Pedro Barrento

Multiple viewpoints are used to tell this story of people in a future dystopian world, and the author cleverly draws readers into that world before revealing how it came to be. The separate sections of the novel could stand alone as separate novels, but it’s intriguing to read the whole story at once, to see how good intentions can turn radically wrong, and how random coincidence can determine the fate of the world.

The premise of a world where government is replaced by computers is intriguing and nicely presented. There’s a darkness, of course, behind what ought to be benign, and there are plenty of thought-provoking parallels with our own world. Perhaps obeying rules before caring about people really might be a problem.

The second part of this book presents a scarily believable future history, marred only by a few unlikely coincidences. But then, it’s coincidence that drives the tale. Clever political manipulations, powerful ideas overtaken by powerful people… the net effect, again, is to draw the reader along while inviting reflection on the present day.

And then there’s the search for something more, with the reader already enticed and prepared to guess where this might go. With interesting characters, neat science fiction, complex commentary on belief and faith, and clever social commentary, the Algorithm of Power takes computers and people to the next level and invites the reader to follow.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I offer my honest review.… (mais)

An Operating System for a New World: "The Algorithm of Power” by Pedro Barrento

“ ’Are you saying that ecological balance has been achieved through the collapse of the consumer society, media and democracy?’ ”


In “The Algorithm of Power” by Pedro Barrento


The idea that authors have to know science to write SF is laughably reductive, comically self-important, Mr Science Degree probably, and just provably untrue, as non-scientists Ballard or Banks demonstrated, as but one of many. You can describe a technology without knowing how it works, as a character this might work better than any attempt at omniscience... depends on the book! Exposition can be narcotic but often needs resisting.

We've got 6, no wait 7.5, soon to be 10-11 billion people all shitting in the ocean (metaphorically), we've got all kinds of other problems besides global warming. Fixing global warming would just get us on a path to be able to even talk about the root causes (late-stage capitalism and overpopulation) that we can't even mention today without freaking people out. Mostly, but we could get along with many more people if all those people weren't operating under the belief that their lives will only have meaning if they have MORE. The economic system/cult we are busily exporting around the world puts very near zero value on all the valuable things in the world like human life and nature and water and air and our very biosphere, while making greed and waste and obsolescence and evanescent zeroes in bank computers the highest possible aspiration for any human culture. With our values so screwed up, we would still be slowly murdering the planet with a far lower population.

No, the idea of the novel as a piece of esoteric, self-indulgent showmanship aimed at making the reader feel part of some occult intellectual elite is dying a welcome, although belated, death. Barrento's novel is anything but.


If you're into Portuguese SF, written originally in English, read the rest of this review on my blog.… (mais)