Member Review

In a future where a climate apocalypse is decimating the planet, all countries have agreed to elect a worldwide dictator to take the reins and steer humanity to salvation. The final two candidates are a former US president and the first artificial intellect, Solomon. As the final election looms close, investigative journalist Marcus Tully is set on a course of discovery that will shape the world to come, but at what price?

It's a massively complex plot with a hundred different elements, where everything mentioned, even as an aside or in passing, might end up having a major impact on the plot. The number of topics it touches and questions it brings up is enough to make my head spin. Yet, Weaver's writing keeps it at a level that remains intellectual without making you feel like you need a PhD to follow it. Despite a dozen things going on at once, he somehow manages to get characters to summarize things whenever a new angle is discovered, which made the complexity enjoyable.

The characters are well-written, and they make you connect to the story on a smaller scale so that you can see the human side of the threat of the climate apocalypse. And the world that they inhabit feels disturbingly real as well, as the way people with little to no resources are treated and the rich manage to get away and still live in luxury feels disturbingly possible.

One thing kept me from giving this the full 5-star rating. The fact that the first part of the big reveal about the culprit is obvious from the very beginning, but all these super smart and attentive people fail to even consider it. I get being hyper-focused, I would have just liked at least one person to consider it a possibility.

Even with that, it was an enjoyably twisty read that kept surprising me with were it went.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for the wonderfully twisty read!