A review by felinity
Palace by Mark Kreighbaum, Katharine Kerr
5.0
Very accessible cyberpunk, this multi-threaded novel shows the undercurrents, political leanings and intrigues of Palace, a high-tech futuristic society which relies on saccules (apparently non-sapient slaves) and bots for grunt work and makes community decisions via daily interactive polls.
If you like futuristic SF this has something for everyone: the high-tech Cyberguild with the masters and journeymen who maintain the Map (roughly analogous to the internet), multiple non-humanoid alien species, a longer-lived society and the benefits and pitfalls it brings, and the results of gene-mapping to create a ranked society. It also has political terrorists, unhappy citizens and people working undercover to reveal the truth.
If you like futuristic SF this has something for everyone: the high-tech Cyberguild with the masters and journeymen who maintain the Map (roughly analogous to the internet), multiple non-humanoid alien species, a longer-lived society and the benefits and pitfalls it brings, and the results of gene-mapping to create a ranked society. It also has political terrorists, unhappy citizens and people working undercover to reveal the truth.