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A review by purplcrosswords
Bald New World by Peter Tieryas Liu
3.0
This ARC was kindly provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
What you might expect to find if you read this:
1. Bald people (duh);
2. North-Korean sexy spies;
3. The best bromance in the history of bromances;
4. Bizarre religious cults;
5. Crickets;
6. A bloodshed or two;
7. A great futuristic scenario!
This reminded me of William Gibson in certain bits... I almost mistakenly shelved this “cyberpunk”. Not because it has weird robots having sex all the time – in fact, there is none of that, sadly – but because there’s always a lot going on. I think that’s the thing about the future, most times you imagine it as this frantic entity that takes form in a super-Beijing, or a super-Shanghai, or maybe a super-L.A. This book is full of panic, mostly because the main character is always in trouble, but also because you cannot not wear a bullet proof vest outside if you live in Los Angeles, because factories often blow up as a result of unhealthy competition, and there are people that are faceless as a result of plastic surgery. And those are only three examples. Who would think that such a short book would be so full of excitement? Fun, fun, fun.
But it ain’t simply a fun book. It warns against a vanity-centred societal progression, about the solitude and loss of identity created by technological development and the need to remain free in such a world. I highly recommend it if after reading this short review you feel this is the kind of story you would enjoy.
What you might expect to find if you read this:
1. Bald people (duh);
2. North-Korean sexy spies;
3. The best bromance in the history of bromances;
4. Bizarre religious cults;
5. Crickets;
6. A bloodshed or two;
7. A great futuristic scenario!
This reminded me of William Gibson in certain bits... I almost mistakenly shelved this “cyberpunk”. Not because it has weird robots having sex all the time – in fact, there is none of that, sadly – but because there’s always a lot going on. I think that’s the thing about the future, most times you imagine it as this frantic entity that takes form in a super-Beijing, or a super-Shanghai, or maybe a super-L.A. This book is full of panic, mostly because the main character is always in trouble, but also because you cannot not wear a bullet proof vest outside if you live in Los Angeles, because factories often blow up as a result of unhealthy competition, and there are people that are faceless as a result of plastic surgery. And those are only three examples. Who would think that such a short book would be so full of excitement? Fun, fun, fun.
But it ain’t simply a fun book. It warns against a vanity-centred societal progression, about the solitude and loss of identity created by technological development and the need to remain free in such a world. I highly recommend it if after reading this short review you feel this is the kind of story you would enjoy.