Pages : 376
Overall Mark : 8/10
The 21st century. Europe is divided between the First World, made rich by nanotechnology and genetically engineered Dolls, and the Fourth World – refugees displaced by war and economic upheaval. In London, Alex Sharkey, a designer of psychoactive viruses, is trying to stay one step ahead of the police and the Triads. But his troubles really start when he helps a scary, duper-smart girl called Milena quicken intelligence in a Doll, turning it into the first of the fairies...
PAUL MCAULEY (1955-)
Paul James McAuley was born in Gloucestershire on St George’s Day, 1955. He has a Ph.D in Botany, worked as a researcher in biology at various universities, including Oxford and UCLA, and for six years was a lecturer in botany at St Andrews University, before leaving academia to write full time.
VERDICT
This is such an odd world that McAuley has created yet, as someone who was born and raised in London, it is oddly familiar too. Slightly reminiscent of the works of both Philip K Dick and Isaac Asimov through its use of robots as a metaphor for humanity, this story tells the history of how robotic slaves called Dolls rise up against their masters and create their own species, the fairies. This is both funny and dark, and manages to make feel real a story that is otherwise pure fantasy.
