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A review by editor_b
The Not Yet by Moira Crone
5.0
The hook is kind of irresistible: a science fiction novel set in New Orleans, a hundred-some years in the future.
It's perfectly counter-intuitive. New Orleans is a city where the past seems so close at hand, a city in love with its own history, a city where old ways and traditions persist. There's a reason why the Space Needle and the Science Fiction Museum are up in the other corner of the country.
The floods of 2005 called the city's future into question, but the city survived and was transformed. The new New Orleans is ripe for science fictional imagining. At the very least, it's an intriguing premise.
That's why I was drawn to this title. I was surprised to find the real themes of the book to be something else again. Yes, New Orleans is here, and mostly under water. But the book is really about our human yearning to escape the cycle of aging and death, and what might happen if technology finally succeeds in extending our lives far beyond current expectations.
It's masterfully written and a joy to read, though the subject matter is rather dark and disturbing. In addition to be a good story, it's also a profound contemplation of the human condition and a convincing vision of where our society is headed.
It's perfectly counter-intuitive. New Orleans is a city where the past seems so close at hand, a city in love with its own history, a city where old ways and traditions persist. There's a reason why the Space Needle and the Science Fiction Museum are up in the other corner of the country.
The floods of 2005 called the city's future into question, but the city survived and was transformed. The new New Orleans is ripe for science fictional imagining. At the very least, it's an intriguing premise.
That's why I was drawn to this title. I was surprised to find the real themes of the book to be something else again. Yes, New Orleans is here, and mostly under water. But the book is really about our human yearning to escape the cycle of aging and death, and what might happen if technology finally succeeds in extending our lives far beyond current expectations.
It's masterfully written and a joy to read, though the subject matter is rather dark and disturbing. In addition to be a good story, it's also a profound contemplation of the human condition and a convincing vision of where our society is headed.