HOPEL AND
Into a bright tomorrow
RELEASED 16 FEBRUARY 656 pages ► Hardback/ebook
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Author Ian McDonald
►Publisher Gollancz
In the middle of July, temperatures in the UK hit 40°C. At the end of the year, the Met Office announced that 2022 had been the warmest ever year in the UK. Forget the idea of statistical outliers; we live in the Anthropocene, when human activity is reshaping the world – has already done so, and will continue to do so with potentially disastrous consequences.
How are we to live in such a world? On one level, it’s a practical question that takes us into the realm of grand geoengineering schemes. But to reframe the question: who might we be in such a world? Ian McDonald’s new novel may offer some clues. A story of the near future, it starts out as an urban fantasy love story before twisting to become a magical realism-tinged tale and a show-don’t-tell philosophical novel that’s also a rollicking sea-based adventure.