throughout. Overall I would describe it as activist cyberpunk dystopia, although Beukes has a unique flavor of this. I think if you're into [a:Cory Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg], you'll probably like Beukes' Moxyland. I haven't read any of her other works, so I can't comment there.
The paperback I read was a more recent printing (2016) which came with an afterward (the Moxyland's Stem Cells essay) that shined light on the motivations and genesis for the story. This added to it for me since I love learning about what drives authors to tell a particular story. Since the book was originally published in 2008 and the setting is approximately 2018, she discusses technological differences between story and current reality, among other topics.
This was a 3.25 for me that was pulled up to 3.75 / 5.0 with the afterward essay.
The paperback I read was a more recent printing (2016) which came with an afterward (the Moxyland's Stem Cells essay) that shined light on the motivations and genesis for the story. This added to it for me since I love learning about what drives authors to tell a particular story. Since the book was originally published in 2008 and the setting is approximately 2018, she discusses technological differences between story and current reality, among other topics.
This was a 3.25 for me that was pulled up to 3.75 / 5.0 with the afterward essay.
An interesting and multilayered narrative of the near future. Many of the individual elements are things we've seen before - repressive governments puppeteered by monolithic and uncaring corporations, virtual realities, hackers, dissidents, rich kids and street punks - but in Moxyland they're updated based on a more modern vision of the future, with cell phones as your lifeline, ARGs and MMOs flourishing with an underground market specializing in selling key toys to the parents of spoiled children and overfunded geeks, corporate advertising rewriting your very DNA, etc. It's also a setting and culture (South Africa) that until recently would probably not have been seen in fiction that makes its way to America, and is fascinating in that light as well. (Of course, it's not the -real- South Africa, but it's a convincing future projection that is clearly rooted in certain aspects of reality.) Be prepared for characters who, while compelling, are mostly not terribly likeable, and a dark, dark ending.
Inventive, fast-paced cyberpunk dystopia set in South Africa. While the premise of a totalitarian, corporate-dominated and violently stratified society is not in itself the most original, Beukes’ world is full of fresh ideas and sometimes horrifying(ly genius) twists... that I wish had been more fully developed. There so many potentially interesting subplots or themes that only got passing mentions; in fact, even the eponymous “Moxyland” isn’t really explored in-depth. Excellent concept, wants for better for execution, but I’m aware this is her debut novel so I’d definitely read more of her later works.
This is a pacy dystopian thriller set against the background of a hyper-capitalist near future. I enjoyed this greatly, and found the final third to be especially good. Some of the characters are relatively simple and it is hard to find someone to get behind, but the story drives through and there are a lot of very interesting moments
From South Africa, a story of a surveilled society, great story, remnants from the Apartheid system still affect those in charge, non comprimising in its story, it's one I'll probably read again, the writing and characters were fun, even if they continued to annoy each other throughout the story
Originally published ten years ago and only issued in the US following the success of the South African writer's subsequent books, this near-future sci-fi debut has a loose and limber quality that propels the narrative from start to end. The chapters hop between four different 20-something characters in Cape Town, whose lives intersect as they seek to push against the boundaries of the capitalist state.
The book is indeed a bit of a rebel yell against the forces of the neoliberal state and the co-opting of technology as a tool for social control. The themes here are nothing new, and while the basics of the plot aren't going to blow anyone's mind, the pleasure is in the details, delivery, and delicious mashup of language. The author's background as a journalist is evident, as she's woven together all kinds of social trends and blown them out about a decade or two.
For example, in this future, cell phones are basically ID cards and wallets in one, and thousands of automated systems constantly ping your phone and cross-reference your social media presence to asses your level of threat to social order, and allow access to transit, stores, etc. as appropriate. Instead of prison or a fine, citizens are punished by having their phones disconnected for periods of times, or even turned into remote tasers. There's plenty of other technoextrapolation, mixed in with art, culture, resistance, branding, AIDS, and more.
It's by no means an amazing book, but it is a fast-paced energetic read that's well worth checking out by anyone with an interest in new spins on cyberpunk.
The book is indeed a bit of a rebel yell against the forces of the neoliberal state and the co-opting of technology as a tool for social control. The themes here are nothing new, and while the basics of the plot aren't going to blow anyone's mind, the pleasure is in the details, delivery, and delicious mashup of language. The author's background as a journalist is evident, as she's woven together all kinds of social trends and blown them out about a decade or two.
For example, in this future, cell phones are basically ID cards and wallets in one, and thousands of automated systems constantly ping your phone and cross-reference your social media presence to asses your level of threat to social order, and allow access to transit, stores, etc. as appropriate. Instead of prison or a fine, citizens are punished by having their phones disconnected for periods of times, or even turned into remote tasers. There's plenty of other technoextrapolation, mixed in with art, culture, resistance, branding, AIDS, and more.
It's by no means an amazing book, but it is a fast-paced energetic read that's well worth checking out by anyone with an interest in new spins on cyberpunk.
The greatest strength of the book is that it skirts the cutting edge of plausibility: everything could happen and the world feels so real and vibrant and rooted that I was sucked in completely. Dystopian fiction usually reads as more abstract, more fantastic but this vision of the future is the one brought to you by all good retailers and the people (the kind that queue up outside Apple stores) will be complicit. It's ugly and brilliant and expertly realised.
Wonderful, inventive sci-fi and bleak as hell. Given when it came out, it's also scary prescient of our present day with money ruling all. Hell of a ride.
Cuando empecé a leer Moxyland, pensé que era un poco lenta y confusa, la peor de las novelas de Beukes. Me equivoqué del todo. Hacia la mitad de la novela, con los personajes ya perfilados, el ritmo acelera y Moxyland se convierte en Otro Libro de Beukes que tampoco eres capaz de soltar. Una distopía demasiado cercana para leerla con comodidad. Estoy rendida a esta mujer.