Well, that was cheerful and uplifting.
Er, no, that's not quite right. More like bleak, biting, and darkly satirical.
And far too real.
Though science fiction set in a near future, this is all about living at the lowest levels of the global economy, subject to extremes of imperialism, inequality, ethnocentrism, co-option, and poverty. It's an exploration of the dark sides of economic and cultural power. It's just that in this case it's the humans of Earth who have been colonized.
"You think you're so great," says Chloe. "You're no one, Adam. You're nothing."
I laugh politely. "No, Chlo, I'm less than nothing," I point out. "I won't be no one without a little hard work."
There's just enough humor in Adam's narration to keep his circumstances from being too heartbreaking, and it at least ends with hope. This is a slim book, but it doesn't need to be any longer to be effective as entertainment and fodder for much thought (and discussion). I hope it finds many readers.
We are tiny figures, pointing at wonders, provided for scale, no lives of our own, surveying the landscape that has engulfed us all.