Radicalized

eBook, 320 pages

English language

Published Nov. 4, 2019 by Head of Zeus.

ISBN:
978-1-78954-110-6
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (6 reviews)

Told through one of the most on-pulse genre voices of our generation--New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow--Radicalized is a timely novel comprised of four science fiction novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of today and what America could be in the near, near future.

Unauthorized Bread is a tale of immigration, the toxicity of economic and technological stratification, and the young and downtrodden fighting against all odds to survive and prosper.

In Model Minority, a Superman-like figure attempts to rectifiy the corruption of the police forces he long erroneously thought protected the defenseless...only to find his efforts adversely affecting their victims.

Radicalized is a story of a darkweb-enforced violent uprising against insurance companies told from the perspective of a man desperate to secure funding for an experimental drug that could cure his wife's terminal cancer.

The fourth story, Masque of the Red Death, harkens back to Doctorow's …

7 editions

I still don't understand how encrytion works

4 stars

I went through a brief love affair with Doctorow. But the sweetly clunky how-to-do-X-techie-thing-to-bring-down-Y-bad-guy-slash-system got too clunky for me. And repetitive too.

These short stories were OK though. Maybe he's gotten better, or maybe it's been long enough between my readings. Either way in all his writing, I still don't understand how encryption and private/public keys work (not asking for an explanation).

Brilliant Social Commentary

5 stars

This is science fiction as commentary in its highest forms. Across four stories, Doctorow paints vivid portraits of how current social and technological trends could easily lead to dystopian social conditions. In each case, it's really just a way of amping up the volume on existing practices and problems in a way to better dramatize the problem.

Kim Stanley Robinson gives the cover blurb, and that choice is perfect: Doctorow is operating in the same tradition as Robinson, but in a more immediate and accessible way. While Robinson has elements of sprawling, high literature in his novels--including length!--Doctorow has more of a page-turner style, like a fun escapist sci-fi story with the intellect amped up. He gets to the point quickly, making you care deeply about the characters immediately. It's easy to see how "normal" people get swept up in destructive social and technological systems.

Another good comparison point is …

avatar for rynybooks

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Gorbag

rated it

4 stars
avatar for jectoons@bookwyrm.social

rated it

4 stars

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Science Fiction

Lists