A review by ury949
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

4.0

I liked Zoo City better (it just felt more vivid in every aspect), but Moxyland was pretty great. It jumps around a lot - the story is told from four different viewpoints all with completely different lifestyles and agendas, and I had mixed feelings with all of them - like was I supposed to root for them or hate their guts? Lots of political statements being made about the direction society is headed in the near future (2018) - and of course none of it is for the best. Unfortunately there are some parts of the story that flounder - like why is it called Moxyland when that seemed like such a small stepping stone in the plot. And what exactly was Kendra's connection to the dogs or did Damien have similar problems? The connection between corporate and government and everyone's productive lives is the underlying theme, but only loosely described with specific examples - like we should already know the way things are in this setting. And we get the gist of it as the tale progresses so eventually things are less puzzling and more revealing of the distopia. It's fast-paced, clever, and exciting with not a dull moment.