Hardcover, 208 pages
English language
Published May 12, 2020 by Solaris.
Firewalkers Are Brave. Firewalkers Are Resourceful. Firewalkers Are Expendable.
The Earth is burning. Nothing can survive at the Anchor; not without water and power. But the ultra-rich, waiting for their ride off the dying Earth? They can buy water. And thanks to their investment, the sun can provide power.
But someone has to repair the solar panels when they fail, down in the deserts below.
Kids like Mao, and Lupé, and Hotep; kids with brains and guts but no hope.
The Firewalkers.
The world is burnt and some people just have to keep living there instead of making it to the great escape ships.
Fast and smart with some wicked turns.
Excellent storytelling. Triptych of horrors. Horrific, hopeful, & frightening in equal parts, with dashes of dark humor.
This was my first Tchaikovsky book; if they're all as inventive and beautiful as this then I can understand the hype.
I found it interesting how the protagonist was more of a silent type while his two female companions were more opinionated and talkative. That made it feel a little bit like some historian tale of this dystopian world even though the protagonist was no historian, more of a pragmatic risk taker or something.
I'm a bit ignorant on how to properly describe the language except that it reminded me of [b:Binti|25667918|Binti (Binti, #1)|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433804020l/25667918.SY75.jpg|45491127]. But I loved Binti much more as a story.
This story was quite a depressing one. Even though it sort of features my favourite - a general AI, the AI is so... petty? that it doesn't feel great. It feels like if you took "the glorious future of mankind" fantasy but mixed it with news of the real world so much, that all the glory is taken out of it. It's good but depressing.
Humanities sins come to the fore as the elites escape into space via a space elevator located on the scorching equator.
Fast paced and to the point.
A bit blunt with its morals, I prefer more subtle references than direct address.
