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A review by yevolem
Infomocracy by Malka Older
4.0
The first quarter or so may be rough going for many as it's little else other than worldbuilding presented through political campaigning and electioneering. While the book does shift focus later on, overall it's about the political process of Earth in the 2060s through and through. At the 25% mark, I was thinking a low 3 stars, and was somewhat disappointed. By 50% I was at 3.5 because it had become more action oriented. When I finished it was 4 and I knew I'd try to read the rest of the trilogy. It took most of the book, but I eventually succumbed to enjoying the world and being amused by the characters to where I wanted more of it all.
This book is concerned with its ideas to the exclusion of almost all else. The central idea is that the world is ruled by various governments through the process of micro-democracy. Centenals, groupings of 100k people, form the basis of this system. This means that a city with one million residents could theoretically have ten governments with radically different laws. This is overseen by an organization called Information, which is the Internet, the regulatory body for all politics, a peacekeeping force, and other assorted functions. The governmental elections are held every ten years and one is currently being held.
There are four viewpoint characters, though two of them are primary. Not much should be expected from the characters as they exist to demonstrate how the political process works, for better and worse. The characters are the The Guy Who Stumbles Into Success, The High-Functioning Chuunibyou, The Revolutionary With An Afro (White), and The Oblivious One.
There's technically a romance subplot, but it's mostly that
This could be read as a standalone as all the plot points are wrapped up by the end, though it's done in a way that's a bit too neat for my taste.
This book is concerned with its ideas to the exclusion of almost all else. The central idea is that the world is ruled by various governments through the process of micro-democracy. Centenals, groupings of 100k people, form the basis of this system. This means that a city with one million residents could theoretically have ten governments with radically different laws. This is overseen by an organization called Information, which is the Internet, the regulatory body for all politics, a peacekeeping force, and other assorted functions. The governmental elections are held every ten years and one is currently being held.
There are four viewpoint characters, though two of them are primary. Not much should be expected from the characters as they exist to demonstrate how the political process works, for better and worse. The characters are the The Guy Who Stumbles Into Success, The High-Functioning Chuunibyou, The Revolutionary With An Afro (White), and The Oblivious One.
There's technically a romance subplot, but it's mostly that
Spoiler
within minutes of the two characters meeting they have sex and decide they are in a relationship for the rest of the book, more or less.This could be read as a standalone as all the plot points are wrapped up by the end, though it's done in a way that's a bit too neat for my taste.