Wayne Murphy
Wayne Murphy  ·  4 weeks ago
WAYNE'S 2024 BOOKS: BOOK 15

The Lost Cause
by Cory Doctorow

Continuing "The Year I Read Mostly Books From Cory Doctorow" ( @pluralistic), with a solarpunk novel in a near future that's lapping at our shores like climate-change-inducing rising waters: The Lost Cause.

What if things didn't quite work out, but weren't as bad as they could have been? Coastal cities are swamped, extreme weather events are frequent occurrences instead of 100-year events, and times are bleak. But what if instead of gnawing at each other like starving rats in a cage, we came together to work collectively to solve our problems and care for one another? Well, mostly what if we did that, because this book also features the pathetic remnants of today's most extant threat: The Magas.

The main character Brooks starts out being threatened by a Maga with an acid gun who is trying to smash up solar panels because... reasons. When his grandfather dies, leaving behind a house in Burbank - and an unexpected hidden cache - the Magas take note, making Brooks' efforts to help improve the city and assist climate refugees much more perilous than he expected. Throw in some musky tech-will-fix-it bros, and you've got a spicy tale.

One thing I found jarring was how nice Brooks' comrades are. Are we so jaded and messed up that a group of people that just want to help each other seem unrealistic? Probably. I guess if your biggest problem is that the characters care about each other and their world, then you don't really have a problem at all!

(Secure a copy at https://craphound.com/shop/)

#books #bookreview #solarpunk #reading #reading2024 #sciencefiction#SF #dystopia

Cy
Cy  ·  4 weeks ago
One thing I found jarring was how nice Brooks' comrades are. Are we so jaded and messed up that a group of people that just want to help each other seem unrealistic?
Well...
threatened by a Maga with an acid gun who is trying to smash up solar panels because... reasons.
I think the contrast between a right-wing authoritarian being depicted as a Saturday morning cartoon villain, might make it a little unsettling when the sympathetic characters are depicted as actual human beings. I'd have the villain's minions depicted more in shades of grey, making it clear their fear and hatred were manipulated to get them committing extreme acts. At worst, I'd leave the protagonists bewildered in-universe why these people would be so inexplicably evil, so they can find the truth in a later plot twist.

I can't say @pluralistic@mamot.fr didn't do that, since I haven't read the book and this is not a review anyone should take seriously. But more sympathetic minions, even if they're incredibly wrong, can make nice guy protagonists more palatable. "A group of people that just want to help each other" seems more realistic if, in some twisted way, it applies to everyone not just the good guys.