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kittiwakeLord Alexander Ching-Sik Finkle-McGraw, the embodiment of the Victorian establishment, was a subversive. He was unhappy because his children were not subversives and was horrified at the thought of Elizabeth being raised in the stodgy tradition of her parents. So now he was trying to subvert his granddaughter.
Whereas in "Snow Crash", the world was divided into enclaves run by big business and cyberspace was the dominant technology, in this book nano-technology permeates everything and society has become more tribal, with claves occupied by people linked by a common culture.
The story starts in Shanghai/Atlantis - a neo-Victorian clave on an artificial island linked to the Chinese mainland by a causeway. A neo-Victorian equity lord commissions a unique interactive-book to help his granddaughter Elizabeth grow up self-reliant and subversive, but things don't go to plan and other copies of the book are created. The book follows the story of Nell, a child from the crime-ridden area near Shanghai/Atlantis given a stolen copy of the book, and John Percial Hackworth the engineer who created the book and tried to steal a copy for his own daughter.
The first three-quarters of this book were marvellous, but I found the weak ending a let-down. Once Nell leaves school, everything seems rushed and jumbled and suddenly it's all over. And what's with the Drummers? Who in their right mind would possibly want to join their tribe?
Whereas in "Snow Crash", the world was divided into enclaves run by big business and cyberspace was the dominant technology, in this book nano-technology permeates everything and society has become more tribal, with claves occupied by people linked by a common culture.
The story starts in Shanghai/Atlantis - a neo-Victorian clave on an artificial island linked to the Chinese mainland by a causeway. A neo-Victorian equity lord commissions a unique interactive-book to help his granddaughter Elizabeth grow up self-reliant and subversive, but things don't go to plan and other copies of the book are created. The book follows the story of Nell, a child from the crime-ridden area near Shanghai/Atlantis given a stolen copy of the book, and John Percial Hackworth the engineer who created the book and tried to steal a copy for his own daughter.
The first three-quarters of this book were marvellous, but I found the weak ending a let-down. Once Nell leaves school, everything seems rushed and jumbled and suddenly it's all over. And what's with the Drummers? Who in their right mind would possibly want to join their tribe?
