Revolution! I love books about revolutions. My favorite by far is the The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, however The Windup Girl has many great aspects that recommend it. The book proposes a post-contraction
period some hundred years in the future. Our globalized economy of relatively abundant food and energy has collapsed. Oil prices have made global shipping and industrial food production impossible. In this eerily plausible, post apocalyptic world the new energy technology is genetics.
As the scientist of the world try to capitalize on genetically engineered crops, large conglomerates begin creating genetic viruses to destroy natural crops, thus eliminating competition from the markets. The book opens as one of these Calorie Companies
takes aim at one of the last countries free from their domination, the Kingdom of Thailand.
What follows is an entertaining series of parallel plots.This book has everything from algae to zeppelins. When geneticists or gene-hackers
can tweak any creatures genetic code, we have to ask questions like: "what does it mean to be human"?
I enjoyed the book however I had to take to shots at it. When I first tried it, it lost me. If this happens to you just drive on, the technical stuff is not that important to the plot. I realized that a lot of the jargon in the beginning is there to give the illusion of depth and texture to the futuristic distopia. To truly enjoy the flow of The Windup Girl, I advise you to read it expecting the aesthetic of a comic book or graphic novel. With this in mind it becomes a dark, brutal, and graphic story about karma betrayal and honor.