Moxyland follows four characters who do not conform to the expectations society expects, each with their own angle and agenda, which entwine as the story progresses. This cyberpunk-esque short book never really gets in to gear and the characters aren't particularly likeable, and together they create a book with some great near-future suggestions which doesn't actually hold your attention or deliver any real suspense. There are a few action scenes which are well written, although they are not enough to propel Moxyland in to the realm of memorable cyberpunk fiction. ( )

A unique, terrifying, and remarkable look at the world of tomorrow. With technology controlling our lives, unable to even take a cab or open an apartment door without the use of a cell phone, the world is a scary place. Especially when rebels start causing trouble leading to an epidemic. ( )

Fantastic stuff! ( )

21 Words or Less: A brilliant debut that paints a harsh but strangely realistic portrait of tomorrow with a grace rarely seen in comparable works.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Pros: Intriguing ideas, realistic approach, recognizable/relatable characters

Cons: Hands-off approach takes some getting used to early on.

The Review: Reading Moxyland is a lot like watching a painting develop. Early on, when the canvas is mostly blank, it’s difficult to make sense of the individual brush strokes and envision the end result as a cohesive story. Lauren Beukes plunges you into the South Africa of tomorrow without warning, as you follow the lives of Toby, Kendra, Lerato, and Tendeka; four very different twenty-somethings that become entangled in a series of events that will change their lives forever. As each character narrates, you see the interworkings of their future with little explanation or contemplation. While frustrating for the reader at first, the end result is a speculative South Africa that feels more real. When was the last time you thought about how your cell phone worked or delved into the intricacies of xBox Live in your everyday conversation? Those explanations are often a benefit for the reader, but they detract from the authenticity of the story. Beukes manages to riff on the future of communication, video games, corporate sponsorship, modern art, biotechnology, advertisement, crime and punishment, corporate culture, class warfare, government authority, and more, all while remaining within the lives and thoughts of the characters.

Moxyland truly is a Jackson Pollack of ideas, rather than of color. The ideas are everywhere; more often than not intermingling in unpredictable but interesting ways. Cell phones for example, become more than communication devices, becoming wallets, game devices, security keys, and even behavior modifiers (i.e. shock collars). Not having cell phone service in today’s world is an annoyance, in Moxyland disconnection is a form of capital punishment. The ideas come hard and fast, more often than not just giving you just a casual mention or a bit of dialogue to describe an idea another author would frame an entire story around. Becoming a corporate s It’s impossible to tell if one splash of prediction is too much or in the wrong place, but somehow they all seem to fit bizarrely together in a way which is scarily easy to trace back to current trends. It’s a future which is shockingly different yet disconcertingly similar.

In the end, I rated Moxyland 4.5 stars but an uneven 4.5. Early on I was projecting a 3 star book, having difficulty keeping up with the unrelenting flurry of idea after idea. Any book with 4 POV characters is going to take a while to develop, especially within a future setting that might as well be a character on its own. However, once I managed to get acclimated to the unapologetic style with which Beukes conveys her vision of the future, I was captivated for the remainder of the book. I couldn’t put it down and engaged with the world and the characters at the level I expect from a 5-star book. I was afraid that Angry Robot Books had made a mistake; that their flagship novel was a flop. Make no mistake; Moxyland is a work of art. ( )

What if Stroctorow grew up in Africa? Or perhaps, given the outlook, one of Pat Cadigan's Synners did, as Moxyland is perhaps more along those lines.

The story posits the existence of an Africa that has come out the other side of the decimation of a generation by AIDs - and the large numbers of parentless young people as a result - and also a cleanup of the dangerous crime levels, at least in terms of the area this tale takes place in.

However, to do so has required a definite tilt to corporate fascist dystopia. The behaviour of these companies is leaning somewhat Richard Morganatic.

Average people do lots of daily business through their mobile phones - and can hence easily be disconnected as a punishment, or even worse. Worse being is that the cops can literally zap people through their phones, so no unwieldy tasers needed, just call down the lightning, so to speak. Through in some genemod tracker dogs, too. No-one running around blowing people away with automatic weapons, burning people as witches, or other such to be seen here, though. Chemical and biological tagging of offenders is used so that the dogs can hunt them down later. Low-tech biosolutions compared to what might be employed in the wealthier west.

The Rural areas, capitalised as such, still seem to be severely disadvantaged, and other countries still worse off than South Africa.

Cape Town's technology level is such that MMO games are popular, as are fancy-mobile-phone assisted Live Action ARG/RPGs along with that. Doesn't change the fact that there are street kids galore, and people that don't have access to the network, and plenty of refugees from elsewhere.

The novel follows four characters. A rich kid that is an independent media producer, a walking corporate advertisement addicted photographer, a street activist, and a corporate programmer with subversive sympathies. All of whom think they can make a difference, or at least get ahead. In for a shock, this lot.

This is a very good, and very polished first novel. Well done.

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http://freesf.blogspot.com/2009/08/mo... ( )