Review by Booklist Review
Byrne's latest (after The Girl in the Road, 2014) is a fascinating and intricately woven piece of speculative fiction. The story jumps between the years 1012, 2012, and 3012, showcasing characters whose lives and destinies are connected each time. Year 1012 features the last twin rulers of a kingdom in present-day Belize in extensively researched sections, while the far-future depicts a world that has survived catastrophe and developed a radically different society. As in Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series, a default she/her set of pronouns is used in the future but here also has deep religious meaning. The 3012 setting also features a world using marvelous though invasive technology, widespread genetic manipulation, and near-utopian communalism to sustain a nomadic lifestyle for the remaining eight million inhabitants of the planet. Byrne's work delves into themes about entropy, destiny, how place affects us as we change the world, and the search for meaning. But it is also a thoroughly human work where ambition, loneliness, love, and the need to belong resonate, no matter the year. Complex and captivating.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
