[Dead-Air]

I'd been wanting to read another Ian McDonald book since River of Gods and with his newest novel Brasyl racking up the British Science Fiction Association Award and a Hugo nomination*, it seemed time to jump in.

I'm just getting started, but the similarities to style with River of Gods are noticeable, though obviously this is a very different setting (ROG was set in near future India). Like his last novel this is near future with a cyberpunk influence, however it actually started in the recent past, making me think at first that it might be along the lines of Gibson's most recent work with Pattern Recognition and Spook Country. Too soon for me to judge, but perhaps Brasyl will be bridging the gap between that new emerging genre of post-cyberpunk present era SF and the near future variety.

*you can follow that link to a download to a free eBook as of the novel as well!